This production also has 'les choses de la vie' as its theme. The choreographer pays tribute to everyday life and lets the audience see through the eyes of four couples the wealth of the small, the self-evident. Diversity as a working point with dancers from Poland, Italy, Aruba, Sicily, Australia, Portugal, Japan and the Netherlands.
In this full-length evening production, Isabelle Beernaert puts her oldest daughter in the spotlight. Manon is no delicate puppet, but a young woman with a sturdy bone structure, but that doesn't matter. Quite the opposite, even. The world is a collection of large and small, thick and thin. The ideal image that is presented in so many magazines has caused much suffering. Manon is a bundle of vitality and knows how to bring sensuality, pleasure and enjoyment to her part. She does need to be careful not to become a duplicate of her mother in her movements.
Scenography
What certainly deserves a word of praise is the lighting design, for which Mike den Ottolander and Jasper Verhaert were responsible. A whole palette of colors is used, from indigo blue to red, yellow light circles, etc. The costume design by atelier Noterman also gives the production something elegant.
Dramatic Arc
What I miss in 'Le temps perdu' is the power of renewal. In her obsessive search for la condition humaine, Isabelle Beernaert falls into repetition. What is disappointing in this production is once again the great fragmentation. As in her previous productions, Isabelle Beernaert works with numbers of about four minutes each. Beautiful French chansons by, among others, Leo Ferré 'Avec le temps', Yves Montand 'Les feuilles mortes', Barbara 'Quand reviens tu'. The text content is then acted out again by the dancers. Trop is too much. More interesting is when the dancers dance to instrumental music by, among others, Olafur Arnalds, Astor Piazzolla or Bach, that requires greater emotional involvement. Their body language speaks in an affective expression. Those universally recognizable emotions are much stronger. The stillness passages are far too prominently present. They may undoubtedly be there, but here too: trop is too much. It becomes too pathetic. I still prefer to see a dancer dance. One of the highlights of the production is the duet between Joshi Martina and Shu Hui Chan with beautiful and impressive lifts. That delivers thrilling and moving dance.
It's time for Isabelle Beernaert as a choreographer to really dig into one composition, engage in dialogue with the music and distill a coherent story with intelligent structure into one large dramatic arc.
Still to be seen in January 2019 in Vilvoorde and Genk, in February in Gent and Zaventem and in March in Antwerpen and Brugge
- WHAT/WHO: 'Le temps perdu', Isabelle Beernaert
- WHERE/WHEN: Stadsschouwburg Antwerpen Wednesday 21 November