YES!
So clean it can be done. And so strong. The Belgian dancer Olga de Soto gave us, with her simple little solo performance, an experience that we will remember for a long time. Not that she made us laugh, or touched us to tears, or impressed us with gymnastic steps. Without any make-up and unaffected, in a bare black space, she presented her two choreographies in which the focus is put on the dynamics of the movement itself - here was no extra play nor extra expressivity.
The evening opened with Bergen's world première of the performance I believe… Through a simple but immensely powerful scenography, the choreography unfolds in front of our eyes, in a field through which a multiple number of associations targeting the concept of "time" seem to gradually appear. A small sandglass placed on the stage is later followed by "tracks" falling from the roof, as three stripes of sand that quiet poured down in three different light mounds. The abstract movement of the choreography unfolded itself both in silence and with music by the incredible exciting contemporary composer Thierry De Mey.
Enthusiasm also for the choreography Patios. Debussy soulful piano compositions got here a new dimension through Olga de Soto's interpretation. Beautiful, earthy - real.
Bergen's first dance festival got truly a great opening!
Ase Løvset Glad, Ja!, Bergens Tidende (NO), Sept 10, 1993