Pas de Deux

Two people


A 'pas de deux' is one of the basic structures of classical ballet. The big pas de deux in the repertoire occur when the couple – a male and a female soloist – claim the stage for themselves and present the full range of their virtuoso skills to the audience. The German choreographer Raimund Hoghe approaches the pas de deux in a new way: for him it is literally a step, a step for two.
  
In Pas de Deux the older European Hoghe and the young Japanese dancer Takashi Ueno enter into a dialogue with one another: a conversation about the things in which they are similar and those in which they differ. You could call it an investigation into the structure of the (danced) relationship between two people. The many 'pas de deux' that performers such as Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy act out in their films are determined by the personal potential and inabilities of each partner. In the same way Hoghe and Ueno explore who they are and where their interaction might lead. Sometimes they mirror themselves in each other, sometimes they form a contrast. Doubling and difference, symmetry and contrast, similarities and uniqueness: these are all the stages they go through on their common journey.

In 2012 the German choreographer Raimund Hoghe will present a twenty-day programme in his ‘homeland’ of Nordrhein-Westfalen in which he brings together a collection of various pieces he has created over the past twenty years. Over the years Kaaitheater has always followed Hoghe’s work and most of his creations have been staged in Brussels. On the occasion of Hoghe’s 'twenty years of dance work', we will be presenting two of his performances: Pas de Deux, which he created in 2011, and his new group work Cantatas. In the foyer we will be presenting an exhibition on Hoghe’s work.