To Antwerp this evening, to De Singel, to see the Tanztheater Wupperthal performing Pina Bausch’s Ten Chi. The piece was written as a series of observations – at times witty, at times sharper in tone – about contemporary Japanese society and culture. We came out of the theatre with divided opinions. It was, as one would expect, very well performed, but I found myself getting distracted. Most of the second half of the piece takes place under a constant flutter of fake snowflakes and even if they were not so much of a cliché when the piece was written, they become monotonous and redundant. Music and dance are interspersed with the spoken word, which was fine, but the performers only rarely interact, so that the overall construction of the piece seemed (to me) to be reduced to a series of solos and monologues. Those who were more unconditionally enthusiastic would surely dispute my use of the word ‘reduced’. There is, indeed, nothing wrong with a series of solos, but we know what these dancers are capable of not only on their own but also when they dance together. There were indeed fragmentary moments when they did dance together, but those left me wanting more. I’d better shut up, though, because the audience applauded ecstatically at the end…
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