Relationships between men and women as told through dance – that's the main theme of KONTAKTHOF from Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. Originally created in 1978 in Germany, now it is performed in Barbican by two casts one with people over 65 and the other teenagers over 14. I saw the teenagers. The performance talks about desire, courtship, relationships. It's full of beautiful steps, unexpected turnouts and humor – and full of abuses (women are as bad as men). Action takes place in a dance hall with 1930s music. It sounds like it should be a feast to the eyes, but we left after the interval. So much filler, pauses, repeats, sexy talking... and all that done by teenagers. It is like an extended school play. I wasn't convinced that the young dancers felt passion, pain, love and joy that relationship brings to life. Critics rave about over 65s performance and so I made the wrong choice to see youngsters.
In my monthly book club we discussed A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood – a wonderful book about a gay man in the 1960s USA. It's a brave book for that period and not only because of open homosexuality, but also of condemnation of politics and American lifestyle. Everyone in the group loved the book and felt sympathetic to the main character – he's lonely and in mourning, but he believes that the future could be bright. Inevitably, comparisons with Tom Ford's movie were drawn. The film is so bleak and shallow, without any positivity and stereotyped characters. It is a beautiful Gucci advert under the same name as the book, but nothing else.
Also this week: watched Kick-Ass, started The Believers by Zoe Heller and listened to Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 on Spotify
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