Cows in Space

The ZOO dance company was set up ten years ago by Thomas Hauert, Mark Lorimer, Sara Ludi and Samantha van Wissen, who had met as dancers with Rosas, and Mat Voorter, who had danced with Michèle-Anne De Mey, Mark Tompkins and others. The driving force behind the company was and still is the Swiss Thomas Hauert, but the group functions as a collective, almost always creating their work together. It is usually based on improvisations but also on clearly delineated spatial patterns. It is precisely this duality of ‘laid down’ and ‘not laid down’ that underlies the liveliness of Hauert’s choreography.

Their first production, Cows in Space (1998), already brought them prizes in France. Thomas Hauert was awarded the Prix d’auteur at the Rencontres choréographiques internationales in Bagnolet, a major gathering for young choreographers.

The basis of Cows in Space was rather unusual: it was intended to give the audience the impression that they were in a moving train and from there were observing a landscape with cows as if it were in motion. The result was an exceptionally fresh and occasionally very playful performance.