Review quotes
BODY NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE (2014)
'There's a beguiling mix of the scholarly, the quizzical and the righteously indignant that is unique to Fargion and Burrows...the concentration of their work demonstrates how much expressive power even a small gesture, a tiny variation of tone or rhythm, can possess.'
The Guardian London
COUNTING TO ONE HUNDRED (2012) and ONE FLUTE NOTE (2013)
'...a challenging meditation on form and memory, but performed with such a droll tension that it's also a deliciously entertaining kind of dance theatre.'
The Guardian, London
'It is as if Burrows and Fargion have fashioned a way of performing that is a metaphor for living with more freedom within the conflicted confines of our daily lives.'
Nicholas Minns, writing about dance.com
COUNTING TO ONE HUNDRED (2011)
'A gestural panorama of blatant joy'
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich
CHEAP LECTURE and THE COW PIECE (2009)
'There are few performers who can hold an audience captive like this double act… the timing of every note, shrug, laugh and gesture is awesome. Five stars.'
The Guardian, London
'…occasionally feeling gloomy during some performance or other, I’ve wished that a fed-up theater goblin would whisk away the show I’m watching and deposit Burrows and Fargion in its place.'
Deborah Jowitt on Cheap Lecture and The Cow Piece,
New York
'Fargion and Burrows translate life as we know it - love, war, tragedy and power shifts - into the fall of a toy animal, and it's pure, laugh-out-loud, genius.'
Mary Brennan, Glasgow Herald
'The funniest, richest, most life-enhancing evening I’ve had at anything associated with the 'dance' label this year (probably since their last one).'
theartsdesk.com, London
'Now, what about Cheap Lecture and The Cow Piece? Both are dazzling, and they belong together. The simplicity of means in Burrows and Fargion's work and the sheer fun that pervades it seduce you into loving it. All the while it's inexorably revealing its genius.'
artsjournal.com, New York
'Mr. Burrows and Mr. Fargion are fine company. The front they present — straightforward, sometimes deceptively so — allows for ease of access on multiple levels...while sometimes stumbling, as if by chance, onto larger questions about the nature of creation and collaboration among those who make art and those who take it in.'
The New York Times
'Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion have created a performance that dances in your head. It's superb.'
De Morgen, Belgium
'…for the past several years their affirmative vote has generated startling moments when they and their audiences exclaim, 'Ooh!', and has hurled lightning bolts of sudden realization toward that which does not take place, e.g. virtuosic dance.'
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich
'There's a beguiling mix of the scholarly, the quizzical and the righteously indignant that is unique to Fargion and Burrows...the concentration of their work demonstrates how much expressive power even a small gesture, a tiny variation of tone or rhythm, can possess.'
The Guardian London
COUNTING TO ONE HUNDRED (2012) and ONE FLUTE NOTE (2013)
'...a challenging meditation on form and memory, but performed with such a droll tension that it's also a deliciously entertaining kind of dance theatre.'
The Guardian, London
'It is as if Burrows and Fargion have fashioned a way of performing that is a metaphor for living with more freedom within the conflicted confines of our daily lives.'
Nicholas Minns, writing about dance.com
COUNTING TO ONE HUNDRED (2011)
'A gestural panorama of blatant joy'
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich
CHEAP LECTURE and THE COW PIECE (2009)
'There are few performers who can hold an audience captive like this double act… the timing of every note, shrug, laugh and gesture is awesome. Five stars.'
The Guardian, London
'…occasionally feeling gloomy during some performance or other, I’ve wished that a fed-up theater goblin would whisk away the show I’m watching and deposit Burrows and Fargion in its place.'
Deborah Jowitt on Cheap Lecture and The Cow Piece,
New York
'Fargion and Burrows translate life as we know it - love, war, tragedy and power shifts - into the fall of a toy animal, and it's pure, laugh-out-loud, genius.'
Mary Brennan, Glasgow Herald
'The funniest, richest, most life-enhancing evening I’ve had at anything associated with the 'dance' label this year (probably since their last one).'
theartsdesk.com, London
'Now, what about Cheap Lecture and The Cow Piece? Both are dazzling, and they belong together. The simplicity of means in Burrows and Fargion's work and the sheer fun that pervades it seduce you into loving it. All the while it's inexorably revealing its genius.'
artsjournal.com, New York
'Mr. Burrows and Mr. Fargion are fine company. The front they present — straightforward, sometimes deceptively so — allows for ease of access on multiple levels...while sometimes stumbling, as if by chance, onto larger questions about the nature of creation and collaboration among those who make art and those who take it in.'
The New York Times
'Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion have created a performance that dances in your head. It's superb.'
De Morgen, Belgium
'…for the past several years their affirmative vote has generated startling moments when they and their audiences exclaim, 'Ooh!', and has hurled lightning bolts of sudden realization toward that which does not take place, e.g. virtuosic dance.'
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich
BOTH SITTING DUET (2002), THE QUIET DANCE (2005) and SPEAKING DANCE (2006)
'It was certainly one of the funniest and most ingenious dances seen in New York in a long time.'
The New York Times
'I emerged from the French premiere of Both Sitting Duet in a veritable glow, my world expanded, its walls tumbling down.’
The danceinsider.com
'Absurdist self-indulgence you'll be thinking, but what you see is revelation and joy.'
The Evening Standard, London
'One of the most enchanting things I've ever seen'
The Daily Telegraph, London
'By now we ought to be accustomed to the surprises the wry, spry and elegant pairing of Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion keep springing on us, but somehow we're not; they've always got an extra rabbit in the hat to take us unawares. With Speaking Dance there's a whole family of baby rabbits in that roomy hat.'
Ballet Magazine, UK
'Captivating, inscrutable , dazzling'
The Daily Telegraph, London
'It is a ballet of the ordinary and the banal, which, in the context of a precise choreography, undermines all fixed premises regarding dance. Like the difference between the trained and the ordinary body, and between unnatural dance and the common or garden choreography of everyday life.'
De Standaard, Belgium
'A critic in The Guardian once wrote that if Einstein had ever pondered on dance, the dance in question would have looked something like the work of Jonathan Burrows. This bold assertion says something about the precision of Burrows‚ work as a dancer and choreographer, but there is more than that. The spectacular thing about his work is that he leaves out everything spectacular, but you still watch open-mouthed and continue to look at what he is doing.'
Financieel Economische Tijd, Belgium
WEAK DANCE STRONG QUESTIONS (2001)
'For those who are genuinely interested in contemporary dance this is definitely today's curriculum performance.'
Bergensavisen, Norway
'This was an exceptional theatrical event. Although it was intended as an investigation into what a dance performance might be, Weak Dance Strong Questions reached out towards the essence of theatre.'
De Morgen, Belgium
'…This is movement which goes visibly beyond the border of virtuosity, performed by two not quite so young men…an extreme denial of all customary expectations of a dance piece.'
Frankfurter Rundschau
'There is no logical connection, no structure which could lead to a choreography in the traditional sense of the word…every step which the two of them take leads into the unknown and the unseen.'
Frankfurter Allgemeine
THE STOP QUARTET (1996)
'It's as if we'd walked in on the pastimes of a peaceable alien culture: we don't know the rules, but at heart, we understand the game.'
New York Times
'It is so intriguing, so consummately structured that it grips your attention and doesn't let go.'
The Times, London
'It was certainly one of the funniest and most ingenious dances seen in New York in a long time.'
The New York Times
'I emerged from the French premiere of Both Sitting Duet in a veritable glow, my world expanded, its walls tumbling down.’
The danceinsider.com
'Absurdist self-indulgence you'll be thinking, but what you see is revelation and joy.'
The Evening Standard, London
'One of the most enchanting things I've ever seen'
The Daily Telegraph, London
'By now we ought to be accustomed to the surprises the wry, spry and elegant pairing of Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion keep springing on us, but somehow we're not; they've always got an extra rabbit in the hat to take us unawares. With Speaking Dance there's a whole family of baby rabbits in that roomy hat.'
Ballet Magazine, UK
'Captivating, inscrutable , dazzling'
The Daily Telegraph, London
'It is a ballet of the ordinary and the banal, which, in the context of a precise choreography, undermines all fixed premises regarding dance. Like the difference between the trained and the ordinary body, and between unnatural dance and the common or garden choreography of everyday life.'
De Standaard, Belgium
'A critic in The Guardian once wrote that if Einstein had ever pondered on dance, the dance in question would have looked something like the work of Jonathan Burrows. This bold assertion says something about the precision of Burrows‚ work as a dancer and choreographer, but there is more than that. The spectacular thing about his work is that he leaves out everything spectacular, but you still watch open-mouthed and continue to look at what he is doing.'
Financieel Economische Tijd, Belgium
WEAK DANCE STRONG QUESTIONS (2001)
'For those who are genuinely interested in contemporary dance this is definitely today's curriculum performance.'
Bergensavisen, Norway
'This was an exceptional theatrical event. Although it was intended as an investigation into what a dance performance might be, Weak Dance Strong Questions reached out towards the essence of theatre.'
De Morgen, Belgium
'…This is movement which goes visibly beyond the border of virtuosity, performed by two not quite so young men…an extreme denial of all customary expectations of a dance piece.'
Frankfurter Rundschau
'There is no logical connection, no structure which could lead to a choreography in the traditional sense of the word…every step which the two of them take leads into the unknown and the unseen.'
Frankfurter Allgemeine
THE STOP QUARTET (1996)
'It's as if we'd walked in on the pastimes of a peaceable alien culture: we don't know the rules, but at heart, we understand the game.'
New York Times
'It is so intriguing, so consummately structured that it grips your attention and doesn't let go.'
The Times, London