Georges Labbat’s Self/Unnamed
Lilian Bayliss Studio
27-28 March
part of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival
Review by Richard Lambert, 2 Stars
An interesting concept but rather a one-trick pony with dancer/choreographer Labbat spinning, always counter-clockwise, probably around 4000 times in a 50 minute piece. There is on the spot spinning, and around a circle, again counter-clockwise, spinning. However, there is no change of direction or full use of the performance space.
Dressed in a small strip of tucking material, so looking as naked as the dummy he dances with, there are some interesting hand-holds and positions between the dummy and Labbat moving from arms length grip to quite intimate. The dummy’s arms and hands forming very naturalistic human positioning here and there.
The section where the dummy is swung around by a rope attached at its ankle had a BDSM feel about it.
Simple lighting effects accompany the couple and a song is played at one point in the show.
There is a lot of beauty in the images created by the dancer and the dummy however the overall piece feel somewhat under-developed.
