"I was far away, killing for love..." (Ko Van Den Bosch)

 

The piece “My private Odyssey” is a co-production of the choreographers Guy Weizman and Roni Haver, the German company Tanzmainz and the composer David Dramm, the composer and pianist Tomoko Mukaiyama, the violinist Monica Germino and the flutist Anne La Berge.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

For their piece “My private Odyssey” the two choreographers Guy Weizman and Roni Haver were inspired by the poet Homer, who wrote about the Greek hero Odysseus. Odysseus was the king of the island Ithaca when he had to go to the Trojan War. Unfortunately he came back to his homeland after long 20 years. This journey of Odysseus was used by the choreographers as a metaphor for human’s life in generally, but especially for the life or journey of artists. What does it mean to be always on the way or what does it mean to come back home after spending a long time somewhere else?

On January the 22nd, 2015 the big stage of the Schouwburg in Utrecht was constructed quite extraordinary. There were no alleys, curtains or a back plane, therefore the stage seemed to be really open and big. When the audience entered the theater the front curtains were already opened and a flutist was playing live with support of replayed music. By constructing a complex setting of the stage and by using special light effects it was firstly hard to see that all the dancers as well as the musicians were already somewhere on the stage.

 

 

 

 

The space in total was filled with three female dancers, seven male dancers and three musicians, which were all dressed up in quite conspicuous and extensive red clothes. Among other things the color red signifies in psychology emotions, strong enragements and oppositions. That’s why it seemed like the choreographers wanted to emphasize by using this color doubts, obstructions, desire, courage, comeback and hope.

 

 

 

 

 

These connotative words were also confirmed by the strong facial expressions and the movements of the dancers. The piece was divided in group parts, duets, partnering and short solos. The movements were really precise and often minimalistic. Temporary the quality of the movements was fluently, but then sometimes also quite staccato and during partnering parts manipulative.

At more than just one time in the piece the dancers were leaving the stage to be in the space of the audience. That’s why the focus of the audience was not the whole time straight to the stage. One time the dancers also invited the audience to scream at certain points. So the choreographers changed the usual course of a performance. This action gave the impression that the choreographers wanted to involve the audience and it also seemed like they wanted to clarify - by passing the boarders to the audience - that the theme of “My private Odyssey” is everyone’s business.

It's everyone's business because every human can connect something with the topic coming home after a time of absence. Of course for everyone coming back home means something else, because everyone also defines home diffrently. On the stage the dancers showed their personal experience and their own journey. In my view I really could identify with the dancers and their feelings.
 
Before January 22nd, 2015 I didn’t see or know anything about the choreographers Guy Weizman and Roni Haver and the German company Tanzmainz. That’s why I didn’t have any prejudices. But after I saw “My Private Odyssey” I was really positive surprised and I quite enjoyed seeing this piece. On the one hand I just loved to see the dancers moving. In my opinion they were really strong in their complex movements as well as in their expressions. On the other hand I was also really fascinated of the whole staging with the lights and the stage settings. But I also have to say that it was too much going on for just seeing this piece once. That’s why I would like to go a second time in “My private Odyssey” and I can just recommend to other people to watch this quite convincing and strong piece.  

 

See more: http://www.clubguyandroni.nl/en/

 

 

 



Choreography: Guy Weizman and Roni Haver

Dance: the German company Tanzmainz
Music Composition: David Dramm and Tomoko Mukaiyama

Music: Anne La Berge (flutist), Tomoko Mukaiyama (pianist and singer), Monica Germino (violinist)

Text: Ko Van Den Bosch 

Costumes: Slavna Martninovic

Light: Will Frikken  

Johanna Schweer