Francine van der Wiel | November 20, 2010

https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2010/11/20/kopstoot-als-liefkozing-11972318-a1385665

Breakin' Walls festival: Couple-Like #2 and Antonia SOSexit. Seen: 17/11, Amsterdam. Inl: www.breakinwalls.nl ***

In 2006, Keren Levi and Ugo Dehaes scored a hit with their duet Couple-like. For Het Lab Utrecht and youth theatre group Dox, they adapted it into a 'lighter' version, which nevertheless remained close to the original.

In the Breakin' Walls festival, Couple-like #2 is performed by young dancers. Almost without letting go, they move along, over and under each other, carefully placing their hands on the other's body, like a caress. They collide hard, he carefully strokes her hair out of her face, she hangs around his neck, they hit each other. Playful, grim, erotic; it's all there. Couple-like is a classic and #2 can also last for years.

Breakin' Wall also features AntoniaSOSexit by Aitana Cordero. This Spanish choreographer and dancer studied at the Amsterdam University of the Arts for six years and was a professional judoka for ten years before that. AntoniaSOSexit still has to mature, but the women's quartet has something irresistible. In any case, the laughter starts to stir when four women, after a slow build-up of voice and movement, tramp across the stage, coming on and off, and do nothing but scream. Sometimes whining like a child, then screaming like someone who has a nervous breakdown. Or sees a spider. But any logical context is missing. The women walk in circles, stand still, lie down on the ground or sprint. This absurd combination of extreme emotional expression and neutral action is funny, with the side effect that you involuntarily start to categorize the cries. The last part is one long struggle, for which a good ending still needs to be thought of.