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Yuko Kaseki, Emilio Gordoa: On The Shape of Darkness. 21.07.2017, SOUN D ANCE Festival, Dock 11, Berlin

A body stands still while the steps come closer (we are entering)—during the performance the musician will be wandering around, putting a microphone in its mouth to generate rustling sounds, hitting the paper to its chest and squeezing it with hands; building small, temporary sound-installations with speakers that also create wind and vibration for various bells or pieces of paper to produce accompanying sounds that slowly construct a sound sculpture of noise, improvisation and experimental music. The flicker of the dim-lighting fits perfectly as the repetitive electronic sounds were slowly enriched with different types of bells and speakers and the whole engendered a space to meditate with the sound.

But.

Another body with silver high-heels starts to roll on the floor; a contemporary version of Butoh with a glittery costume is being performed—we rarely see but hear and the small gestures of the dancer disappear, because of such dimmed lighting and the contractions that usually have the potential to lead the entire body and the audience to another entity were lost; at the end there was more darkness than shapes.

Despite an instant, where the Butoh dancer begins to spit and blow to the vibraphone’s pipes, while the musician is playing it, the collaboration fails; the audience witnesses two appealing, yet non-unified performances that disrupted each other’s quality.

4.5’s SOUN D ANCE Festival Blog