Terra

Terra’s symbolism is laden with earth metaphors — solidity, rootedness, reliability, home — and asks what happens when those certainties disappear. Migration, exile and refuge provided a thematic framework. Sofie Lachaert and Luc Dhanis created a theatrical, ephemeral landscape. It is highly atmospheric, rich in imagery and suggestion.

All looks fragile, liable to crumble at any time. To achieve this feeling of instability, the artists used AluShape molding cloth from internationally renowned Belgian company ShowTex. By hand Lachaert & Dhanis sculpted the malleable but strong metal-fabric into a mysterious apocalyptic landscape – an astonishing natural stage-filling backdrop against which the story unfolds. 

It seems that the six dancers survived some latter-day Pompeian eruption with everything covered with a layer of dust. They fled with suitcases, for a long journey, to their ultimate destination. Every detail in the scenography has a deeper meaning, multiple layers. A collection of seemingly mismatched furniture piled up, semi-buried in rubble, chairs in varying states of decrepitude, a wardrobe, a mirror, an old worn pendulum clock, underline the idea of memento mori and the fleeting existence of ourselves and our belongings.

Hubert’s choreography was created within this staggering theatrical environment, which made Terra a truly collaborative process. The dancers interact constantly with the set by moving between and over elements and disappearing in or behind pieces of furniture.

The Coronet Theatre, London, 2015

photos by Hugo Glendinning