Isabella Cota

Love me do — performance

Violetta Perra / Plateaux Festival goes Amsterdam

13 أيار / مايو 2009
14 أيار / مايو 2009

The tension, the tenderness of the first encounters, the subtleness of the body language, the synchronized breathing, the sighs, the chase. The sweetness and exhilaration in the rituals of love made the audience hold their breath more than a few times in the performance Love Me Do, a piece by Italian artist Violetta Perra.

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Love me Do — Performance by Violette Perra - Michel Langendijk

Presented in Frascati WG Theater on Wednesday, the performance consisted of a woman, performed by Violetta herself and a man, played by Diego Agullò, who move around 36 fragile blackberries, which had been aligned on a grid. And seemed to be melting into a red syrup over the white floor.

But the couple doesn’t just move. They come close together, then pull apart, they look at each other and then look away, they almost touch, they ignore one another and follow each other and never surrender to the attraction. It seems more important for each to explore the objects on the floor, the fruit, individually, than together, in an irrational way.

Throughout the performance, chuckles, gasps and light whispers could be heard from the audience, in particular moments of this unconcluded love, or non-love story. I guess everyone can remember a kiss that was not given, or a touch that was not welcomed.
This is a piece that is more energetic than visual, said the creator after the show. To the audience, possibly, this undeniably strong energy felt like a resistance to fall in love, when they both expect the other to fall first.

Any similarity with reality is not a mere coincidence.

Review written by Isabella Cota Schwarz. Also read her review of Parallax, the second part of the double bill performance of the Plateaux goes Amsterdam Festival, that took place on the same night.