"You have to see the complexities of things," he said.
In a press release several years ago for his work What the Body Does Not Remember, Vandekeybus was quoted as saying, " If movement was to be only dance, it would not say anything to me ? I am not interested in
performances which develop linear-like from A to Z. They only lie. Our mind doesn't work like this. I am fascinated by things which are not `right,' which do not match with the rest of our life, things which we don't want to show."
Blush begins with a woman having sex with a snoring man -- who continues to snore as she reaches orgasm. Another woman enters the stage and begins screaming, which is enough to wake up the snorer, who then begins to yell at the second woman.
In another scene, dancers build a wall of bags, only to be crushed under them. Dancers dive from the stage onto the screen, transformed into water nymphs swimming through an underwater netherworld.
The 10-person cast, five men and five women, are a mix of dancers and actors, including Vandekeybus himself.
The dialogue for Blush was written by Peter Verheist, a frequent collaborator of Vandekeybus. The members of Ultima Vez are based both on the Greek myth and on stories that Verheist had originally written for his play Het Sprookjesbordeel (The Fairy Tale Brothel) last year.
For the score of Blush, Vandekeybus chose to work with the US singer-songwriter David Eugene Edwards of the group 16 Horsepower. The rock score composed by Edwards draws heavily on pieces from his Woven Hand album, plus three pieces of music specially written for this production.
For the premier of Blush and many of its European performances, Edwards and three other musicians played live on stage. In Taipei, however, audiences will have to make do, as usual, with a recorded soundtrack.
As is true with many of Vandekeybus' works, Blush is not for the prudish or faint of heart -- in Glasgow, Scotland, the Theater Royal warned that the production contains scenes which some people might find offensive and said it was not suitable for children. There should also be another caveat; it is also not for those with small bladders, since it runs for just under two hours with no intermission.
However, if Vandekeybus' previous works are anything to go by, those two hours will have passed before you know it and the only complaint will be that there was so much to watch you feel that you will have to see another performance just to make sure you caught everything.
Ultima Vez
The Metropolitan Hall (formerly the Taipei Municipal Social Education Hall), 25 Bade Rd, Sec 3, Taipei (
Wednesday to Friday, Oct. 1 to 3 at 7:30pm
Ticket prices: NT$400, NT$600, NT$800, NT$1,00, NT$1,200 and NT$1,500
Tickets are available through the Acer ticketing system online (ticket.acer121.com) or by phone at (02) 2784 1011).
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