Cildren- and Youth at schrit_tmacher justdance!

Impressions „LOEV“ Danstheater AYA

It’s 1 pm in Kerkrade Theatre and it’s really loud. …

Observations by Natalie Broschat

Around 300 schoolchildren have come to watch ‘LOEV’ by Danstheater AYA. The Dutch group led by choreographer Ryan Djojokarso, who is interested in interpersonal relationships and has already explored them in ‘TWOOLS’ (2018) for the Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, for example, has explored the most heartfelt of all feelings in this piece: love (loev in Dutch). A total of eight people are on stage: the Maat Saxophone Quartet, consisting of Daniel Ferreira, Catarina Gomes, Pedro Silva and Mafalda Oliveira and the four dancers Simon Mual, Thersa Bergmann, Sam Corver and Thu Hang Pham. Dancing at an incredibly high level, the group moves through scenic advances, unrequited feelings, affection and rejection and the performers captivate the children in dynamic, whirling and really smart choreographies. Driven and supported by the Maat Saxophone Quartet. The stage, consisting of a red carpet and a platform on stilts, serves primarily as a seating area, but could have offered even more scope for exploration, hiding and surprises. The lighting technology of the well-equipped theatre would certainly have had a few more spotlights on offer to let the great artists shine in the right light. In the course of the play, stereotypical behaviour and patterns are exaggerated, such as when two men are bursting with belligerence in a cockfight or the bitchy women howl deafeningly. It is precisely through this negativity and the incessant fighting that the world comes to an end. What then emerges out of nowhere looks like a smartly dressed, almost uniformed concert group singing about the importance of togetherness, brilliantly intoned by Catarina Gomes and including all eight performers. This energy radiates into the audience and the children leave the hall feeling inspired. Oh, how beautiful.