Dance ambassador Ophelia Onyeukwu

Hush by De Dansers

Dance piece, acrobatics show, concert or poetry slam?

Starting with a bright, clear tone and ending with a tender, melancholic tone in the darkness, De Dansers’ stunning play ‘Hush’ filled the stage of the Theater Strahl.

You can't judge if it was a dance piece, an acrobatics show, a concert or a poetry slam, because it was everything. The six dancers interwoven dance, acrobatics music and language with flowing transitions. A continuous flow of movement ran through the piece, with sometimes tender, as well as angular and structured gestures.

The transitions within the different dance qualities made the piece alive and captivating at the same time. The sounds also played a big role: The notes of the piano and drums accompanied almost the whole show and partly accompanied saxophone solos or vocals. But not only the drums gave the performance the beat, also the bodies of the dancers with their movements themselves. On the one hand the clapping on one's own body, on the other hand the synchronized, stung movements. In addition, the intense breath of the six dancers filled the silent moments between the loud ones.

Every moment of the performance was rehearsed down to the smallest detail and deliberately considered. Be it the elegant to-ground throwing, the re-up-helping or the complex jumps that gave the piece a weightlessness. Every movement and every sound followed and at the same time seemed like improvisation. While words named themes such as water, love and strife, the duo struggled with love and tenderness, accompanied by babbling water sounds. The duo represented an extreme alternation between struggle and love that drew the audience into the action. Just like the clear, strong choreography of a quartet, with its repetitive, memorable movements.

The intense piece ended with togetherness and tenderness, followed by an impressive duo, accompanied by singing until only the tender, melancholic tone ended in the darkness.