Howl 

Amos Ben-Tal, Spinvis | OFFprojects, Korzo producties

 This performance is a bit different than the 'normal' dance performances that I saw. It is performed in the form of a talk show. So a host, who also is a musician in the piece, asks questions to a couple of dancers about their career, how they started dancing, about their childhood or just about other things in their lives. Then they performe a short solo or duet. 

At a certain point the story makes the dancers and musicians all involved in what is happening in the interview and it evolves to a dance piece with live music. 

Howl is presented in a very casual atmosphere. Until the end of the piece everything is told as a very light story. With some songs in and dance in between. Also the movement itself isn't too heavy. Some of the dancers are ex-dancers of NDT and the other dancers bring the same kind of quality on stage in my opinion. The dance is mostly neoclassical with long lines and beautiful smoothness in movement. 

The concept of the piece I really liked. It had something very different from everything else that I've seen before, and the fact that there was live music and a talkshow form in it really gave it an extra dimension. As an audience you felt more involved to the people in the piece, because they told such personal things about themselves. However the dance itself didn't really get to me like, I guess, it was supposed to be. The dancers were absolutely beautiful in how they moved and performed, but for me beautiful was just the right word. It didn't have this extra for me on top of the beauty, that made it really impressive or inspiring. 

I realise that this is a matter of taste. Although I didn't feel really touched by the dance, someone else could well be. I think that if you enjoy watching technical dance, this is a performance you should see. Because it has this little extra that makes it more personal and for me also more enjoyable than just the dance would be on it's own.

Date: 27-01-2017 at the opening of Cadance festival in The Hague

Choreography: Amos Ben-Tal 

Live music: Spinvis with Saartje van Camp

Dance: Aurélie Cayla, Milena Twiehaus, Yvan Dubreuil, Genevieve Osborne, Amos Ben-Tal

Artistic advice: Yvan Dubreuil 

Technique: Xavier van Wersch

Photo's: Jochen Jürgens