As part of Luminate – a Scotland-wide festival of, and about, creative ageing – the Belgium company Kabinet K plunged our perceptions of how we look at people (and dance) into freefall.
In part one, a child and an old man joined choreographer Joke Laureyns onstage in episodes that had nuances of family games, family rituals. And yet, as the little girl fell into matching step with Laureyns or repeated the weary "head in hands" gestures of the elderly man, the whole piece became wonderfully evocative of how custom and craft are passed, bodily, from generation to generation.
The trust that is shared by the trio is revealed in details of gesture and interaction that twinkle with humour and affection so that the profound elements within the work – how we learn by looking, how individual bodies perform the same actions differently and how we, ourselves, factor in "age" as a defining characteristic – are conveyed with a tremendous lightness of touch.
Part two, and another trio. This time the choreographer is male, Kwint Manshoven, and his companions are a girl (early teens) and an old woman, both of whom keep a watchful eye on his quirkily boisterous behaviour – joining in, with perhaps little hints of gamesmanship rivalry, but also making sure he has the right clothes, the right props for his merry escapades. As he prances bare-torsoed to baroque music, there's a sense of "oh no – not again" in the looks from both women, but the exasperation is blithely channelled into caring for this overgrown child who, like everyone else in this joyful life-affirming diptych, has a thrilling creative energy whatever their age.
HHHH
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article