The Missing Door - Gabriela Carrizo

A door opens. A person in a king sized bed suddenly divides into two individuals. The cleaning lady opens the closet only to have 7 people ramble out of it. And suddenly, there are only two people left on the stage – one is slowly falling backwards in her arm chair, the other is rolling on the floor twisting his back inside out in a way only few people can do in such a graceful, yet powerful way.

In a stage setup consisting of a large room – three walls with doors and windows inhabited by everything that would fit into a house – beds, closets, tables and chairs – several intertwining stories unfold in Nederlands Dans Theater’s performance The Missing Door. It consists of two similar yet separated pieces created by Belgian based choreographer Gabriela Carrizo.

From people walking in from the snowstorm on the balcony over hidden people in the closet to relationship struggles the dancers of NDT create both dramatic and more abstract stories in collaboration with the complex mechanical systems of the stage set. The dancers manage to keep the image of an everyday scenario through a combination of pedestrian movement and the typical flexibility and strength based dance that NDT has as their trademark. This throws an atmosphere of physical theatre over the stage in the style of Carrizo’s own company Peeping Tom, but without a single word spoken.

The impressive set design’s interaction with the dancers and vice versa creates two very eye catching and humorous pieces that manages to keep the attention of the audience throughout the whole performance. With the unique movement style of the choreographer combined with the technical virtuosity of NDT’s dancers The Missing Door is a pleasant surprise for newcomers, contemporary theater lovers and devoted NDT fans alike.

The Missing Door is the first half of Nederlands Dans Theater’s evening programme Start Again, followed by Stop-motion by house choreographers Sol Leon and Paul Lightfoot.

Sebastian Pickering