LOVETRAIN2020

A celebration of dance with the atmosphere of a concert, an expressive expedition into all facets of existence, a choreographic ode to the sound and the atmosphere of the 1980s – “LOVETRAIN2020” is all of this, a contemporary “musical” for 14 dancers set to the songs of the British duo Tears for Fears. Premiered in October 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, this piece shows not only the power of bodies and of community but also traces an arc to musical history: Tears for Fears began a worldwide boom of British pop music that resonates throughout “LOVETRAIN2020”.

Choreographer Emanuel Gat leaves plenty of room for this unmistakable music and yet he and the dancers in his company manage to find many different ways to explore the duo’s rhythms and texts. Captivating group choreographies merge smoothly into expressive solos and duets; the dancers continually encounter and repel each other, giving themselves to the music or challenging it. Their extraordinary vocabulary of movement not only opens up new references to world-famous hits like “Shout” or “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, but also creates breathtaking, multi-layered images. In the interplay of light and shadow, developed by Emanuel Gat, and Thomas Bradley’s colourful and imaginative costumes, the protagonists surrender themselves to each other and yet keep searching, finding freedom in movement and energy in the silence, pausing and breaking out into a whirlwind of colours and shapes. Let it all out!