choreography
Sol León & Paul Lightfoot
music
Perez Prado,
Alberto Dominguez,
Ernesto Lecuona,
Ray Barretto,
Trio Los Panchos
lighting design
Tom Bevoort
set and costume design
Sol León & Paul Lightfoot
duration
22 minutes
on stage
5 dancers
world premiere
7 February 1998, Lucent Danstheater, The Hague (NL)
full version video
(password protected)
Sad Case was originally created for NDT 1 in 1998 when Sol León was seven months pregnant with their daughter, and acts as one of the main pillars of León & Lightfoot’s oeuvre. Surprising and earthly movements on Mexican mambo music show a continual search for the tension between satirical and classic moments.
“Sad Case (1998) is actually a rather happy case. The five white-faced, red-mouthed dancers in Lightfoot Leon’s creation twitch, curl, and swing cartoonishly to crooner tunes and Latin beats as they contort their faces into hyperbolic expressions. Their clownish faces and manic gestures are spicy and refreshing in contrast to the last two pieces. It’s light. It’s fun.” The Brooklyn Rail, 2009
“Funny, theatrical and touchingly human” CriticalDance.com, 2003
"Sad Case so excellently represents the early work of Lightfoot and Leon. That jolliness is sharply contrasted with the melancholic, dreamlike atmosphere of Some Other Time." NRC, 2014
“..a shining role for Casia Vengoechea in Sad Case..” Theaterkrant, 2014