Five dance pieces from the Festival Off Avignon 2023
© Katherine Longly A bunch of haiku: Not I In a medium-sized courtyard at 9.15 a.m. Birds chirping, their shadows passing momentarily across the surface of the sunlit wall. Square wooden platform in the centre, L-shaped with spectators on either side; front row on the floor, back row on chairs. On the diagonal of the platform, a woman in a kimono-inspired dress sits on her knees with her back to the audience. A minimalist stage with various objects: a bowl of onions, a fish, a long thin board, a cast steel carpenter's press, a white cloth. During the performance, other objects are added to these: a sharp steel knife, a glass and a bottle of wine hidden in the cloth. A meditation accompanied by a vague, scratchy soundscape (atmospheric sound design: Jean-Philippe Gross) emanating from mini-speakers placed at various points on the stage throughout the show; delicate, hard, sharp, stormy, soft, smooth, straight, sinuous, seemingly serene on the surface but harbouring tens...