"Alles ist klar …"

published by: Süddeutsche Zeitung - Katja Schneider on 15 July 2001

Everything is crystal-clear. A study of falling, crashing and staggering: Thomas Hauert's production 'Jetzt'

In this study of falling, crashing, staggering and toppling over, Thomas Hauert and his company (two women and three men) present us with very beautiful movements. They all describe circles, spirals and ever-changing constellations on the stage encircled by legs.

They meet for improvised duets in which each of the characters falls according to his or her personality. One of them totters, another yields resignedly to his weight, a third one staggers as if tipsy. The accompaniment, jazzy piano music by Thelonious Monk, performed as if in passing, gives it all a feathery lightness. The atmosphere is merry, jaunty despite all the concentrated weight. A video projection on the back wall and on white surfaces dragged onto the stage shows dancers, as immovable as rocks, amidst the stream of passersby. At the end we do not only see the dancers, but also vacillating shapes created by their trajectories in space.