Jonathan Burrows‘ ‟out-of-a-suitcase” dances: or the affirmative power of reduction

For more than a decade Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion have created a number of 'out-of-a-suitcase‘ duets. Limitations of technical and scenographic requirements have been consciously embraced as a response to a difficult economic climate. This paper discusses the radical rethinking of choreography exemplified by Burrows and Fargion‘s duets since 2002, with a particular focus on the political content of Body Not Fit For Purpose (2014), as discussed in recent conversations with the artists. Particular attention is given to the productive implications of their reductionist aesthetics, through a reappraisal of its emancipatory prospects.