Cheap Lecture
Foto: Herman Sorgeloos
May 11 & 12, 2010, 8.30 pm, Muffathalle
Cheap Lecture (2009) and A Not Very Subtle Representation of Resilience through Dance (2009)
'Cheap Lecture' is a rhythmic spoken performance set to music, which borrows its structure from John Cage's 'Lecture On Nothing'. In a rant about empty hands, audience, time, repetition and dancing, the duo reflect upon and continue the journey begun in their previous trilogy of pieces. It is followed by 'A Not Very Subtle Representation of Resilience through Dance', a chaotic meditation upon dance and mortality. 'Cheap Lecture was selected for the 2009 'best of the year' (Het Theaterfestival in Brussels).
'Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion have created a performance that dances in your head. It's superb'
De Morgen, Belgium, on 'Cheap Lecture'
'Cheap Lecture' was commissioned by Cultureel Centrum Maasmechelen and Dans in Limburg and first performed at the Cultureel Centrum Maasmechelen. 'A Not Very Subtle Representation of Resilience through Dance' is co-produced by Kaaitheater, Brussels.
Jonathan Burrows was born in 1960. He started his career as a soloist with the Royal Ballet in London but formed the Jonathan Burrows Group in 1988 to present his own work. The company travelled widely and gained an international reputation with pieces such as ‘Stoics’ (1991), ‘Very’ (1992), ‘Our’ (1994), ‘The Stop Quartet’ (1996) and ‘Things I Don’t Know’ (1997). In 2001 he presented ‘Weak Dance Strong Questions’, a collaboration with Dutch theatre director Jan Ritsema, which toured to 14 countries. Since 2002 he has collaborated with the composer Matteo Fargion on a trilogy of duets, "Both Sitting Duet" (2002), "The Quiet Dance" (2005) and "Speaking Dance"(2006). The duo have now given over 150 performances of this work in 37 countries, including winning a 2004 New York Dance And Performance "Bessie" Award. Other high profile collaborators include Sylvie Guillem’s performance of his choreography in Adam Robert’s film ‘Blue Yellow’ in 1996, and his invitation in 1997 to choreograph for William Forsythe’s Ballet Frankfurt. In 2008 he was Associate Director on Peter Handke's 'The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other' for the National Theatre, London. He was an associate artist 1992- 2002 at Kunstencentrum Vooruit in Gent, Belgium, and was Artist-In-Residence at London’s South Bank Centre 1998/9. In 2002 Jonathan was given an award by the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts In New York, in recognition for his ongoing contributions to contemporary dance. He is a visiting member of faculty at P.A.R.T.S, the school of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker in Brussels, and is also a Visiting Professor for the Department of Drama and Theatre at Royal Holloway, University Of London, the Performance Studies Department of Hamburg University and the Freie Universität Berlin.
Matteo Fargion was born in Milan, Italy in 1961. He studied composition with Kevin Volans at the University of Natal, South Africa, and later with Howard Skempton in London. He met Jonathan Burrows in 1988, and has since written music for many of his pieces, including ‘Dull Morning’, ‘Stoics’, ‘Very’, ‘Our’, ‘Hands’, ‘The Stop Quartet’ (with Kevin Volans) and ‘Things I Don't Know’, in which he also performed ‘Donna Che Beve’ for 3 amplified cardboard boxes. Matteo has also written music for theatre including an oratorio (‘Das Kontingent’) commissioned by and performed at the Schaubühne Berlin and TAT Frankfurt, a chamber opera (‘Le Bellezze d’Hortensia’) at the Theaterhaus in Stuttgart, as well as incidental music for many productions at the Residenz Theater Munich. In 2004 he wrote music for Thomas Ostermeier’s prize winning production of Jon Fosse's new play ‘The Girl on the Sofa’ shown at the Edinburgh International Festival, and in 2005 he collaborated and performed in Canadian choreographer Lynda Gaudreau’s ‘Document 4’ in Gent, Belgium. His piece ‘Duets’, written in collaboration with Kevin Volans, is released on Black Box Records. Matteo also runs composition workshops at PARTS, the school of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker in Brussels.