THE HANGOVER REPORT – Emanuel Gat’s LOVETRAIN2020 brings world dance, kitsch, and eclecticism to the Tears for Fears songbook

The Brooklyn Academy of Music presents Emanuel Gat’s “LOVETRAIN2020” at the Howard Gilman Opera House (photo by Ed Lefkowicz).

Last night at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, the Brooklyn Academy of Music presented Emanuel Gat’s LOVETRAIN2020, the Israeli choreographer’s latest evening length work set to the iconic songs by the popular 1980s British pop music duo Tears for Fears. The piece’s three-performance stint at the opera house — which is performed by Gat’s Montpellier-based company Emanuel Gat Dance — marks (alongside an Andrew Schneider installation at the Fisher) the successful conclusion of BAM’s 2022 Next Wave Festival, BAM’s first full-on festival of adventure, global multidisciplinary works since prior to the pandemic.

Gat’s choreography for LOVETRAIN2020 — which was first performed during the pandemic at the Montpellier Danse festival — seductively uncovers added dimensions to the Tears for Fears songbook. Here, his athletic and contemporary style is distinguished by rigorous staggered movement and posing, distinct world dance influences (hints of traditional South Asian folk dance, Japanese Butoh, and martial arts are infused throughout), as well as the dynamic communion it establishes among its dancers. Additionally, the work is unafraid to embrace kitsch in its loose and stylish evocation of 1980s aesthetic, which brings a fun and quirky tone to the evening.

All around, Gat’s company of 14 eclectic dancers — garbed in fascinating idiosyncratic outfits evoking either fashion-forward Tibetan monks or members of a hippie commune (but really, what’s the difference?) — are spectacular. Thankfully, the choreographer gives each of them permission to shine in their individual modes of dance. In summary, in LOVETRAIN2020, Gat draws an inspiring, decidedly universal portrait of a community moving forward, with or without the aid of a soundtrack (in between such recognizable hits as “Shout” and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” are stretches of silence during which the dance persists).

RECOMMENDED

LOVETRAIN2020
Dance
Brooklyn Academy of Music
1 hour, 15 minutes (without an intermission)
Through December 3

Categories: Dance

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