ImPulsTanz Vienna: one-sentence reviews

“Toy boys and femme Dom in acid wash serenade one another in tantalisingly toxic threesome.”

“Emo teenager vibes meet discombobulated text, great ghost jokes and butter-smooth dancing.”

“An acrobatic, sensual, glitter-adorned middle finger to patriarchy and colonisation, from Venezuela with love.”

“Nine explorers visit, nurture and destroy an artificial galactic landscape, exploring thrilling peaks and tiresome valleys, always spectacularly lost.”

“A hermetic contemporary dance piece for contemporary dancers about contemporary dance, where a couple of poetic memories punctuate an otherwise niche self-referential layer cake.”

“Emotional and virtuosic, UGLY challenges perceptions of the black queer body in a yellow kaleidoscopic (dis)play of hyper-pop images and supple-sleek-seismic mood shifts.”

“A ravishing cast of techno sylphides raves in formation, in an ecstatic and delicate homage to Dominique Bagouet; think Berghain cancan with extreme somatic smarts, and bass resonating all the way to your ribcage.”

“Expectations skyrocket when this musical begins with three hilariously sharp solo songs by a flower, Cicciolina and Miss Kosovo, yet the energy plummets when the choreographer takes over the stage and transforms the two other protagonists into their backup singers.”

“The hypnotic dramaturgy, visual poetry and original cast members have aged beautifully, but culturally inappropriate costumes, overwhelmingly heteronormative representation and unsolicited dick flashes have not.”

“How to address your privileges without getting demoralised asks the choreographer, before spending an hour not addressing them at all and presenting mediocre dance constellations instead.”

“A film about the Dancewalks project backs dancer Alizée Sourbé while she narrates and echoes the ramifications of this choreographic public intervention, which seems to have grown from a humble poetic proposal to a global, political and at times questionable protest format.”

“Accompanied by a live drummer, five dancers gesticulate and circumvolute in and out of transcendental states, in an epic, sweaty and trippy journey across the empty stage.”

“Gliding around a sleek multimedia altar, Lukkarila summons the Greek goddess of the night, in a highly lubricated and intimate offering of erotic intelligence.”

“A lecture performance in which Bel narrates the tragic life of modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan, while 70-year-old Duncan technique teacher Elisabeth Schwartz expertly demonstrates some of her choreographies (but doesn’t get to speak).”

“A sensuous and impeccably executed duet where playful seduction between a man and a woman dismally ends with him choking her without warning or explanation.”

“Lecavalier’s skills as a dancer are undeniable, but the dramaturgy and staging don’t match her powerful and hypnotic presence.”

“Immersed in a bubble-gum-pink life-size doll box, Kelly activates his monochrome surroundings and takes us on a glamorous yet meticulous emotional roller-coaster.”

“Huffing and puffing as a choreographic strategy turns out to be an articulate, uproarious and at times monotonous method to denounce the raging horrors of the capitalist patriarchy.”

“Baudelaire spleen meets fratboy energy in this booze-fuelled, stunt-driven and knife-sharp magic show.”

“A tap-dancing mime laboriously finds her voice amidst automated drums and archive videos of growing plants.”

“Gathered around a sloped runway, the audience witnesses a performance concert where melodrama encounters tender humour, while both time and magnificent costumes fold and stretch, transforming endlessly.”

“A cabaret of grief, decay and extravagance brings aging queer performers to the spotlight, but touching moments get lost between inexplicable fight scenes and problematic jokes.”

“Choreographer creates very pretty dance on very pretty music, juxtaposes it with videos of violent right-wing extremists and calls it political.”

“Three mega-babes slide, splash and slurp slime in gooey game of flesh and fluids; hotness has never felt so fresh.”

“Starting and dropping ideas as often as she changes her multi-coloured wigs, Childs’ nervy composition lacks any sense of urgency; classical canons are upheld but the audience’s attention isn’t.”

“Couture-wearing alien abducts himself from the constraint of sense-making and favours refusal to perform and sensory overload as alternative strategies.”