Jenseits

Dogs on the Catwalk. The performance Poodle by Dorte Olesen is a wonderful “up yours“ to fashionable society with its model competitions, Paris Hilton wannabees and their mini dog accessories. Attired in the characteristic over-the-top dress of a haute couture fashion show and carrying a stupefied white King Poodle pup, Kristiina Viiala moves over the stage with the affected gait of a model on a catwalk. In contrast to Viialas doll-like shiny surface, the helpless confusion of the pup injects the performance with a strong sense of vulnerability.

This contrast is also reflected in the “twins,“ Charlotta Öfverholm and Lindy Larsson, dressed in almost identical deconstructed male evening dress posing in front of the incessantly clicking camera. While Öfverholm radiates vulnerability, Larsson’s face is a mask of spiteful beauty. The choreography underlines this duality with movements that are a mix of aggressive self-assertiveness and clinging dependence. The duality creates a dark sub-text, a reminder of the near panic state of mind brewing under the shiny surface of today's society – a surface Olesen metaphorically causes to erupt with the wilful vivaciousness of young B-Boy Thor ...