Is that an orgy on the stage of the HAU 2 theatre? The five dancers in Mette Ingvartsen’s “To Come” have merged into one well-lubricated sex-machine, swamping us in images of sexualized bodies and simulated lust. Ingvartsen, a graduate of the P.A.R.T.S. school in Brussels, is playing a sly game with perception. The first picture resembles a pornographic tableau – but the actors are covered up and masked. They are wrapped from head to toe in blue leotards which, anything but sexy, recall to mind the bluescreen process filmmakers use to excerpt actor from reality and insert them against any desired background.

These neutralized figures are no longer individuals. And what we see on stage is nothing like a group of people demonstrating sexual practices. “To come” presents the pure activity of bodies that unite then part. The range of creative combinations is apparently unlimited; any part of one body can connect with any part of another. Some constellations look like Lego creations. Or abstract sculptures subject to constant re-modelling. And the astonishing thing is that sexual hierarchies, social orders and cultural patterns are cancelled out. This sex-machine shrugs off any attempt to interpret its configurations along hetero-or-homo, sado-or-maso demarcation lines.

So what about that orgy? There is one – but the venue shifts to the inside of one’s own head. While the constantly reconfiguring bodies can be read as blueprints for lust, Mette Ingvartsen is not so simple as to simply pander to the viewers’ fantasies. She nudges – or jostles – the audience towards their own scenarios. The loud laughter the evening provokes alongside mild arousal is very much intended.

“To come” presents us with a kind of conceptual striptease. First we see pure movement without sound. Desire, no climax. In part two, the dancers (now in streetwear) are standing at the side of the stage. They put on headphones and start to sigh, groan, and yell. This faking of orgasms is strictly choreographed, the lustful soundtrack ebbs and flows in recurrent waves. Women and men, nicely asynchronous, panting their way to the highpoint. Then swing music starts up and the dancers have suddenly formed wild pairs. The sensual pleasure in dance – dance as a choreography of sexuality. Even if the finale seems a little too polite: “To come” brought the Tanz im August festival to a first climax  thanks to the young Danish choreographer’s successful and perceptive experiment with lust

- Tagespiegel, 28 August 2006 / Sandra Luzina -