SH-Boom!

The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty. – Francisco Goya

Sol León and Paul Lightfoot created SH-BOOM! in 1994 for the annual Dancers Choreography Workshop, now called Switch. The piece marks the beginning of their successful collaboration and is therefore of great importance for the choreographic duo, not in the least because León herself performed in the piece. The work combines humour with irony and expresses how people from different backgrounds conduct and relate to one another. Inspired by Francisco de Goya’s satirical black & white sketches, SH-BOOM! masterfully intertwines the dark side (irony) and the light side (humour).

Once again, this choreographic duo chose foot tapping music that’s frequently at odds with the movement. (The title is taken from SH-BOOM!, an early doo-wop song by The Chords). SH-BOOM! comes across sort of like fiddling around on the TV or radio, letting one song or show play, then switching to one with a different mood and different content. A single dancer acts out a soap opera, playing two parts. A male dancer, with no clothes on, dances under flashlight beams and sometimes hides his private parts with a copper pot (but sometimes he doesn’t). Men wear white knee socks and underwear, women high necked, long-sleeved back dresses.