The Dancing Public» by Mette Ingvartsen. Dansens HUs/ Oslo Internasjonale Teaterfestival 2022. Foto; Hans Meijer

How to do the dancing audience

Last weekend, Oslo Internasjonale Teaterfestival (OIT) 2022 took off with its ‘eleven vibrating days of live art experiences’ presenting theatre and dance from Norway and abroad. After the last two editions, which were framed and tainted by the pandemic and its restrictions, this year’s program focuses on the collective and ways of being together. Under this banner, the solo performance «The Dancing Public» by Mette Ingvartsen makes us grapple with our desire (or absence thereof) to dance together in the black box.

A big room. Walls painted black. Music, a heavy beat. People are loosely ushered into the space. Among the crowd, talking and laughter. Some people are already dancing, while others look rather misplaced. Four monumental scaffolding structures with neon tubes rise above us. Then the doors close and a performer starts making her way through the crowd. We hear a voice, almost singing, maybe a strange children’s song, talking about our hands, our feet, our hair and our blood. And that everything and everybody, as if it were a promise or a vision, will soon be dancing.

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