FOR ALL WE KNOW at the Korzo in The Hague in the Holland Dance Festival 2020

Antonin Comestaz graduated from the Paris Opera Ballet school in 1999 and has since worked in Paris, Munich, Mainz and eventually in in Rotterdam with Scapino. He now is based in The Netherlands and has, since 2013, concentrated on developing his own work as a freelance choreographer.

His For All We Know which was at the Korzo last night was a well-conceived piece which was visually very pleasing with some excellent lighting and lots of smoke which I always enjoy.

The piece was divided roughly into five segments performed by Matjia Franjeŝ, Frederik Kaijser, Olivia Lecomte and Romane Petit. It started with them in silhouette dancing to a loud eighties disco beat – which stopped almost before it got started to present a much more sporty scene with the two girls and two boys revealed wearing white vests and beige coloured jeans. To a sort of light industrial soundscape they constantly entwined in a never ending cats-cradle. Down stage right was a two meter square rostrum on which they took turns to move. At this point the sound came only from the movements on the rostrum which obviously had a very sensitive microphone attached. I thought this was a brilliant and obvious idea which I had never seen before. It makes so much sense that dancers should provide their own soundtrack. Dance is their voice and the sound of it should be amplified for us all to hear.

For the second segment they stripped off their gym gear and donned black boiler suits and it all became much more industrial and aggressive on a smoke filled stage to incessant percussive loops providing the throbbing beat. It then all became rather more subdued with a series of solos and duets. This was followed by a projection sequence which worked very well, first with the faces of the performers made up as grotesque clown projected on the upturned rostrum and then dissolving city-scapes on the white floor of the stage. The rostrum took centre stage for the final segment when the dancers twisted in slow motion to an organ soundtrack. They finally shed their boiler suits, dropped them on the dramatically lit platform and silently left the stage.   Michael Hasted   23rd January 2020

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