David Middendorp takes visual possibilities to a higher level

Theater critic Annette Embrechts (Theaterkrant) is also enthusiastic about the first version of HandsON!

“Choreographer David Middendorp, as always skilled in the combination of dance with camera work, film projection and innovative technology, takes the visual possibilities to a higher level for his Virtual Residence. For his first trial of HandsON you have to figure out how to get a smartphone in VR mode so that you can actually look 360 ^degrees around you through VR glasses. That requires some knowledge of modern technology. But once that succeeds, it’s like taking a ten-minute dive into a fantasy world filled with a multitude of hands.

Twisting trees, flying fish, crawling oil stains, everything is made from grabbing fingers, from large to small. They emerge from every nook and cranny, as if in an eager universe where man has become the plaything of his own eager grippers, a miniscule figure that can be squeezed so finely. Two dancers try to find their way in this dark vision of hands. Sometimes it takes a while to find where they are, one moment you find them on a flying palm in the air, the next in a swamp of fingernails. Unfortunately, the flashlight to lighten the crowd did not work properly yet, but this dancing nightmare on ripping guitars remains intriguing just as much. It’s a promising research.” A promising research.”

Theaterkrant October 14th 2020 by: Annette Embrechts