Dance Ambassador Mira

Huge waves of energy

"Hold Your Horses" by De Dansers at Theater Strahl

Mira Hülsmann is 14 years old and has attended the performance “Hold Your Horses” at Theater Strahl on behalf of Offensive Tanz. She wrote down her impressions for our blog.

An empty stage, slowly filling spectator ranks, pleasantly warm air in the face of the icy cold, which covers every puddle with ice crystals outside. Silent voices fill the large room, loaded with joyful expectation. And suddenly it starts. Without a long preface, a table is carried to the center of the illuminated stage, dancers and singers take their seats and with the power of a comet reaching the earth, the piece captivates the audience from the first second. Huge waves of energy flood the theatre, wild and breathless, but never lingering even for a moment. The dancers move in tune, sometimes independently, then synchronously again, like the colorful rings of a kaleidoscope.

And all of a sudden, all the attention is on just one person, as if they've suddenly turned into something never seen before. The others want them, reach for their hair, their arms, and cling intrusively to each and every one of their movements. Then the mood turns as if the wind is spinning, and in unpredictable fierceness suddenly another person is at the center of attention. The dancers move casually, jump barefoot over the black stage floor and create such skilful combinations of jumps, movements and team constellations that the spectators can do nothing more than follow each of the daring steps with astonishingly open eyes.

It doesn't look at all like every move is predetermined. Nothing seems stiff and trained, but simply beautiful, wildly danced, freely mediated, soft and almost playful. But there is also this incredible precision, which makes it almost impossible that every foot and every finger is not exactly where it has to be. How else can such amazing choreographies be possible? The dancers seem to have this crazy trust in each other, they literally throw themselves in the arms of the other, without even looking, jumping in the sure faith of someone to be caught, even if that someone was busy with completely different things seconds before. And over all this wild, wonderful dance lays... music.

The singer is also on stage, occasionally even dancing along. His voice and the tones of his guitar sides vibrate in just as rousing a way through the suspense-charged air as the movements of the dancers.

The music merges with the dance. She is a part of him.

Every now and then the general attention turns to the singer alone, then it is he who is clutched and held like something that would have been dangerous to let go of. His rough voice lays over dance steps and acrobatic movements, rushes through the room and occasionally assumes a tremendous volume, which pushes the bittersweet melody into all ears. And still everything seems so casual and yet so controlled. There are moments when the energy seems to overwhelm the space. As if struck by lightning, the performers then rush into the air as if they could no longer hold on to the life pulsating in them and everyone began to run. The energy becomes almost tangible here. Each step seems to be destined only for repulsion, not for taking off. No arrival, just continue.

‘...All that water down the drain... All that fire up in flames...’ The lines of the tailor-made music are one with the dance and the rock-shaking courage that is displayed here, dares ever further. Now one of the dancers climbs up on stacked tables, dances further up as if it were nothing and then drops as if she had acquired the conviction to be able to fly. And there is always someone who catches the other. Climbing and trapping. To be caught. To face the danger with serenity and thus cope with it.

Being protected and protected, the dancers can be drawn to each other again and again, disregarding the will of the other. Violence and tenderness combine in this acrobatic dance and an unbroken trust carries each of the movements. At some point it is no longer possible to identify who jumps and is caught, and who in turn holds the other. Everything goes so fast, it seems impossible. And yet the performers manage to realize this unique mixture of flying and dancing.