Xavier Le Roy, Self-Unfinished

Photo: Katrin Schoof

Xavier was unfinished alright, or at least he made himself look like it. I had to look at him really hard at times, to figure out how the hell he did it. Basically, the piece is Xavier twisting and turning himself into forms and shapes - and we see him doing this with/without clothes on. He alters the image. And the image is his body. And his body becomes an optical illusion. Xavier is toying with our perception, and he does it well. As he left the stage to the tune Upside Down by Diana Ross, I still couldn't tell if what I had just seen was an enormous headless chicken with four tiny, skinny limbs, or Xavier Le Roy himself.

Pieter Ampe and Guilherme Garrido, Still Difficult Duet Photo: Bart Grietens It's difficult to watch, that's what it is: starting off with light synchronised jumps, the two barbarians suddenly begin smacking and spanking each other leaving red and burning imprints of hands around their naked bodies. Despite the anarchistic nature of the piece, stamina, timing, and trust were still crucial elements - and this is the reason, this sado-masochistic galore was so funny. Liquid Loft / Chris Haring & Jin Xing Dance Theatre, Lovely Liquid Lounge Photo: Liquid Loft It was a long evening of different works, taking place in what they had turned into a comfy lounge. The overall theme, which seemed to be gender, was extremely evident in most of the pieces, although in some much less. Maybe the inconsistency of this was confusing to begin with. The main production of the evening, Das China Projekt, raised questions about gender in relation to society, although the way it dealt with these questions was somewhat disappointing. Or so it seemed. It was impossible to make out whether Jin Xing, who played a role in the piece herself, was pretending to be the stereotype of an ignorant, orthodox, middle aged woman - or if she actually is one in real life? One or the other, it makes a huge difference to the work. Even as a transgender person, she fits surprisingly well into the female role traditionally held by society, which to me neglects everything the piece could be trying to argue. Were they, or were they not spokesmen of these conservative traditions? Par B.L.eux / Benoît Lachambre & Louise Lecavalier & Hahn Rowe & Laurent Golding, Is You Me Photo: Andre Cornelier A collaboration between dance, music and digital art. Visual, incredibly visual, but very two-dimensional. Something was missing, perhaps the fact that Louise Lecavalier wasn't performing due to personal affairs, could have had an impact - but I'm not sure because I don't know what the piece is like normally. What I know is that Benoît Lachambre had to perform an adapted version of the piece, so all the dance was in fact improvised. As was the live digital art on the screen behind it. Unfortunately, it just all seemed so flat, although some people liked the meditativeness of it. I think I failed to appreciate that. Mark Tompkins, kings & queens Photo: Gilles Toutevoix A gig/performance starring Mark Tompkins as a drag (hence the queen). Or at least to begin with, because for every song he sang he added a piece of clothes, which in the end made him look like.. a sheriff (hence the king). The music, which was mainly rock'n'roll, was performed with capacity and spirit, and Mark Tompkins' voice was old and rough, which made me believe in his words even more. Mark Tompkins, Empty Holes Photo: Anne Nordmann A physical-theatre/puppet/shadow show starring Mark Tompkins (& dolls) as storyteller(s). Empty Holes. He could be referring to the holes in the love dolls, with who he was acting out the love life between a very sad woman and a very sad man called Doris and John Dreem. But maybe not, since the piece was considering heavy duty subjects such as life, love, and death. It was indeed a tragic, but amusing piece of work.