Neel de Jong

Blame it not on the bossa nova, but on my handwriting: I misread my notes and
thought that Neel de Jong had left town when actually she'd shifted venue
mid-stint to 10am at Bedlam. Sometimes it feels as if de Jong arrived in this
world with not enough skin covering her nerve ends.
She reacts, like a living litmus, to her surroundings - to whatever events
or people she encounters at any given time - and Driven epotimises that random
spontaneity. Her opening lullaby-lament - accompanied by pianist Augusto
Pirodda - traces the effect urban decay has on her moods: not just buildings,
but humankind and passers-by appear grey, ugly, hostile, derelict. It depresses
her, then angers her. And then she dances. Always she looks like an overgrown
urchin - and indeed always she retains a child-like capacity for wonderment.
Her body language eases. Her smile returns, beatific. She thanks us. Our being
there has restored her optimism. Her constant battle to overcome disenchantment
and her willingness to risk audience rejection by being open and vulnerable is
like a blessing to the day.
Ends tomorrow

LAURA PEEBLES (the Three Weeks) 17 aug. *****

As you go in, the small theatre is completely dark, apart from a few dimmed
spotlights. On stage, sitting in the middle of her bin bags, is a crazy old bag
lady chanting and swaying. After a few minutes, the mumbled chanting suddenly,
becomes audible, with words and sentences thrown in there too. The seemingly
crazy ramblings start to become meaningful, poignant and truthful. She then
works herself into a frenzied dance, accompanied only by the haunting tune
of a piano. Neel de Jong transports us to a beautifully different world in this
short performance; magical and profound, 'Driven' will leave you with a sense
of wondrous calm. It is like nothing you will have seen before.

ARTSPY UK 18 aug. *****

This is a magical show, inspiring, uplifting and deeply thought provoking. De Jong
explores the dark side of womanhood in an idiosyncratic fusion of dance and poetry.
Beginning as a bag-lady lost in her own world, she gradually involves the audience
using expressionistic gesture and utterance. This seamlessly moves on to poetry and
song drawing the audience into her own world. Augusto Pirroda improvising on piano
has a spare score which surfaces late in the performance but his swaying presence
just off stage in shadow adds to the intensity of the performance. This is performance
theatre at its best, I was left speechless and drained.

TINA JACKSON (Metro) 17 aug. ****

Driven a life-enhancing experience:

Grace and beauty: Neel De Jong

Neel De Jong's short solo piece is a life-affirming way to start the day.
The Dutch physical theatre and live art performer puts on a show about
overcoming the limitations of age and fear that is spirited, generous and
extraordinarily touching.

She's a defiant oddball, deliberately outlandish, as she sits in silence,
slumped on the stage in her striped tights and woolly hat in front of a mirror,
chuntering wordlessly. But as the piece gathers pace, De Jong gets up and,
accompanied on the piano by Augusto Pirodda, begins to move in a dance
that is initially tentative and graceful but increasingly becomes so frantic it seems
she is trying to exorcise something from within herself.

De Jong's artistry is stunning: age and oddity fall away so that all you see is
the beautiful physicality of her movement. Even more impressive is her humanity
and the way she uses her body to communicate how the spirit can triumph over
age and loneliness.

At the end, she moves into the audience, touching them gently on their
shoulders and whispering to them. 'Sometimes I like people,' she told me
quietly, as if she was confiding a secret. 'Sometimes,' I heard her tell my
neighbour, 'I think life is beautiful.' This lovely piece helps make it so.
Until Aug 23, Bedlam Theatre (V49), 10am. www.bedlamfringe.co.uk

JACKIE FLETCHER (British Theatre Guide) 8 aug. ****

In layers of brightly-coloured gauze petticoats, stripy stockings and lace-up
boots, Neel de Jong sends us mixed and disturbing signals about the complexity
of womanhood. A child in the body of a middle-aged woman; a flamboyantly
sexual body that is turning to wrinkles; a body to be loved or abused, beaten or
cherished, de Jong strikes a chillingly resonant cord with her impressive stage
presence.

As her psychologically tangled character flaunts the socially acceptable,
de Jong breaks all the bog standard rules of performance, the expectations of
spectators in unnerving fashion. This is performance art rather than theatre or dance
and one never quite knows what to expect from her next.
One can only be drawn in, respond moment by moment, emotionally and without
mediation from rational processes. It is immediate and raw and she insinuates
herself into private spaces one can't ignore.
The thwarted energy, the defiance, the self-denigration, the pain, the
reaching out are all there and the performance is improvised and changes
every night, adding to its immediacy. Accompanied by Augusto Pirroda,
improvising on piano, the performance is just 30 intense minutes with a tight
sweep moving from quiet gentleness to emotional turmoil, from interiority
to connectedness. It packs a punch and I only felt the full impact, a gut reaction,
when I was standing at the bus stop on Nicolson Street .
It left me confused and amazed and wanting to go back for more.

Neel de Jong is a Dutch performance artist with a remarkably individual
background in (physical) theatre and dance. As a performer and teacher she
has worked in a variety of styles from traditional actors training to Hopi-Indian
rites and African dance and percussion passing through the Laban Institute for
Movement and Dance in London and the Academy for Expression through Word
and Gesture in the Netherlands on the way. She is utterly unique and it is difficult
to put a classification on anything she does except to say that it is ongoing
experimentation, research into the full potential for expressive, unusual and
meaningful connections with spectators.

Driven is a generous performance that leaves a lasting impression. It leaves
the spectator with images and feelings that are personalised. I can recommend
it to those who like to be challenged.

Shows Edinburgh Fringe 2006 and 2007

KIRSTIN INNES (preview)
The List magazine, August 1 2007

In video clips on her website, Neel de Jong stands in an empty
studio space. Her long tweed frock coat and eye goggles recall
Mr Toad; her static, silent demeanour does not. She makes a tiny,
polite motion with her head that her body eventually picks up on
and repeats. Finally, she opens her mouth to emit a low primal moan.
‘I was thinking about the frustration of being at a tea party,’
says de Jong. ‘At the end you would just have to scream!’

It’s these small, spontaneous,very human moments where the
façade bursts that interest de Jong. Her work changes with every
performance, because she has stopped imposing structure upon herself.
Improvising with the pianist Augusto Pirodda (‘I ask him not to play
music that he already knows. When musicians do that, they are dead’),
de Jong externalises a series of inner worlds for her audience. ‘I like
Edinburgh,’ she says. ‘I feel that the people are really ready for this
kind of work.’

MARY BRENNAN (recensie)
The Herald, August 15 2007

Neel de Jong would instinctively recognise and applaud what the
women in the company, Little Dove Theatre Art (Australia) are up to
- her own work resonates with what it's like to live on the margins,
misunderstood at best and ignored or ostracised at worst. Moving
Landscape sees her, resolutely outlandish, in tiers of tulle skirt, soft
bootees, voluminous jacket and with her hair caught up in spiky
tufts - and she's dancing.

She uses finely nuanced body language, gestures and facial
expressions to deliver a narrative of valiant endeavours, crushing
rejections, mistreatment and abuse that drives her into paroxysms
of unstoppered rage - all totally unmistakable, even without her
pianist's appropriate support.

She breaks off to tell us that, really, she is sweet - demonstrates it
with shows of twinkling, naive coquettishness before singing a ditty
Björk would cheer for its heartfelt affirmation of how good it is to
be alive. Again, the show only lasts some 30 minutes - just long
enough to reveal de Jong's total artistry, humanity and generosity
of spirit. She's gone, like a summer swallow - if we're lucky, she'll
come back next year.

MARY BRENNAN (recensie)
The Herald, August 11 2006

At first sight, Neel de Jong looks a tad off-putting - a bag lady with
a silent stare that screams "whaddya lookin' at" attitude. But, in fact,
this Dutch performance artist is one of those genial, life-affirming
presences whose gentle rigmarole of unpacking a bag - offering food,
nuggets of philosophy - is like an oasis of kindly eccentricity in a Fringe
awash with self-absorbed posers. It's a mere half-hour in length, a wee
gem, but hurry -there's not long to go.Until tomorrow.

ELISABETH J MACINTOSH (commentaar)
Festivalpreviews August 12 2006:

I thoroughly enjoyed it; the atmosphere, the stillness and what creativity
to embrace such a difficultart form - and as we understand, it's a
different show every night!

LINKS:

www.danceformsproductions.com
www.edfringe.com
www.festivalpreviews.com