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Meg Stuart & Tim Etchells: Shown and Told. 07.05.2017, HAU 2, Berlin.

“I have had enough experience of improvising with dancers to usually be able to discern rapidly which direction things are going in, and what kind of situation is emerging. But that doesn’t always work here”, says choreographer Meg Stuart in the interview Into uncharted waters with Pieter T’Jonck when talking about improvising with theater maker/writer Tim Etchells.

The mind blowing performers’ improvisation, that was structured with time, and apparently, with predetermined tasks, gained more meaning when they both got out of what they are used to do: Stuart started to talk with us telling why she dances and Etchells began moving on the floor, reminiscent of a compass—yet, as they both shine on stage, somehow, instead of an improvisation that grows out of togetherness, there were times that two performances aroused to happen at the same time. Better not to mention: the moment they started to make farting noises on stage or the quick pace of the text improvisation that decreased the effect of the vigorous text. However, in general, they made us laugh—as from time to time they also couldn’t stop but giggled with shyness; they opened up to us with spoken word and we learned more about their fears (was I alone with them in the black box?). A cure for a comedown—at least for me.