“Last Minute” at Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds
Annie Loui in Perugia, Italy
7 July 2024
This is a 30-minute immersive dance performance by the French duo Adrien M and Claire B. It has been showing in multiple daily performances at the Spoleto Festival to sold-out houses.
As with immersion in a lava lamp, Last Minute puts the audience in the middle of the action with projection spiraling around you on the floor, the walls, and on a screen half-bisecting the room.
The audience is encouraged to wander, sit or stand, and witness the “performance” from different perspectives in the space. Co-creator Claire B speaks (both in the programme notes and in a recorded voiceover that is part of the performance) of the liminal space where things transform – an emotional space she recently experienced while scattering her father’s ashes into the sky and onto moving water while being conscious of the fact she was shortly due to give birth.
Last Minute shows this intense awareness of physical being in both prelude and epilogue. Images evoked in the saturation of light and sound ranged from rain falling to atoms colliding to streams of blood encircling the audience. There are ocean waves breaking over the spectator and heartbeats turned to bursts of light and energy that eventually scatter as ashes in the wind.
Occasional sequences in the projection can be “triggered” by audience movement and kicking or spinning created gratifying spirals of stars responsive to audience movement and location in space. Although such immersive “dance” is not new, the detail and build of abstract imagery and sound created a sense of journey that was emotional, and finally, gave a sense of release.
The experience was meditative but there was never any sense that one’s emotions were being played upon gratuitously. The technical blend of visuals and coordinated soundscape supported and lifted up the emotional journey. Last Minute is well-worth a 30-minute visit and was a satisfying immersion into technology that used tools to create a sum greater than the show’s parts.
