Tuesday, 15 May 2018





Sutra – Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui


      Choreography : Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui                        Music composition: Szymon Brzóska
         Premiere: 27 May 2008                                             Live music: Alies Sluiter, Olga Wojciechowska,Laura Anstee,
                                                                                                                                  Coordt Linke and Szymon Brzóska

This is a piece is Inspired by the Shaolin Temple that Cherkaoui visited in 2007.He created a choreography that brings together two civilizations, two cultures with two different perspective. The east and the west. The Shaolin Monks and a European man.
What is most surprising is the skillful use of wooden boxes to modify the space. Flowers, temples, bridges, streets, walls... the boxes seem to take many forms and the Shaolin Monks appear and disappear behind them almost magically, as if everything were an illusion. Eighteen Shaolin Monks moves with such unison, precision and a natural quality that you can’t take your eyes off the stage.

The stage is a white box; in which an alternation of figures and movements change the space; creating another dimension,images and places inside a room.The Live music transpires from a veiled background in which, observing carefully, we can distinguish the silhouettes of the musicians, who are not part of the performance. The music is not a support for the choreography but an integral part of the environment that Cherkaoui wanted to create.

The attention is captured by the choreography that makes the audience participate as part of the story, part of the exchange between two cultures, part of the game of shapes and jumps suspended in mid-air.


The Kung Fu practiced by Shaolin Monks cut the air and gives the performance another dimension to complete it.  
A perfect union between technique and precision,
expression and dedication.The image of a man who comes from far away.A man observes a foreign culture starting from the basics. The man commences in dialogue with a child sitting in front of him, in a game of exchanges and photographs.The lights used are simple and gives an atmosphere that allows the dialogue between the spectator and the scene.The costumes are a further element that differentiates the two cultures, giving dynamic to the movements and a practical sense that characterizes the simplicity and speed with which the dancers move and moves the space.

In conclusion I think this piece gives a good illustration of Sidi Larbi’s experience with the Shaolin Monks as a European man observing a different culture. He gives us a new way of looking a different culture, without  comparing, diving into it from the eyes of a child.
By Veronica Totolo

Wednesday, 25 April 2018


Sutra – Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui

Sutra, the piece about symbolism, threats and a old and new world based in China.
It will make you sit at the edge of your seat, for the history and the special dynamics what comes with the shaolin monks taking part in it. they build and they take down, they fight, the fall and they stand up again. They move with wooden crates (made by Antony Gormley) as big as a human, the look like open coffins and there is one western person with a silver box with represents the western world.

 Afbeeldingsresultaat voor sutra sidi larbi


Sutra starts with a the western(Ali Thabet, in the role Cherkaoui originally took) and a monk from 10 years old sitting against each other on the grey block while the other wooden blocks are in the middle of the theatre and on the grey one you see the blocks in miniature. From here on it evolves, first the western person is showing a finger and a monk with a two handed Chinese sword is doing the same movements with the sword as the finger is doing while the little monk is watching what the finger is doing. The monks keep the tradition in there fighting style with the ancient phrases they were doing from the beginning of the shaolin monastery. Like Katja Vaghi (a review dance writer) says:’Cherkaoui manages to break down Eastern and Western perceptions of each other and proves that martial arts are poetry in motion’.

Afbeeldingsresultaat voor sutra sidi larbi

They even never leave those phrases of ancient combat and still you can see a lot of pictures in changing in time in China. The crates and the struggle humans have are visible, the confrontation with the western world and the differences in being a personality in one person or being part of a group in culture. Suddenly they were suits like businessman who are young and eager but fall again apart and than there is the wall made with the creates with guards on top. Some of it is really clear and other parts are open for own thoughts. This piece is an complete and full story with all the time a question; What is the thread? According to the piece, it is you...  

Sutra was performed the first time on 27 may 2008

Link trailer 

21 april 2018, stadstheater Arnhem, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui / Sadler's Wells
with monniken van de Shaolin-tempel
Visual design Antony Gormley
Music Szymon Brzóska
Co-produced by  Athens Festival, Festival de Barcelona Grec, Grand Theatre de Luxembourg, La Monnaie Brussels, Festival D'Avignon, Fondazione Musica per Roma en Shaolin Cultural Communications Company

Ruben Alkema



Thursday, 15 February 2018

The Legend is Back! Martha Graham Dance Company

The Timeless Works of Martha Graham. 

Lene van Alten

This year, Holland Dance Festival and Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam have welcomed  back the Martha Graham Dance Company to the Netherlands. Martha Graham was one of the most iconic and influential dancers/choreographers in the 20th century. She is called the founder of American Modern Dance.

To celebrate her legacy the program existed out of the political piece: Chronicles (1936), her last work: Maple Leaf Rag (1990), a re-imagined solo: Ekstasis (1933) and a view of American choreographers on Lamentation (variations 2007).



Image result for the legend is back martha graham
The whole performance was spectacular. I went in with high expectations but they managed to rise above them. You have to imagine the time when Chronicles was first performed. A war ready to start and strong woman dancing on bare feet, telling a story about war. All the movements seemed to have such great meaning. The emotional power in simple movements was the most impressive thing. 

To see choreographers from now give new life to the old works of Graham was amazing. It is like a preview on how a company could survive without its creator. They showed three modest but strong variations of Lamentation and it gave a nice picture of what the future of the company could look like. 

The Graham dancers performed so well. Their movement quality was extraordinary. They are able to do very difficult movement (without is seeming to be difficult) and then giving it meaning with the underlying emotions. Ekstasis gives a great example of a Graham piece with great quality on beautiful music and purity in the emotions. 
  
In Maple Leaf Rag Graham intended it to be not too serious. She played with her own iconic movements in a way that it was not exaggerated which made it a very light and enjoyable piece. She made fun of herself, looking back on her life and apparently that is a great formula for a last piece you’ll ever make.


Overall it was a phenomenal performance. Martha’s works have proven to be legendary and timeless. If you ever get the chance watch to the company perform I would really recommend you go.


Date,theater: 13/feb/2018, Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg. Company: Martha Graham Dance Company. Main Choreographer: Martha Graham. Lamentation Variations: various choreographers.