The fascinating dance of Peeping Tom

Peeping Tom was a dance-theater company with two co-directors working together: the Argentinian Gabriela Carrizo and the Frenchman Frank Chartier. It remains a dance-theater company, but each show is led by one of the two creators and founders. Two years ago, we saw the most theatrical version of Peeping Tom at the Sala Gran of the TNC (S 62°58’, W 60°39’) where the physical, almost acrobatic dance that characterized the company's proposals, had practically disappeared.

Chronicles, by Gabriela Carrizo, is the other side of the coin. Pure dance in a production without text, beyond a few words that escape almost accidentally. The show retains, and this was also present in Chartier's proposal, the creation of an unsettling atmosphere on an impressive stage, as well as the importance of the soundtrack. And if Chartier imagined his reflection on theater in the icy waters of the Argentinian Antarctic in a superb scenography, Carrizo does not lag behind in grandeur, and places her reflection on humanity in an immense Paleolithic cave. The stage even climbs up the TNC's loom (Amber Vandenhoeck), although almost all the choreography is performed in the proscenium.

It seems that Carrizo draws from Jorge Luis Borges' short story The Immortal, although this is not manifested in this fantasy that reproduces the meaninglessness of five males from prehistory to the most contemporary violence. From stone to pistol. Five fantastic dancers fill the space with a physical, almost athletic dance, with choreographies that push the performers' limbs to the limit. The soundtrack (Raphaëlle Latini) fluctuates between the classicism of a symphony orchestra, the sweet cadence of oriental melodies, the percussions of synthesizers, and even the recreation of a famous Elvis Presley song. True to the past, Carrizo sprinkles the energetic choreographies with clicks of humor. Atmosphere and movement reign, allowing each gaze to construct an individual reading as disconcerting, surely, as the bewilderment of the officiants. In the end, dance. Abstract dance of great quality.