You see a rhinoceros, skeleton, bullfighter, oil and a cockroach. Are they appearing before St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, are they reporting for a new future, or does the old, wrinkled man they visit simply symbolise Father Time? The fact is that their best days are behind them. They have to fight for their existence and relevance, but should they – and should we! – not better seize the opportunity to transform. That seems to be what Rhino, the latest production by Tiffany Tregarthen and David Raymond, wants to say.

Rhino – created in 2024 for their Vancouver company Out Innerspace – takes you to a fabulous universe, in which the choreographers portray their concerns about the world, their powerlessness and their hope by having five wonderful characters question their past and future. The production is both confusing and crystal clear. Dark and comical. Theatrical and very physical. Fragments of music, deafening tones and also soft chirping take you on a journey through time. A brilliant lighting design creates ever new spaces, in which time seems to stand still or is under pressure, or then again is endless.

A David Lynch film on speed

Transformation and change are recurring themes in the work of Tregarthen and Raymond. As is the radical synergy between dance, theatre, text, music, sound, light, projections, props and special effects. That was already tangible and visible in Bygones, the production with which the duo made its international breakthrough in 2019. Anita van Dolen, artistic director of the Amsterdam Julidans festival: 'Tiffany and David make extremely cinematic, visual dance theatre, a kind of David Lynch film on speed, with a tremendous, insane physicality.' She previously presented Bygones (also performed at the Brussels cultural centre Les Brigittines in 2022) in Julidans and is now also trying to bring Rhino to Europe. 'Tiffany and David really draw you into their world, in which the characters – often enigmatic fantasy figures – undergo a transformation. The work is at the same time so surreal and so magical that you can never quite grasp it. You feel the darkness, but there is also humour. There is always that twist somewhere.'

Clown-like demons

The two Canadians – one born in southern British Columbia, the other in the north – each walked a different path: where Raymond ended up in the contemporary dance world via tap dance and street dance, Tregarthen has a background in jazz and academic dance. They met in 2004 and in 2007, after a two-year residency at the Internationale Dansstage in Antwerp, decided to start Out Innerspace – a production unit in combination with a mentoring programme for striking young dance talents. Only recently have they focused entirely on creating and coaching, because before that they were mainly seen in the work of others, and especially in that of their famous compatriot Crystal Pite. Anita van Dolen: 'I first saw them in Crystal's masterpiece Betroffenheit, in which they were really so bizarrely good in their role as clown-like demons. They are both magical performers, technically so gifted and with an unimaginable flexibility.'

Due to the worldwide success of Betroffenheit and later also Pite's Revisor – resulting in intensive tours – their own oeuvre is still limited. In addition to five creations for their own group, they have so far created work for Ballet BC (Vancouver), Gibney Dance (New York), the Hessisches Staatsballett and NDT 2, the junior company of Nederlands Dans Theater.

The work is at the same time so surreal and so magical that you can never quite grasp it. You feel the darkness, but there is also humour. There's always that twist somewhere.

Forces from outside

Former NDT 1 dancer Lydia Bustinduy assisted the choreography duo in 2022 with their last creation, entitled Fathoms. 'What's great about Tiffany and David is that they don't focus on the end result, but on the process. They come in with plenty of ideas, but then spend a lot of time on physical research. They really look at what they can do with the qualities and personalities of the dancers. That is of course interesting for the dancers, because such a process is more satisfying than learning a piece straight away. And where a lot of choreographic work, especially with our company, revolves around control and management, Tiffany and Raymond, for example, work a lot with falls and with cause and effect. In other words, they use external forces. Another thing that struck me is that they can work together so wonderfully. You don't always see that with duos, but Tiffany and David are so in sync with each other. They really respect each other, are constantly open to each other's ideas and preferences.'

A question that naturally crops up regularly, especially in reviews: to what extent is Crystal Pite's influence visible in their work? Van Dolen: 'Of course there's always a degree of influence, but it's most likely mutual: Tiffany and David will have inspired her as well. You do see a strong drive in them to find their own movement language. Their interest in all possible dance languages and the fantastic skills they have as performers give them enormous freedom to explore how you can construct and develop movements in new ways.'

Bustinduy: 'Precisely because they create in such close collaboration with the dancers, they cannot be pinned down to one style. They are so open to new ideas, dance styles and theatre forms that I think there is no limit to where their work can go. Yes, they share with Crystal the utmost attention to detail and the focus on theatricality, but Tiffany and David as creators really have their own, unique voice.'