Jan Martens Sweat baby sweat 24-25 February 2017

Programme

Are you the one? Why don't I let go? What am I afraid of? Sweat baby sweat starts with the most clichéd image of all: the convulsive symbiosis of a couple's relationship. A man and a woman stage this love story with athletic dance. Muscles shake and tremble as they cling to each other. It is minimalism with maximum effort. The two embrace, lift, hold each other in the most demanding positions.

Familiar songs about love are enhanced by text projected behind the couple. Emotions are given physical life in the bodies of the two dancers, dripping with sweat and devotion. Tension builds as their physical prowess increases; will their strength, balance and stamina be enough as a couple? Their physical struggle spills over the edge of the stage and into the viewer. Thoughts begin to wander freely about all of life's big questions. What do we want? What is important when everything is stripped away? A whole life, in 60 minutes.

In 2014, Dansens Hus presented Jan Martens' tender works. Victor which was a duet between a man and a 13-year-old boy set to a reverent Byzantine choir.