Stadsschouwburg Utrecht 13 january 2013  

Choreographed by: Ed Wubbe

Scapino Ballet presents a remake of

'Romeo en Julia'

“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” Who doesn’t know this world famous sentence?

A tragedy written by William Shakespeare, has been filmed, the music has been re-composed by more than eight different composers and it has been performed by several dance companies.

With the remake of Romeo en Julia, the Scapino Ballet succeeded to breathe new life into this old fashion tragedy.

As the choreographer was saying himself in an interview that this remake of Romeo and Juliet could also took place in Afghanistan, Irak or Syrië had to do with the music that was been played by “The Legendary love Orchestra” who were playing live on stage. A mix of different cultures like India, Senegal, Brazil and Africa and a combination of instruments such as djembe, Indian table and Argentine bandoneon created a middle east atmosphere.

A constant battle between the man and woman was showed by strong/aggressive movements especially by the man that where making use of HipHop and tricking elements on the back wall of the stage.

The romantic scenes where often supported by the African and Brazilian vocals. The dialog that emerged between the dancers and the musicians brought me into the story.

At the first moment I expected to see a kind of classical piece because of the name but this was above all of my expectations. The relation between the dancers and musicians worked so strong, they really mattered instead of having just some music with the performance. It took me into the story. The man had a really strong presence, with using small movements they still had a good physicality. Also the costumes the man where wearing made them looked like they were ruling, powerful.

To see a performance without being forced to go deep into the story line and to enjoy more the sensation of movements and music I would definitely recommend this performance.