Post | Whatdanceis

Peeping Tom

Direction: Gabriela Carrizo and Franck Chartier

Peeping Tom is a Belgian dance company active since 2000. Some of you probably have already heard of it. I must say that I have only seen one of their creations, Triptych (2020), and had never heard of this company ever before that. I decided to go see it after accidentally watching the trailer for it on a dance festival website. The images of this two-minute trailer really struck me. Here they are (you will be redirected to the video's YouTube page):

whatdanceis-post-tryptich-ignacio-martinez

The performance itself was also not less of an impact either. I was overwhelmed by the things I saw and the impressions that it left on me. It was very unsettling. At times I felt almost in danger, and I had to jump off my seat a few times. The suspense, the feeling of being threatened, the wish of wanting to look somewhere else but at the same time being completely fascinated by it. It was live horror just 20 meters away from the spectator.

At the same time it was deep. I felt not only terrified but also emotionally torn apart. All the inexplicable that happens around the characters ends up awakening their own darkness. Some become desperate while others brutal. Their bodies get distorted and the movement becomes more and more extreme, as if they were about to break. It was the perfect match between emotion and form.

I left the performance with the impression of having seen something that cannot and should not be defined. I never thought all that could come out from a stage.

There is a lot of Peeping Tom on the Internet. It is interesting to note that it is not possible to find many takes of the movement sequences. It might be a way to protect the work from too much exposure. Anyway, here is another trailer that I would like to share (you will be redirected to the video's YouTube page):

On top of the suspense and the horror, we are now transported to a fantastic world. It looks to me like a weird fairy tale or like a science fiction planet.

I admit that I enjoy dance performances that dare to include elements or themes normally considered foreign to this art form. And I believe that horror or science fiction can also be used as very strong metaphors. Imagination can be unleashed and there's more freedom to explore and create because there are fewer rules.

Last but not least, while working on this post, I found out that Peeping Tom is performing next year not too far from here. In case you are interested, it will be on the 25th of April in Ludwigshafen. You can find more information about it on their website. Enter it at your own risk.

Images and videos from Triptych (2020) and Kind (2019)