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Z00/Thomas Hauert
'Verosimile'
by Tiit
Tumalu
August 15, 2003 --
Kanuti Gildi Saal, Augusti TantsuFestival
2003, Tallinn
Image by Imre Malva
The August Dance Festival is something
special in Tallinn, weightier than the summertime glitter that fills most
performance spaces here. This was confirmed by the Belgian troupe Z00
who opened the Festival last Friday.
The background of the 5-member group, led by Thomas Hauert from Switzerland,
is impressive – most have danced for years in groups such as Anne Teresa
de Keersmaeker’s Rosas troupe and some teach at the school P.A.R.T.S.
associated with Rosas. However, the work they presented in the Kanuti
Gildi Saal was quite different from Keersmaeker, although her stress on
the theme of a dancer as a personality, and his/her diversity, was strongly
felt throughout.
“Verosimile” was an ideal or a near-ideal piece of dance, as I would imagine
it. It allowed a range of interpretation, not promoting any single perspective.
It was something everybody could identify with, people with different
preparation and expectations, from ordinary audience to dance professionals.
Firstly, it could be viewed as simply a trendy cabaret programme where
songs alternate with dance; there is fun, self-promotion and mise en scenes
carried by genuine joy of playing.
Another level of interpretation derives from the title, which in Italian
means ‘similarly to the real’ or ‘almost like real’. In other words –
Hauert and ZOO unlock the illusion of reality that theatre is trying to
produce in the viewer. Indeed, isn’t it odd that the experience and sometimes
the emotions that we get from a performance are largely relying on deception?
Just like “Verosimile” itself – even Hauert admitted that Italian was
chosen for the most simple reason: none of them really knows this language.
The third level, the most intriguing, was connected with the dance itself,
that I would call nihilistic. “Verosimile” elegantly parodied existing
dance concepts, without trying to find something new instead – as if proclaiming
that the language of dance has exhausted itself. What remains are the
copies of the copies of the copies.
It contained numerous gibes at over-emotional classical dance, hints at
different styles and techniques – all that was done ‘verosimile’ or ‘almost
like real,’ but at the same time pushing it perhaps too much over the
top.
ZOO set the standard high, but there is still much of interest to come
in the Festival.
This article by Tiit Tuumalu first appeared in the
Estonian newspaper Postimees
and was translated by Tiina Laats of The
Estonian Institute
Edited by Jeff.
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