Sing the Positions

Sweet duo with not enough material for a show

★★
dance review (edinburgh) | Read in About 2 minutes
33330 large
100487 original
Published 18 Aug 2017
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102793 original

There’s a sweetness to Ioannis Mandafounis and Manon Parent that makes you want to root for them. They have a lovely connection, whether dancing or playing music for each other, and there are little glimmers of inspiration in this wacky show they have created with the aim of connecting with pure expression.

In sporty neon and black clothing they serenade each other, create sounds from a table full of gadgets and makeshift musical instruments; and pull and tug each other about the stage. At one point they kiss with a microphone up close to catch the sounds, then take it in turns to mouth words while the other blows air into their mouth, bringing the words to life. Towards the end Mandafounis lifts Parent’s body onto the gadget table, letting it create random sounds where it lands, and triggering a rendition of 'Wake Me Up Before You Go Go', to which the pair bop.

But there is not enough material here for a show and Mandafounis and Parent, sweet as they are, have not thought enough about how these random sounds and movements they make might be structured into something containing, if not meaning, then at least shape. A passage where they focus on the word "motherfucker" is easily as irritating as the beauty of a passage where Parent sings to the note of a tuning fork.

It’s a hit and miss show and you get the impression that both performers don’t know or care which bits are which.