CLONE is a dance work choreographed by Louise Coetzer, and performed by Darkroom Contemporary and musician Brydon Bolton. It was first performed at The Centre for the Less Good Idea in March 2018 as part of the For Once programme.

The scene is all white. Clinical. Sanitised. Alien. Three figures occupy the stage, accompanied by a disquieting soundscape from the double bass, situated just off stage. White boards occupy the walls. At times, they resemble the observation windows in medical theatres, other times they might be blank canvasses mounted in a white cube. The figures don equally white uniforms, each with a soft, knotted spine snaking its way down their backs. Their movements are slick and sharp, each motion informing the other’s. Together, they lift, push, pull, fall and hold one another. The soundscape, like their twisting spines, is eerily present throughout.

It is in this simple, yet sharply executed relationship between music and movement that CLONE is located. They guide and shape the piece – it is light and ethereal; it is heavy and burdensome. The audience moves through these moments in the work like chapters in a book, or scenes from a film, each one distinct and expertly held, but always with the greater performance in mind – working to feed back into it, to assemble a full and accomplished body of work.

As a result, CLONE is a performance full of rich, distinct moments that allow for whole narratives to be held in a single gesture, or for the absence of music to speak volumes. It is a complex and intricate performance of the body and the instrument alike that both invites and requires the full presence of the viewer.

– David Mann

CREDITS:

DANCERS | Darkroom Contemporary: Lee Kotze, Llewellyn Afrika, Joy Millar & Kayla Schulttze
CHOREOGRAPHER | Louise Coetzer
DOUBLE BASSIST | Brydon Bolton