Why Don’t You Dance?

Foto: Stefan Malzkorn

Foto: Stefan Malzkorn

The ballroom is a promise, a place of great anticipations and secret desires and – as desires so often do not suffice – a place of hidden plans, old and new strategies and their spectacular staging.
She She Pop turns the theatre space into a dance floor and shows the ballroom with all its myths as a pitfall of pathetically exaggerated expectations. On the dance floor fantasy and reality diverge dramatically: Every dancer – prom queen, wallflower, gentleman or gate crasher – is caught in a role which has been carefully, artistically designed and rehearsed but whose fate will unfold beyond their individual control that night. The drama of staging oneself takes place before the eyes of all onlookers. In the artificiality and theatricality of the ballroom scenario the performers reveal their desire to interact, their longing for a successful encounter. Here, every eye contact, every innocent invitation to dance becomes loaded with meaning, a meaning that everyone present recognizes and either takes on wholeheartedly or rejects shyly.
The performers of She She Pop are torn between the public on the dance floor where every plot and plan becomes instantly visible and the retreat into a secluded space where they confide to the camera as if to a mirror and try to make the evening a success. Thus, they present the ballroom as a texture of personal stories, excess of significance and the urge for immediate decisions.
The audience move back and forth between the ballroom and a video lounge where the performers confessions to the live camera are projected: they may watch the dancers or invite each other to dance, they may identify with the fantasies of the performers or even try to fulfil them! Whatever they decide to do – either in close encounter on the dance floor or from a reserved view outside in the video lounge – they become participating witnesses of hopeless situations and glorious triumph.