For this one moment, you won't want to miss MIRROR MIRROR by Conny Janssen Danst

You can think of several reasons to go and see MIRROR MIRROR by Conny Janssen Danst at the RDM Submarine Wharf. But there is one in particular.

Conny Janssen Danst is back in a former submarine hangar in Rotterdam with MIRROR MIRROR. That shed is located by the water near the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and an Innovation Lab. An industrial setting that also recurs in the performance. You can see this in the circular, centrally hanging mirror that evokes a technical illusion. But also in the old shed itself.

Set designer Thomas Rupert, partner of Conny Janssen, says the shed was recently renovated. When MIRROR MIRROR came out with great success three years ago, the hall looked even more like a big rust bucket. One that stood out extra beautifully against the crystal-clear water.

But it is still an imposing setting.

Just a quick note: Conny Janssen Danst is celebrating an anniversary this year. When she started 25 years ago, hype quickly arose. 'This is different, modern and fresh,' everyone knew to say. The choreographer with an average surname who creates magical worlds has since come a long way. So in 2018, the municipality of Rotterdam will award her monumental oeuvre with a new home in the former Fenix sheds on Katendrecht: The House Conny Janssen Danst.

MIRROR MIRROR

Yanaika Holle sits in an ochre-coloured dress in a corner on the steel staircase. You don't see that she is 39. But you don't see much else; it is dark in the massive hall. The spotlight lights up Yanaika like a Madame Butterfly and the hall, meanwhile, is chock-full during the first try-out. 'It looks like a wall of audience' says Conny afterwards. For the dancers, this revival takes some getting used to. The enormous interest in the production is a little overwhelming.

Then, slowly, the outlines of Sinfonia Rotterdam light up. The dynamic orchestra, which sits in an office layer above the dance floor, plays dramatic and atmospheric music by Philip Glass, Joby Talbot and John Adams, among others. Conductor Conrad van Alphen whips up his players, later sloshing through the water at the bow and drinking beer among the audience afterwards. Fantastic that this orchestra supports the performance live.

Yet dance in a large space remains a difficult concept. ISH tried, for example in a Purification Hall, Lonneke van Leth in an aircraft hangar. The problem is that dance movements there are harder to observe and quickly fall flat in the empty space. You have to be a kind of Vis à Vis to hold attention with changing disciplines. An additional handicap is that the water slows down the movements. Especially with trainers on.

"And does anyone feel anything about mirrors as big as this market square?"

But then, like a clap on a thunderstorm, a rush of dancers emerges. From behind, they come running forward in brilliant colours in the water. A dazzling moment that overwhelms your senses. Similarly, the rich blackberry picker in Boman's story must have been enraptured by pearls and mirrors in a forest that turns out to be just dew and ponds. There is much beauty to be found in the simple.

There are plenty of other fine elements (Esther Williams patterns, three post-modern priestesses with headdresses, the hissing, a singing bowl signalling), yet it is the rush that tilts the performance into a worthwhile experience. Indeed, freed from the first, slower section, you recapture your attention for the extraordinary water ballet.

MIRROR MIRROR is actually dead serious. There are hardly any laughs and nothing erotic. But the abstract touches and relationships with no real connection increasingly give way to a bigger picture. Once you get through it all, you can enjoy the final pas de deux and Davide Bellotta's lonely, poetic solo. And stay after: when the water has calmed, the surface reflects perfectly.