30 Appearances Out of Darkness make it glow in your braincase ★★★★☆

The Holland Festival e-mails prior to the premiere of 30 Appearances Out of Darkness choreographer Arno Schuitemaker issued a warning about the use of flashes of light. That’s an understatement. Halfway through, LED tubes flash on and off across the full width of the Transformer House at such a vicious pace that it has a torturous effect on the optic nerves. That bizarre assault on the senses even lingers for days. That is therefore the only criticism of an otherwise flawlessly constructed total crescendo in dance, light and sound.

This dance performance has everything that a low-stimulus performance does not have. Before the start we look at a battery of headlights for a long time. One by one, the contours of naked bodies loom up between columns of black cloth. Layers of floodlight make their epidermis flare up. Just as subtly as their arms, shoulders and legs light up in the depths, they also casually disappear into the twilight, until only shadows betray their presence.

For a long time you guessed at the number of performers. You figure that out eventually, because the women and men each chase a specific wave of waves through their bodies. Their hulls wave continuously in lemniscate shape, characteristic of Schuitemaker’s club dance language. Their legs never stand still, but they don’t extend very far either.

Meanwhile, the immense space fills with a swelling, massive sound, as if a roaring machine is about to become overdriven. Here too, an ingenious pattern winds through the bulky music: individual sounds roll away, footsteps bounce off, a sonorous melody spirals upwards.

In this enticing game of disappearing and appearing, Schuitemaker steadily creates space for a redeeming finale. It is an extreme sensation to feel your brain glow inside afterwards. Now filter out that torture in the middle part in favor of the autumn tour.