Dance in the mirror of the throwaway society

With "DE FESCHE MODE" the dance company at the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater ventures onto the catwalk

Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten,
29.01.2020,
Andreas Herrmann
(...) Now the subject is fashion, which on the one hand sets the frame as a witty history lesson with the costumes of outfitter Markus Pysall, on the other hand in the evening choreographed by Dan Pelleg and Marko E. Weigert again and again ambivalently shows the social constraints by standardization or classification through clothing. (…)

(...) Already at the beginning there is the best as well as the most practical costume: barefoot youth in white T-shirts and blue jeans, loosely on the long catwalk - already that a point against the affected industry. (…)

(...) Also the dance in knight's armor or a shoehorn samurai number with Harrison Claxton, Francisco Martínez García, Rafail Boumpoucheropoulos and Lorenzo Rispolano, partly in pajama mode, provide amusement, while the corset of Marianne Reynaudi or the lotus shoe with Nami Miwa remain drastic as compulsion. (…)

(...) At the very end, the big Depeche Mode block follows - in "Just Can't Get Enough" Amit Abend and Mami Kawabata, who earlier dared to allude to Lady Gaga's beef costume via macaroni dress, two ladies in ever bigger hats compete against each other. (…)

(...) Incredible how chief choreographer Dan Pelleg - who, like dance director Marko E. Weigert, remains at least alternately active in the productions - still whirls along nimbly. Large, memorable images emerge again and again - and are transferred to the next sequence in the blink of an eye. The dancers in their dynamism master every transformation, driven as usual by a specially composed fluid sound collage (Pelleg) and outstanding lighting design (Weigert). (…)

(...) After two hours including an intermission, the simple as perfect starting position - barefoot, white T-shirts, blue jeans at "Personal Jesus" (as a version of Shefita) - is restored to great premiere cheers. (…)