XX Puckers Up for Alexander Bar Upstairs Theatre Run

Part dance, part cabaret, part revue, XX is a naughty little rendezvous about the most intimate of human acts: the kiss. Directed by Tara Notcutt, with choreography by Cleo Notcutt, the hour-long show is performed by Kelly Atkins, Rori Bingham and Cleo Notcutt herself. Sister team Tara and Cleo invite audiences to pour themselves a drink, and join them in the dark for a little glitz, a lot of dance, and... well, it's not polite to kiss and tell...

Capetonian theatre-maker Tara is one of South Africa's top young independent director-producers and is dedicated to making brave, original, and sexy South African theatre. The artistic director of The Pink Couch, some of her recent work includes ...MISKIEN, THE THREE LITTLE PIGS, MAFEKING ROAD, LAST ROUNDS, Stuart Lightbody's DEVILISH and SLEEPLESS DREAMS and THREE BLIND MICE. The winner of a Fleur du Cap theatre award for Best New Director and eight Standard Bank Ovation Awards, Tara was was named one of the Mail and Guardian's Top 200 Young South Africans in 2012.

While theatre is her first 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 competitions. Her sister, Cleo, is one of the young, motivated and versatile dancers who started to dance in Trish's dance studio, The Dance Project.

Cleo's training covered many dance styles, including 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. She believes that one can and should always learn something new from each different experience. A "Top 16" finalist in the SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, Cleo has represented South Africa twice at the Las Vegas World Hip Hop Championships.

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.

XX previews on 27 October and runs from 3-7 November at the Alexander Bar's Upstairs Theatre at 9pm nightly. Tickets cost R80-R100 and can be booked online at the Alexander Bar website or purchased at the bar. For telephone bookings and enquiries, call 021 300 1652. Alexander Bar & Café is situated at 76 Strand Street in the Cape Town city centre and can be followed on Facebook and Twitter.

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