The set up is clear: dancer and drummer enter from the audience. Drummer sits at drums, dancer chooses a point in space. The game begins.

After this premise, however, all that follows is a blur of choices only taken halfway. If Restraint is a conversation, it’s not an interesting one. The drums offer an almost unchanging baseline while the dance is neither precise nor clearly related to the beat. The light changes feel random and don’t contribute to the conceptual chat either. If, instead, Lina Gomez’s work is a quest to embody an existential tremour, it falls short again: no button is pushed far enough for the physical vibrations to become engaging. The drummer facing the wall doesn’t help.

Instead of becoming an earthquake, the elements at play here appear shaky and startled – as if being overpowered by one.

Jordi Ribot Thunnissen – Reviewed for Springback Academy during Aerowaves’ SpringForward 2019 in Val du Marne.(FR)

picture: Gerhard Ludwig