These animals are uncannily familiar

14/05/2010

Which one are you: one of the predators or one of the edibles

Oded Graf and Yossi Berg aim to bring real life into their dance performances, and with this one they have already succeeded: the pair were stuck in San Francisco due to the famous cloud of volcanic ash that hovered over Denmark for what seemed like an eternity, and thus they had to postpone rehearsals for their new performance Animal Lost. However, Graf and Berg are now back in Copenhagen and rehearsals have resumed – actually, they are probably in overdrive right now, with opening night right around the corner.

The driving force behind the performances of Graf and Berg is their reality – their daily life in Tel Aviv, Israel and the general reality of living on Planet Earth in 2010. In this performance they use stereotypes to mirror society – they drive them to the edge of reason and force them to deal with each other. And once the edge of reason has been reached and everybody has taken off their masks, what will be left?

Among the stellar group of young dancers that the two have assembled for Animal Lost is Siri Wolthoorn, a young Danish/Dutch dancer, both feathery and fierce, who has danced with Batsheva Ensemble, the junior company of the internationally-renowned Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv. Joining her on stage are Julia Giertz, Pierre Enaux and Søren Linding Urup – as well as Graf and Berg themselves.

Graf and Berg have been working together since 2005. In 2006, they won the International Competition for Choreographers in Hanover, Germany and in 2005 and 2006 Oded Graf won the Danish choreography competition Dansolution. International dance critics are raving about their works, throwing around words like brilliant, outstanding, charismatic, exciting and impressive. As true citizens of the 21st Century, the pair of course has their own YouTube channel, where over 12,000 people have viewed excerpts from their work so far. What am I saying with all this? Well, if you enter their names into YouTube, a trailer for Animal Lost pops up – watch it! It may not be the most easily accessible piece of dance you have ever seen. Some of it may not even make sense to you. But don’t go on to check your email or your Facebook just yet – watch the trailer all the way to the end and then go and buy your ticket for this performance. Because while I cannot promise you that you will love every second of it, I know for sure that it will trigger something in you. Whether it is good or bad, happy or sad, and whether you leave the theatre annoyed or overjoyed and enlightened, I am sure this will be money well spent. And also, as Graf and Berg continue their artistic journey and go on winning prizes and awards throughout the world, you can say that you’ve seen them – two of the most promising young choreographers in contemporary dance today.

Full review