The Monitor (Kampala)
Moses Serugo
10 March 2003
Kampala — Baktruppen, a troupe from Norway, were very determined to impress upon us their art form. But the bulk of the audience at the National Theatre last week, including yours truly, didn't quite understand the forty-minute dance performance Do and Undo. We saw dance as an expression of emotion when a troupe member broke down in one scene, and as a test of endurance at least going by their sweat drenched clothes. But while the nine unisex dancers' mix of emotion, revealing costumes and exhausting routines was commendable, it was hard to make out the story in the abstract dance performance.
Do and Undo starts with the dancers in a human chain formation, clad in traditional ballet body hugging costumes, lying on their backs pulling each other along across the stage floor and breaking the chain when they get to the end of the stage. Another routine has the dancers form a moving human mass across the stage still before sitting cross-legged in yoga meditation fashion.
Baktruppen's roots lie in traditional ballet fused with film score music and the occasional use of an aerosol smoke device. The dancers have poise and their routines demand endurance although the performers do not follow set choreography and are not flamboyant. The bulges on the male dancers' groins drew their share of attention and with that kind of costume it was hard to conceal them.
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