A2 Dance Theatre, Miss did it hurt when you fell down from heaven

Review in Issue 16-1 | Spring 2004

This hour-long duet reflects the experiences of Alit Kretz's and Anton Miro's shared lives, both personal and professional, through an aesthetic that bears traces of Bausch's visual compositions in the use of costume and settings, reflecting a shared concern with the underlying conditions of human relationships. In this mix of sketches the nature of relationships is ably deconstructed, but without saying anything new or particularly interesting.

At first, our gaze travels across a minimal dance floor only to be arrested by a virulent lime-green wall. Against this wall a variety of 'sketches’ will be enacted including drinking with charcoal figures in bars, and a fairground shooting gallery (with a slightly 'political' slant). These are combined with moments of abstracted action that reflect the moments of obsessive and selfish behaviour within a relationship. Most potent is a surreal removing of knickers followed by a dialogue in which the property and identity of one partner is ‘stripped' by the other. This delicate tragicomic moment contains a humane quality, and the care with which this is performed reflects an obviously deep-felt connection between the two dancers.

Elsewhere, A2 are most engaging when they play with the conventions of performance through repetition and self-referencing. A small Swiss mountain grows out of bed sheets, is dusted with flour and becomes the backdrop for a picnic as a list of the production costs scroll up the back wall.

Unfortunately there are times when this eclectic and random mix of visual images and spoken text has an inconsistent effect that loses the piece its sense of clarity and purpose. It is an interesting project that needs more time to grow.

Presenting Artists
Presenting Venue
Date Seen
  1. Jan 2004

This article in the magazine

Issue 16-1
p. 24