Review: Moving Being
Choreography: Ton Simons.
Dance: Dance Works Rotterdam.
Worldpremiere: Rotterdamse Schouwburg, november, 19 2008.



ART/ De Volkskrant, November, 24 2008 by Annette Embrechts

Ton Simons and Bach have not finished with each other yet

DANCE He was not done yet. Last year Ton Simons choreographed “Human Figures”, a series of human crossroads to the first fourteen Preludes and Fugues of Bach’s famous “Das Wohltemperierte Klavier”.
As if the last chord only just sounded, Simons proceeds in “Moving Being” with Prelude and Fugue number 15, working through number 24, completing his treatment of Bach’s first book again with the young, solidly playing Manuel Araújo at the concert piano.
Simons continues his signature pure dance vocabulary, which makes him so unique in the Netherlands. In complete harmony the dancers enter each time for the next variation. As in “Human Figures” there are many beautiful duets with a clear design and articulated, long legs. Sometimes the duets are doubled into quartets. The male quartets are strikingly loose and playful, but well within the formal Simons vernacular. The men support each other’s leg lifts in the air, not unlike they do with the women. In the male/female duets it is noticeable how Simons makes use of the women’s facial expression. They smile mysteriously whilst utilizing their male partners as hinge-support. More room is given to swing in “Moving Being” . In “Human Figures” the light-color transitions were hard edged and mechanical, in addition to pictures of the universe. Now everything looks softer, including the skin colored outfits that flutter loosely compared to the tighter, black, body hugging costumes.
The only component which disappoints extremely consists of the computer engineered light projections by Peter Struycken. The figurations of dots and spirals (allotted by Struycken to the Preludes), squares and graphs ( assigned to the Fugues by Struycken), look like simple screensavers from the beginning of the computer era, as they mutate to vanishing points on the stage wide back-screen. The pale color scheme also is unworthy of Struycken and diminishes this otherwise courteous performance.