When going to see a performance billed as dance, you might reasonably expect there to be some actual dance in it. Sadly, this piece had none, despite being created by Philippe Blanchard whose training and professional career in dance and choreography is extensive. Born in France, he began by studying music and dance in La Rochelle. Since then he has worked with companies such as Batsheva Dance Company in Israel, Cullberg Ballet in Sweden and the world-renowned Netherlands Dans Theater.
Read a little more into Blanchard’s history however, and you find words like ‘unconventional’ or phrases like ‘didn’t conform to expectations’. While these can often be good things, I must reemphasise my first point – a dance piece really should include at least a little dance.
Instead, This Is That, performed by Italian filmmakers and twin brothers Luca and Gabriele Stifani, felt like a mixture of contemporary art, theatre and spoken word. It began with Luca (or was it Gabriele, I’m not sure) telling the audience about various parts of the set “This is a wall. This is a pillar. This is a desk. This is a chair,” and so it went on until the observations became less literal and more shrewd – an open door became “an opportunity”, a light switch became “a solution to a problem”.
Speaking of light switches, all remained on for the hour duration, indicating to the audience from the start that we would be part of the show at some point whether we liked it or not. Having said that, participation turned out to be minimal. It was more that the performers preferred to use the whole auditorium as their stage, making the show into what the programme accurately describes as a ‘game’ – sometimes guess who, sometimes hide and seek, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant. Particularly affecting was a segment where moments in time were represented by a phrase and a single pose. Face stretched into a shout and attempting to climb the theatre wall – “It’s 1989, we’re at Hillsborough.” Sitting holding the hand of an audience member – “It’s 2001, we’re on a plane.”
Repetition was a major part of the show. Using the same recorded dialogue played on a loop through a laptop and each time presenting different characters or situations was a clever way to show that things aren’t always as they seem. And ‘same but different’ presented itself as a theme with the twins resorting to a sack full of dressing up outfits that gradually, as the layers were piled on (or taken off), transformed them into polar opposites.
There’s no question that the Stifani brothers are talented; I found them charming, witty and indeed engaging at times. But watching two grown men do nothing but nod and shake their heads for what seemed like an eternity – in reality it was probably about 5-10 minutes – isn’t my idea of time well spent. It’s a shame because parts of this performance were clever and thought-provoking but, as a whole, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Luca and Gabriele Stifani performed Philippe Blanchard’s This Is That at Lakeside Arts Centre on Wednesday 27 May 2014.
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