(…) Bel’s contribution consisted of a rather glum stripper called Frédéric Seguette. Well, stripper in the sense that his “act” consisted of taking his clothes off.
But this was a strip without the tease, Shirtology, a mini-masterpiece of minimalism, found Bel using semiotic shorthand to underline the point that we construct our life experiences by the T-shirts we buy. As Seguette systematically removed layer upon layer of clothing (he started off as stuffed as a Michelin man), he unpeeled each skin of a life story, creating an autobiography in reverse.
In doing so we were taken on a journey deep into “love it or hate it” territory. While there was something profoundly moving in the phlegmatic, matter-of-factness of the performance, this was a work designed to get right up the noses of dance purists. As one sniffy punter huffed at the performance at the Royal Opera House Clore Studio : “Anyone can take their T-shirt off. It's not even funny.” It’s safe to say they didn’t get the point.
But this was a strip without the tease, Shirtology, a mini-masterpiece of minimalism, found Bel using semiotic shorthand to underline the point that we construct our life experiences by the T-shirts we buy. As Seguette systematically removed layer upon layer of clothing (he started off as stuffed as a Michelin man), he unpeeled each skin of a life story, creating an autobiography in reverse.
In doing so we were taken on a journey deep into “love it or hate it” territory. While there was something profoundly moving in the phlegmatic, matter-of-factness of the performance, this was a work designed to get right up the noses of dance purists. As one sniffy punter huffed at the performance at the Royal Opera House Clore Studio : “Anyone can take their T-shirt off. It's not even funny.” It’s safe to say they didn’t get the point.
