‘THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER’    

Jan Martens

"When you ask a person to jump, 
his attention is mostly directed towards the act of jumping 
and the mask falls so that the real person appears." (1)

 

I sit down, first row in the small theatre. The dancers are finishing their warming up at the back of the stage. The audience slowly becomes quiet, and without a clear reason or command the dancers step towards the shoes in the middle of the stage. They put them on, and stand in a line. One by one, slowly. Again without command they start moving. Little bends in the knee. As if they are a slow machine they start jumping, only to end when the performance is over.

  

(3)

For 70 minutes the dancers perform insane combinations of jumps. At first they do not show any sign of fatigue. When the jump-patterns become harder, and the jumps higher, you can see the dancers slowly starting to get tired. At one point, near the end of the performance, the dancers form a line very close to the audience. You can smell the sweat, hear the breathing, and look the performers in the eyes.

Jan Martens tries, with “THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER”, to reveal the person behind the dancer (2). When I walked into the theatre, I saw a tough looking guy, head up, clear eyes. I looked at him, and saw a dancer. During the whole performance his jumps were high, his back was straight, and he held his head up.

Near the end, the dancers formed a line very close to the audience, I could see the eyes of the dancer. And though his back was straight, his jumps high, and his head up, something in his eyes had changed. His glance did not perform. In his eyes you could see the person.

Without this transformation from the dancers, the piece would be an exhausting exercise. This would be interesting to watch, but because of this clear visible change there was deeper layer to it. Because of this change, Martens succeeded in his try to reveal the person behind the dancer. For some their whole movement changed, for others it was just the eyes, but the change was there.

If you want to see a performance that is not only energizing and exciting because of the exhausting movement, but also contains a strong message, ‘THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER’ is a performance that you can not miss.

(4)

For more information about the piece, and the tour-dates visit: www.janmartens.com/the-dog-days-are-over-2014.html

Based on the performance of Wednesday January 13^th 2016, at Stadstheater Arnhem, the Netherlands.    Review written by Tijmen Teunissen.

Choreographer: Jan Martens

Dancers:           Cherish Menzo,

Piet Defrancq,

Julien Josse,

Laura Vanborm,

 Naomi Gibson,

Nelle Hens,

Steven Michel,

Morgane Ribbens.

Dramaturgy:    Renée Copraij

Light Design:    Jan Fedinger

 

1. "The Dog Days Are over [2014]." Jan Martens. Web. 24 Jan. 2016.                http://www.janmartens.com/the-dog-days-are-over-2014.html
    
2. "The Dog Days Are over [2014]." Jan Martens. Web. 24 Jan. 2016.                http://www.janmartens.com/the-dog-days-are-over-2014.html

      3.  From left to right: Julien Josse, Piet Defrancq, Naomi Gibson, Kimmy Ligtvoet (not in performance 01-13-2016).    Fedinger, Jan. THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER. N.d. Jan Fedinger: THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER. Web. 24 Jan. 2016. http://janfedinger.net/the-dog-days-are-over.

    4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJihEYscrKw