It was on the Campo Alegre Theatre, located in Oporto, (2015) that I saw this performance made by Cristina Planas Leitão and Jasmina Križaj and as part of the process there was a third interpreter: Simon Wehrli. The first time I read the title I was guessing that the choreography would be totally the opposite, in fact was precisely as it’s written. However, the piece was apparently ‘boring’ the clothes were very bright and colourful, the sparkles spread all over the stage, as well as the fans placed in different spots letting the sparkles flying away, gave a different feeling to the audience. In the end, I was being distracted by something, although the dancers weren’t moving that much. In one hand the piece was ‘boring’ because of its frequency and on the other hand it wasn’t because of its props that were tempting enough to catch my attention.   

Choreographically talking, the dancers seemed like living status and the transitions in between positions were very slow so, after half an hour I was expecting a change of mood. Actually there was an alteration on their attitude in the end of the piece, where they were holding hands and giving weight to each other, which consequently created a circular flow. Even though the piece had this low frequency, they didn’t forget the audience, they still kept the focus on us to create interaction and also intimidation. Was this relation that allowed me to be conscious about their way of moving: suspicious, undefined and hesitant. They seemed to say nothing. Emptiness.

 The piece was well set and organized, I could see hard work behind, but as a total performance I didn’t feel connected or related to. Maybe because I was trying to understand the concept or their choices to make the piece ‘boring’ and by consequence that pulled me out of the observation plus appreciation of the performance. Instead of being occupied with the dancer’s performance, I was completely busy with my thoughts that were doubting about those choices. From watching the piece and building this interpretation I conclude that ‘nothing’ can be a starting point and very open to new horizons.  

   Made by: Cristina Planas Leitão & Jasmina Krizaj with: Simon Wehrli, Cristina Planas Leitão & Jasmina Krizaj
   Dramaturge: Nienke Scholts (& Igor Dobricic durante o Nagib Festival)
   Music: Symphonies of the Planets – NASA
   Sound effects, costumes and light design: CJ
   Co-produtores: Dansateliers Rotterdam (NL); Hellerau, Europaisches Zentrum der Kunsten, Dresden (DE); Plesna Izba Maribor (SI) in the context of Modul Dance
    Support and residential space: Nagib Parkour Festival 2012, Maribor (SI); Lugar Instável & Teatro do Campo Alegre, Porto (PT); Companhia Instável (PT); O Espaço do Tempo (PT); DeVIR/CAPa (PT)