Francine van der Wiel | May 18, 2012

https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2012/05/18/dansers-in-de-nissen-van-utrecht-1107910-a1305074

Festival a/d Werf, performances seen: 17/5, Utrecht. Until 26 May. Info: www.festivalaandewerf.nl

Yesterday, the Utrecht Festival a/d Werf started its last edition in a positive mood. Next year, it will merge with Springdance and the municipality of Utrecht has this week pronounced a favorable judgment on the merger. With the prospect of municipal subsidy, extra European funds and possibly also a contribution from the government, the Spring Festival (working title) seems ready to start.

Judging by the first day of the 2012 edition, a general refresher is welcome. A temporary festival camp has once again been set up on the Neude, where the festival was launched relatively unnoticed on Thursday at five o'clock. Earlier, the old-fashioned location piece Urbandrifting by Austrian Willi Dörner had already been shown in the Noorderstraat. Six dancers puzzled themselves into piles or towers and squeezed themselves in, around, on and under rickety furniture to end in a carefully arranged installation of even more everyday furniture. In it, they carried out a chain reaction in the spirit of the famous art film Der Lauf der Dinge by the duo David Weiss/Peter Fischli. The easy-going "city walk with free running at the end" was not really impressive either, although the bodies of the dancers, here and there wedged in niches or folded in half, regularly caused surprised exclamations: "There's another one!"