A contemporary 'musical' for twelve dancers, LOVETRAIN2020 is a choreographic ode to the sound and vibe of the eighties, embodied in the utopic drive and epic groove of pop-synth duo Tears for Fears.

Featuring hits like Mad World, Shout, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Change, and Sowing the Seeds of Love, LOVETRAIN2020 unfolds within a charged space of references, counterpoints, and endless possibilities. From different angles, movement and sound interact to reveal the obvious yet often overlooked ways people come together, drift apart, push, pull, question, and resolutely move forward. Return to the glorious decade of flashy fashions and exuberant pop with Emanuel Gat Dance. 

Late arrivals will not be allowed to enter the performance venue or return to their original seats for the sake of the performance.

Post-performance Talk

A post-performance talk will be held after the performance on May 18.

Choreographer and Lighting Designer: Emanuel Gat

Music: Tears for Fears

Costume Designer: Thomas Bradley

Costume Construction: Thomas Bradley, Wim Muyllaert

Technical Director: Guillaume Février

Sound Designer: Frédéric Duru 

Wardrobe: Marie–Pierre Calliès

Emanuel Gat

Choreographer and Lighting Designer

Born in Israel, Emanuel Gat first encountered dance at age 23 during a workshop led by Israeli choreographer Nir Ben Gal. A few months later, he joined Ben Gal's dance company, with whom he toured internationally. Gat began working as an independent choreographer just two years later in 1994. Over the next decade, he participated in multiple projects and created pieces for companies like the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company. In 2004, he founded Emanuel Gat Dance. Gat has created dozens of pieces for his company and others across musical disciplines – from Mozart to John Coltrane to English electronic musician Squarepusher.  He regularly collaborates with prestigious dance companies around the world, such as the Sydney Dance Company, Los Angeles Dance Project, and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. Gat's creations Winter Voyage and The Rite of Spring have toured internationally over 350 times. His works have been recognized with awards including the Rosenblum Award for Performing Arts and Landau Dance Award. He is currently a resident choreographer at the Théâtre nationale de Chaillot in Paris.

'Time Out was a carnivalesque interlude of dancers masking up and playacting with each other before they became restless again, returning to creating vibrant elemental dance. Gat's imagined designer sun eventually grew red in the sky as night approached and his dancers' bodies created final great swathes and splashes of athletic, colourful moves. Uplifting and finely tuned in every sense.' The Irish Times

'Emanuel Gat's dance is eruptive, close to jazz in its variations and improvisations. We are now well aware of his spontaneous choreographic approach, in the form of modules whose dancers decide for themselves on the scheduling.' ResMusica

'The choreographer, a leading figure in contemporary Israeli dance, has been deploying a world of delicacy and subtlety of great formal perfection on the French and international stages for a decade, inhabited by a spirit of high standards and inventiveness.' Var Matin

'Developing new ways to paint the human experience onstage, Gat [is one of] Israel’s most successful dance start-ups. [He is a] true experimentalist, recognized around the world for [his] inventive movement style and fearless compositions. Bodies are able to communicate where words fail, and [this choreographer] breaks the language barrier with refined work.' Tablet Mag