Choreographer Faizah Grootens explores the power of tenderness in ‘Tender Resistance’

In the work of the two young ‘house makers’ of the Hague theater and dance production house Korzo, one uses his choreographic brush more confidently than the other, as can be seen from the double bill with an older work by Rutkay Özpinar and the premiere of Faizah Grootens.

With her first product as a home maker, Grootens focuses on the power of vulnerability. Based on the poem by the Curaçaoan Nathania Engelhardt, spoken during the duet danced by Evelien Jansen and Amber Veltman, it is mainly about the soft sides of the black woman, who cries, remains silent and is ashamed but is at the same time a source of strength. bearer of life.

Grootens wonders how to maintain softness in a world that is becoming increasingly hardened Tender Resistance. She illustrates these opposing forces right at the beginning when Jansen, taller and in a dark costume, holds the off-white Veltman upside down by her ankles. Their movements also initially contrast strongly. Veltman’s busy, with impulse-driven, sometimes almost panicky staccato gestures. Jansen, on the other hand, watches this feverish activity at ease, hands in his pockets. With their eyes fixed on each other, they turn around each other inquisitively and suspiciously, with Veltman avoiding any contact by leaning far back with a flexible back.

Strength and vulnerability

When composer Michael Lampe changes the atmosphere, contact is established and the movements of the two dancers synchronize. The ‘powerful’ Jansen harbors just as much unrest and uncertainty, as is evident from their abrupt, quick-tempered gestures. Strength and vulnerability meet in partner work in which supporting, leaning and lifting are central – have the soft forces won?

Grootens’ movement language is attractive, with long, flowing and supple lines (the movement style of the Creole body, in the words of the born Curaçaoan Grootens) that she Tender Resistance alternates with short, measured, mimic arm and hand movements. Due to the somewhat too ‘correct’ structure of the duet, with a perfunctory reference to the opening scene at the end, her work actually makes a somewhat schoollike impression; a little less neatness would benefit her creative power, which is undoubtedly present.

Rutkay Özpinar seems further in his development in that respect. In the trio that was launched last year, he mixes classical, contemporary and elements of hip-hop into a strong language and infuses it with a dash of folklore – a trend in contemporary dance. Something about something is nicely rhythmic (music by Jorg Schellekens) and abstract and leaves room for (or no) interpretation.

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