Horses! Horses first and foremost. Dressage king Oscar Carré built a temple for his favorite animals on the Amstel river 135 years ago: Theater Carré. The performance Oscar pays tribute to the circus director in a multidisciplinary spectacle in which Scapino Ballet Rotterdam – which presented its famous youth performance there shortly after the war – collaborates with students from the circus school of Codarts and singer-songwriter Blaudzun.
And those horses? Just like 135 years ago, they leave the classic red and white striped circus tent that is mini-sized in the arena at the start of the performance, and enter the chic, stone circus theatre.
With shiny brushed black ponytails, the dancers and the young circus students roll out of the tent, to line up neatly and at the direction of the staccato gesticulating Oscar Carré (Mischa van Leeuwen in a long black coat and high ‘stovepipe’ on the head) to divide into different formations and step into graceful passage.
Enthusiastic whoops
This is followed by a series of associative, single scenes – Oscar is no biopic, according to choreographer Ed Wubbe. Dance and circus numbers are largely abstract, although subtle references can be discerned here and there to the (moving) life of the circus director.
The duets, among others for Maya Roest and Daphne van Dooren, the acro dance by Arvi Yrjölä, an elegant trapeze number, the globe number by Malte Gerhardt and Benedikt Löffler and a strong, sculptural ‘morphing’ group of men. And although plugs predominate in the ensemble dances in particular, Oscar is entertaining enough to keep the audience cheering enthusiastically.
Blaudzun
That appreciation is certainly also due to Blaudzun, who, with his band on stage, lays a solid foundation for dance and circus numbers, from driving poppy to poetic. It is a pity that there is little real interaction with the track. Moreover, due to the number structure of the performance, there is no question of a strong, dramatic arc. Some drama though. Dancer Bonnie Doets, who in her role as ‘the women of Oscar Carré’ is saying goodbye to Scapino Ballet Rotterdam after a long career, is performed several times on a white gray (headless and buttless) and whirled around. She is the radiant center of the wooden straw bales arranged as a sun.
When she is sung to as the tragically deceased Mrs. Carré, it is also a farewell song to Doets as Wubbe’s muse. Finally, if Van Leeuwen is left lonely and sad, Wubbe can also be seen in it, who himself will say goodbye to the group he has led for thirty years at the end of next year.