performance at Cadance Festival, The Hague 2006
feat. Martin Butler and Renée Copraij
Musicians: Maximilian Ehrhardt, Lieke Jetten
Light design: Harry Cole
filesize: 12MB
2006: Protocol Of Desire
NRC 06/11/08
[click to enlarge]
translation:
Intriguing was Protocol of Desire by Martin Butler and Renée Copraij. As a performer and man of the theatre, Butler moves along the dividing line between dance and mime, and Copraij mainly became known as a dancer with Fleming Jan Fabre.
Their duet is particularly so exciting because it is staged with great accuracy and finesse. This is true of both their exasperatingly drawn-out performance and the exact measured steps with which they approach each other. In the beginning, they present themselves as an elegant dancing counterpart of the artistic duo Gilbert & George. Gradually, their performance turns into a bizarre ritual. They undress until they are almost stark naked, each of them draping their clothes over a chair with meticulous painstakingness. Their expressive movements have the lucid beauty and quiet poetry of the Belgian surrealist Magritte. Carried out coolly, this performance of longing erupts into a savage shadow play, under the swinging accompaniment of the electronically amplified chords of harp and hurdy-gurdy. Protocol of Desire is odd but invigorating.
Isabella Lanz – NRC, 8 November, 2006