Reverie, by Georgia Tegou and Michalis Theophanous. Photo © Andreas Simopoulos

REVIEW

Georgia Tegou & Michalis Theophanous: Reverie

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Reverie, by Georgia Tegou and Michalis Theophanous. Photo © Andreas Simopoulos
S pink identity

With its subconscious mysteries and fugitive feelings, Reverie is as much a ‘place’ as a ‘piece’

Reverie is a place, home to four people in black tulle and silk. At times, a cluster of balloons replaces a head, at others, they are held on string with childlike innocence. In this place, sounds are distant, as if on the moon. The piece, first seen in Athens in 2020, re-emerges after many pandemic curtailments as the opening of London’s Dance Umbrella Festival.

Synne Lundersgaard slowly parades and surveys with chin raised proud. A sheet of astroturf trails her, another lays upstage, creased like an abandoned duvet. Her face suggests she knows something we don’t. Free of this grass gown, her movement is fairylike. But she has a temper, prone to outbursts that send her from floating to flailing. When the others arrive, they carry her, passing her like a jewel that cannot be dropped.

William James wears a grey headdress, an angry knot. He stutters, frustrated like the labyrinth on his head, and navigates the space with awkward, stilted progressions. Nathan Goodman dances on now flattened grass, a border that effectively encloses our attention – he swivels indecisively, but his cutting movements are assertive with tightrope precaution.

Joined by Virginia Poli, the four confront each other through tender vignettes; in these expressions we thankfully find some grounding amidst the mythical abstractions elsewhere. Later, they collide in a flurry. Tangling themselves, they duck, spin, and swipe at negative space. When phrases repeat, precision loses to exhaustion, but an urgency is present that wasn’t before.

Reverie uses spectacle. Visual deception unfolds soundlessly, save the prop that unexpectedly pops. Balloons follow James like curious white orbs, tethered invisibly. Legs vanish behind the grass gown as Lundesgaard rises high, leaving gravity behind. Often, darkness falls, and a handheld light is guided by two scurrying legs. What cannot be seen enforces scrutiny of what can.

Whether a fixed reality, or just passing through, I am uncertain. But when watching, we exist in our own in-between state, no doubt dreamlike. In this place, the subconscious wanders.

The bottom line: A dream that leaves more feeling than it does clarity
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07.10.22 The Place Theatre, London, UK
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Artist website: www.georgiategou.com

Concept, direction, choreography: Georgia Tegou & Michalis Theophanous
Dancers: Nathan Goodman, William James, Synne Lundesgaard, Virginia Poli
Costume designer: Justin Smith/J Smith Esquire
Music composition & sound design: Jeph Vanger
Dramaturgy: Xenia Aidonopoulou
Lighting designer: Mike Toon
Creative producer: Lia Prentaki
Original creative producer: Mark Mallabone
Production manager: Chris Burr
Project coordinator & marketing associate: Lia Garbola
Original cast: Arianna Ballestrieri, Fenia Chatzakou, Michael Incarbone, Kostas Papamatthaiakis
R&D masks: Maryllis Teindeldt
Photography: Nikolas Louka

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