Impulstanz in their fervour of post modernist celebration are running a little tidbit from the Jonathan Burrows piece ‘Both Sitting Duet’ where the two protagonists – Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion – are literally just sitting down and flapping their arms about!
Ok so they do a little bit more than just flap their arms about but let’s face it, there’s not a lot else to do when you’re sitting down on a chair/stool/box of rotting kippers! (delete as applicable)
The website gushes;
“[the piece] has been seen at all the important festivals between Montreal, Vienna and Yokahama. This is because Burrows, a Royal Ballet dropout, and composer Fargion radiate relaxation. They place two ring binders with their score in front of themselves and begin to dance with their hands and arms, find and alter rhythms, everything as if it was spontaneous but with well-controlled continuity.”
I would offer two alternative reasons as to why this work has been round the festivals like a dose of bird flu in a chicken coup.
1. It’s probably a lot cheaper than getting even a moderately sized company to come to your festival (two hotel rooms and a couple of chairs, sorted!) and if it’s not then it should be.
2. This is just the sort of nonsensical claptrap that contemporary danceophiles™ lap up because it’s ‘different’, ‘engaging’, ‘joyfully understated’, [insert fawning justification for not chucking this work in the nearest canal here].
Taking the p*ss? Yes I think they probably are!
