Déjà Donné
November 7 & 8, 2008, 8.00 p.m., Carl-Orff-Saal, Gasteig
DEJA DONNE was founded in 1997 by Lenka Flory and Simone Sandroni, former members of the Flemish company Ultima Vez. She is from Prague, and doesn’t dance any more. He is Italian, and still does. In the intervening decade these offstage partners (and, not insignificantly, co-parents) and their collaborators have created some of the most vital, entertaining and telling dance-based productions available to audiences in Europe and beyond. The company takes its name from its very first performance. The follow-up, Aria Spinta (translation: Pushed Air), was even more of an international calling card. Premiered in 1999, this post-modern kinetic screwball comedy pitted ‘the show must go on’ fortitude against the manic pleasure some performers take in being the centre of attention. In the process, the space occupied by the cast and the audience generated parallels with that messy, unpredictable and absurd performance known as real life.
In Bella Copia (Fair Copy) continued in a similar vein, but took the company’s prevailing interests to deeper and more complex levels. Made in 2001, this show also bore all the hallmarks of the DEJA DONNE style: humour, passion and an unruly heroism. Here we were treated to a parade of truths and fictions, frustrated idealism, sexual appetite, humiliation and redemption. Full of seduction and play, the piece suggested a game driven by dark forces and streaked with danger. The dancing accompanying it was fast, daring, slithery and sharp, but with a full knowledge of something terribly vulnerable and tender.
There Where We Were, from 2003, was a sober and gripping surprise. Unsparing in its depiction of the shifting and intuitive power play between three people, with surgical precision this wordless drama constructed a chamber-sized stage universe of convulsive physical tirades, controlling attractions and stalking oppression.
Flory and Sandroni treat heavy themes with a heart-felt yet often ironic light touch. They take what they do, rather than themselves, seriously. Lately they’ve coupled their inclusive aesthetic philosophy with a growing social concern. More recent efforts include a small-scale Beckettian cultural critique (Piotr and the Stars of Tut, from 2005) and a big, multi-city European project involving schoolchildren and recycling (My Name is King, from 2006).
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Choreography: Simone Sandroni und Lenka Flory
Dancers: Heidi Strauss, Daria Menichetti, Virginia Spallarossa, Lara Tonetti, Eleonora Chiocchini
Music: Gaetan van den Berg, Luigi Ceccarelli
Coproduction: tanzhaus NRW, Theater im Pfalzbau, Ludwigshafen und DANCE 2008.
Mitveranstalter: JOINT ADVENTURES – Walter Heun und Muffatwerk im Rahmen von ACCESS TO DANCE. Die Veranstaltung wird ermöglicht durch das Kulturreferat der Landeshauptstadt München und den Kulturfonds Bayern.
ACCESS TO DANCE ist eine Initiative der Tanzbasis e.V., gefördert durch den Tanzplan Deutschland – einer Initiative der Kulturstiftung des Bundes, das Kulturreferat der Landeshauptstadt München und den Kulturfonds Bayern.
O Vertigo
Photo: Ginette Laurin
March 12 & 13, 2009, 8.30 p.m., Muffathalle
Introduction on both days at 7.45 p.m. at Muffathalle
Public talk with the artists on March 13 after the performance
« … these are extreme situations and states of uncertainty, powerfully depicted by Laurin. [...] the “recreation” [...] pays off: the audience loved it. »
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurt, March 2008
"La Chambre Blanche is a choreographical work in which a confining site brings on states of dismay and frenzy in its captives. In the White Room, the characters are probed in their deepest intimacy and placed in a situation of extreme vulnerability where the body has no choice but to abandon itself to disequilibrium and dizziness." (Ginette Laurin, March 2008). An exploration of theatricality, emotion, and the notion of confinement, La Chambre Blanche is considered one of Ginette Laurin’s strongest dance works. Its content, which seems even more relevant today, has been given new form by the choreographer.
Ginette Laurin
With more than 40 choreographical works to her credit, Ginette Laurin is one of the foremost figures in contemporary dance in Canada. In 1984, she founded O Vertigo, a company now known for its expressive power and the unerring realization of its artistic vision. Since then, she has established an enviable international reputation by creating, year after year, striking works in which she shows an extraordinary ability to renew her gestural language and images to better evoke the underlying themes. Her works have been performed in Canada, the United States, Europe, Central America, and Asia. In recent years, Ginette Laurin has reoriented her approach to embrace creation in multiple forms. Her latest works, ANGELs (2006) and étude #3 pour cordes et poulies (2007), reflect her commitment to experimentation and research relating to – among other things – identity and the double. In 2008, Ginette Laurin proposed the re-creation of one of her most important works, La Chambre Blanche (1992), which will also be the subject of a film that she will direct.
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Choreography : Ginette Laurin
Dancers : Rémi Laurin-Ouellette, Brianna Lombardo, Chi Long, Robert Meilleur, Marie-Ève Nadeau, Gillian Seaward-Boone, Neil Sochasky, Audrey Thibodeau, Wen-Shuan Yang
Rehearsal Mistress: Annie Gagnon
Lighting Design: Martin Labrecque
Set Design: Stéphane Roy
Original Music: Nicolas Bernier and Jacques Poulin-Denis
Costumes: Jean-Yves Cadieux
Wardrobe Assistant: Nicole Langlois
Hair and Make-up: Angelo Barsetti
Production Manager: Chi Long
Coproduction: Place des Arts (Canada), National Arts Centre (Canada), Festival international de nouvelle danse de Montréal (Canada), Canada Dance Festival Northern Telecom 1992, McLean Foundation (Canada), Danse à Lille (France).
O Vertigo is supported by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts de Montréal and Emploi-Québec. The activities of the Creation Centre are possible thanks to the support of the J. Armand Bombardier Foundation.
This tour is made possible thanks to the support of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Xavier Le Roy
Foto: Vincent Cavaroc
April 21 & 22, 2009, 8.30 p.m., Muffathalle
For “Le Sacre du Printemps” Le Roy studied a video recording of Sir Simon Rattles’ interpretation of Igor Stravinsky’s masterpiece and developed his choreography from the conductor’s movements. The result is a fascinating exploration of movement and music, examining questions of generating sound, synchronising hearing and seeing, and the intention and motivation of movements. Le Roy’s work is complex and multi-faceted – and at the same time an extremely entertaining optical and acoustic event.
Xavier Le Roy has been working as dancer and choreographer since 1991 and was voted Choreographer of the Year in 2006. He has cooperated with many artists, such as e.g. Eszter Salomon, and has participated in advanced training projects in a variety of different contexts and institutions. For the season 2007/2008 he is Associated Artist at the Centre Choréographique National de Montpellier.
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Concept and Performance: Xavier Le Roy
Music: Igor Stravinsky
André Gingras
Foto: Ben Van Duin
May 6, 2009, 8.30 p.m. Muffathalle
Within the Dutch me!- Festival, May 2009
‘The Autopsy Project is as much an overwhelming spectacle as a subtle performance concerning the human condition. […] another masterpiece in the oeuvre of André Gingras.’ (NRC Handelsblad November 2007).
For choreographer André Gingras, the creation of dance cannot be experienced as something apart from the times in which we live and the dilemmas that concern us. In his new work The Autopsy Project, Gingras examines the concept of autopsy in today’s society. In this performance, which is itself modelled on the structure of an autopsy, Gingras shows how seductive pure knowledge, power and technology can be: for the experts who see only the beauty of scientific progress, for society who believe in it blindly as the solution to all our problems, and for those in power who see immediately how it can be turned to an instrument of control.
André Gingras was born in Canada and studied in Toronto, Montreal and New York City. His studies in Canada encompassed theatre, English literature and contemporary dance. He received a Canada Council Arts Award to pursue his dance education in New York City. In NYC he worked with Christopher Gillis, Doug Varone, Mariko Tanabe and the Doris Humphrey Repertory Co. In 1996 Gingras became a regular member of Robert Wilson’s creative team, developing and performing; TSE, The Days Before, Prometheus, 70 Angels on the Facade and Relative Light among others, all over the world.
André Gingras began choreographing in Holland in 1999. After an extensive career in dance and theatre, his desire to explore a highly physical and visual personal language began to manifest itself. His movement research finds its inspiration in martial arts, breakdance, the physical symptoms related to specific medical conditions and in post-modern dance and theatre. His desire is to interface dance with the visual and digital arts and to engage audiences in a dialogue based in contemporary issues.
Choreography: André Gingras
Associate director - dramaturge: Sue Jane Stoker
Performers: Kim Fischer, Kirstine Ilum Sorensen, Marek Zawalski, Nitay Lehrer, Bruno Isakovic, Melanie Wirz
Rehearsal director: Kenneth Flak
Music: Joseph Hyde
Set: Geert van der Velden
Costumes: Carlijn Petermeijer
Light design: Bas Visser
Parkour and freerunning training courtesy of Henk Strijdhaftig
Stunt advice: Diana Wiersma.
The Autopsy Project is a Korzo production and is financially supported by the Dutch Fund for Amateur Art and Performing Arts and the Dutch Ministry of Culture.
Thomas Hauert
Foto: Filip Vanzieleghem
June 23 & 24, 2009, 8.30 p.m., Muffathalle
This work created by Thomas Hauert to mark the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Kompanie Zoo continues his investigations into bodies and movement. One focus here is on the relationship between dance and music. “accords” examines all the movement options open to the individual and the group. The dancers interpret the dynamics, harmonies and melodies of the music that is staged equally as a prompt for movement and as movement itself.
Thomas Hauert
After his studies in Rotterdam, the Swiss Thomas Hauert danced with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Gonnie Heggen, David Zambrano and Pierre Droulers. With his own Brussels-settled company ZOO, he has created since 1998 more than 12 pieces, e.g. Cows in Space, Verosimile, Modify and Walking Oscar, which have toured all over the world. Outside the context of ZOO, he has created pieces for the students of PARTS in Brussels and has given workshops in that school as well as in many other places.
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Concept/Direction: Thomas Hauert
Choreography/Dance: Thomas Hauert, Martin Kilvady, Sara Ludi, Chrysa Parkinson, Zoë Poluch, Mat Voorter et Samantha van Wissen
Light/Staging: Jan Van Gijsel
Workshops
"Voice and expression" with Eurudike de Beul
October 3 - 5, 2008, Metatheater Moosach
More Information: www.meta-theater.com
Further information on www.accesstodance.de
Workshops - Dutch me-Festival!
May, 9: META Theater, Moosach, Company White Horse
Information: www.meta-theater.com
May, 8-9: workshop with André Gingras, Tanzschule Ziegler, Prien am Chiemsee
Information: www.tanzschule-ziegler.de
May, 10: Workshop with Cie. Emio Greco, Tanzraum Ries, Nördlingen
Information: www.tanzraum-ries.de
May, 10: Workshop with Cie. Emio Greco, Kari-Dance Kempten
Information: www.kari-dance.de