Like the piece, their inventive precocity is overwhelming. Playful, jerky and always quirky, Dominique Porte's latest work for herself and three other fine dancers underlines how difficult it must be for a choreographer who is never at a loss for ideas to choose which ones to show the public. Despite abundant gestural material and impeccable performances by Elijah Brown, Sara Hanley, Fabrice Merlen and Porte, this risks burying audiences alive with too many ideas. It begins beautifully. The stage is bathed in levels of light by Stephane Menigot, a promising lighting designer.
Dancers balance on, or clomp around, the stage in oversized shoe boxes.
They draw attention to other elements by turning a lamp on and off and pressing on sound pads to release sounds. But soon, these props become more important than the dance. Three dancers exude calm while a third behaves like a madman, cavorting in great ungainly leaps into every corner of the stage. It's fun to watch and, judging from their playful interaction, fun to do. A carefully constructed outgrowth of improvisations by dancers, one episode melts into the next.