XX. Kiss kiss…
Part dance, part cabaret, part revue, XX is a naughty little rendezvous about our most intimate of acts: the kiss. Sister team Tara and Cleo Notcutt bring together four of Cape Town’s sassiest performers to Cape Town’s most intimate venue for your viewing pleasure.
Pour yourself a drink, and join us in the dark for a little glitz, a lot of dance, and... well, we’d say more now, but as you know it’s not polite to kiss and tell…
Tara is a purveyor of human experience (read: theatre maker) based in Cape Town. At the age of 28, she is one of South Africa’s top young independent director and producers, the Artistic Director of The Pink Couch, and is dedicated to making brave, original, and sexy South African theatre.
Her recent work includes "…miskien", "The Three Little Pigs", "Mafeking Road", "Last Rounds", Stuart Lightbody’s "Devilish" and "Sleepless Dreams", and "Three Blind Mice". On her bookshelf she has a Fleur du Cap for Best New Director, and eight (invisible) Standard Bank Ovation Awards. In 2012 she was named one of the Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans. She has presented works in countries three continents, but South Africa is her favourite. When she’s not in a theatre, she can be found in the back row at the Labia or putting R2 coins in the jukebox at the Kimberley Hotel.
While theatre is her love, dance runs in Tara's blood. Her mom, Trish, is a dance teacher and throughout her life many-a-long-night has been spent both on and backstage at dance shows, eisteddfods, and Hip Hop competitions. Not many people know this, but she did Ballet for 6 years and always wanted to learn Tap.
Cleo is a young, motivated, versatile dancer who started to dance in her mother’s dance studio, The Dance Project. Her training covered many dance styles ‐ hip hop, jazz, contemporary, tap, musical theatre and South African styles like pantsula, kwaito and gumboot dancing.
She started teaching dance to others from a very young age and this desire to improve herself and others has led her to studying the styles of the great performers, attending workshops of recognised visiting experts and working for many choreographers, dance teachers, local and international artists and dance companies who perform in diverse styles.
She believes that one can and should always learn something new from each different experience.
She loves performing ‐ on stage, in a show, on TV, at corporate functions, at competitions and this led to her becoming a top 16 finalist in the SA TV show “So You Think You Can Dance”. Cleo has put shows together (eg Cape Town’s Most Wanted) and works hard at creating opportunities for dancers ‐ even designing an extra‐mural performance training programme for by the Sport and Recreation Department for secondary schools facing challenges.
She represented South Africa twice at the Las Vegas World Hip Hop Championships and put together and trained various dance groups (one of them 7 years old) for competitions overseas. She led a dance tour with a young group of dancers from a mixture of backgrounds ‐ to Amsterdam, Paris, New York, Washington DC and finally Orlando for an International Hip Hop Convention.
Cleo studied at the Broadway Dance Centre, winning the “Outstanding Student Award” after being there for only 3 months. She performed a kwaito piece and was asked to teach kwaito to her class and choreographed a piece which became a hit as part of their final “Performance Project”.
Tara and Cleo have worked together on various shows, with Cleo choreographing small parts of "Last Rounds", Rob van Vuuren's "WhatWhat", and "The Incredible Journey". However, they have wanted to do a full show together for some time, and "XX" is the product of this desire.
Media & Reviews
Review of XX by Robyn Cohen
Audience Responses
we loved it!!!!
This was my first time at Alexander Bar. Love the place. Good food & service in the restaurant.
The show was very enjoyable. The Nottcuts are a talented pair. The female dancers were particularly good. Perhaps the space was an eensie bit tight for such a show, but was very well used regardless.
Enjoyable evening. Thanks!
A great show! The dancers were absolutely brilliant and humorous! I loved it so much, I watched it twice! Super cute!
Excellent show! Very entertaining.
fun. cool selection of quotes and music. diverse sequence and choreography. 10min too long?
Brilliant performance
3 out of 5.Enjoyable and very good dancing. Expected more erotic dancing.
Amazing show, excellent cast will definitely watch out for future shows.
Great show, deserving of a larger audience!
Loved the show. Saw on preview night and there are still some rough edges which is why I am giving it 4 out of 5. It's a cooker of a show. High energy dance, sexy; kiss kiss love ya madly. See my blog http://thecaperobyn.blogspot.com/2015/10/xx-architecture-of-kiss-at-alexander.html
Much enjoyed. Show in 'preview' mode, and I'm sure will develop. What energy on a hot, hot night in Cape Town! Cast certainly showcased Cleo's wide range of dance styles. Some fabulous stuff (loved the 'laundry duet)'. What is the name of the extra cast member not included in media release?
Awesome show! Really enjoyed it. And the dancers were amazing!
I thought the venue was too small for the type of production.
This was m first time at Alexander Bar. Love the place. Good food & service in the restaurant.
The show was very enjoyable. The Nottcuts are a talented pair. The female dancers were particularly good. Perhaps the space was an eensie bit tight for such a show, but was very well used regardless.
Enjoyable evening. Thanks!
Dabcing excellent. Sound and lighting not good however.
