(LA) HORDE, a prizewinner at Danse élargie 2016, has a singular place in the dance landscape. After having dealt with Jumpstyle and other “post-internet” dances in To Da Bone, which has toured internationally more than 60 times, they are now searching for the most ancient traces of the most contemporary gestures. They encountered the traditional ensemble Iveroni and its festive virtuosity in Georgia—which claims to be at the root of all of Europe’s dances. They have invited fifteen of the ensemble’s dancers to perform on a set that evokes a wedding hall and—more surprisingly—the façade of a parliament. Indeed, in Georgia, every dance bears the signs of political upheaval. Discoveries are guaranteed to be made when (LA) HORDE crosses the Georgian folkloric tradition with the techno scene in Tbilisi, the cradle of a local protest movement.

Thomas Hahn