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Sunday 29 July 2012

Dance Tribute to the Art of Football

Choreography: Jo Strømgren (premiere in 1997)
Location: Scene 2, the Opera House, Oslo
Time: Saturday 28th, 19:00

If I had to describe it with one word I'd probably end up with Entertaining, something often lacking in football, (AND contemporary dance) especially in the spanish league where the players tend to stop the game every now and then to take a breather lying down in the grass? freshen up on the spray tan? Looking good on tv? I sort of liked the sport before, but many years of La Liga has killed that.
  • 4 good dancers
  • lots of football movements: both the useful ones and the silly ones
  • lots of testosterone and ball scratching
  • the quiet, the unhinged, the naive and the beautiful
  • nuditiy AS PART OF THE STORY!!!! YES!! NOT primarily for the effect! A first, I belive, in a looong time. 
  • manging to combine grace and brutality
  • music in the habitual mix of classical and tecno
  • the first few minutes I was not sure if the one female dancer was that or just a young boy/man. 
  • lots of laughs
  • was there a reference to "Pas de Quatre"? I think so. The ballett nerd in me finds that soo cool, and soo appropiate. The biggest Divas today are in football after all.
  • The dance secuences are so fluid both in choreography and in execution.   
The piece does what it says and merges football and dance, for Your Entertainment! But some of the "cheaper" laughs could be exchanged for some more interesting football-moves-experimentation? I thought it lacked some depth.

We are never content, are we? 


This is possibly the least helpful description of a performance I have ever written, but in a sense fitting to the piece. Funny, well executed, but not memorable as far as the dancing goes. 

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