HOWL DID THAT
WORK?
Joana Sousa Couto DM1
HOWL | Amos Ben-Tal | 10.11.2017 | 20:30h | Stadstheater
Arnhem
One collective, four dancers, one choreographer, one
pop-musician, one guest and a full audience. This was the recipe used by Amos
Ben-Tal in “Howl”, his most recent work that had its première on the 27th January
2017 in CaDance Festival, Den Haag. It is described as a mixture of a talk
show, a music concert and a dance performance. Howl did that work?
Having in mind the previous pieces of Amos
Ben-Tal, the recipe is always quite similar. The collective is known by the
versatile encounters that are built in the form of performances, events or
installations. The fascinating collaboration between the collective OFFprojects
and famous musician Spinvis created an atmosphere where movement, music, poetry
and memories rise together and make the audience embark on a personal journey
about humanity.
The whole encounter is about sharing episodes of
our lives, which demands the existence of speakers and listeners. Spinvis, the
host of the talk show, interviews in Dutch all the dancers, inclusively the
choreographer, and an alternating special guest from the city where the show is
held. Surprisingly, most of the interviewed answered in English. Therefore,
Amos Ben-Tal presents a bilingual piece: the perspicacity of the dialogue makes
it possible for the ones that are just confortable with one idiom, like me, to
understand what is being transmitted. And even if it was not sufficiently clear,
the dancers present small dance moments that relate to the personal story
shared before. This allows the audience to listen the same episode twice, once
through words and the other through movements.
For me, the beauty of “Howl” happens exactly on
these vulnerable translations. The bodies of the dancers are so wide open that
the emotions of the shared episode freely travel through their pores. No one
speaks during those couple of minutes. Everyone is looking for the picture that
the movement created. Spinvis is interpreting the body of the dancers while
playing his beautiful melodies. And everything stops for a moment just to see
an amazing fragile creature sharing.
I could watch it for hours, but Amos Ben-Tal
probably thought it would be boring. He decided to sharply subdivide the piece
in two parts. In the second one, the talk show was over and with it the
friendly atmosphere. A formal dance performance starts. All the dancers
interact with each other and the audience while playing around with their
voices in the several microphones that were spread on the black box. There is a
change in the costumes, lights, music and even in the disposition of the public
that was in some movable platforms on stage. I believe this drastic change was
unnecessary so it could be discharged.
However, my connection with the first proposal of
Amos Ben-Tal is strong enough to make me consider “Howl” a great piece of art. A
mastermind is needed to create an experience as interdisciplinary and because
of that I welcome the vision of the choreographer. All the dancers as well as
Spinvis presented themselves extremely well on stage and gave a huge
contribution to the evening with their own personality and natural talent. I
would totally recommend you to embark on this journey with these amazing
artists. Unfortunately, the tour through the Netherlands is over. Nevertheless,
while you are waiting for the dates of the international tour to be announced,
I strongly advise you to soften your curiosity joining Spinvis’ concert in
Arnhem on 12th of April.
If interested, see
link below:
And see you there!
Credits | Choreography: Amos Ben-Tal | Live music: Spinvis with Saartje van Camp | Dance: Aurélie Cayla, Milena Twiehaus, Yvan Dubreuil, Genevieve Osborne,
Amos Ben-Tal | Artistic advice: Yvan
Dubreuil | Light and sound: Xavier van Wersch |
Production: OFFprojects, Korzo Productions |
With the support of: Festival de Nederlandse
Dansdagen, Dioraphte prize 2016 2
HOWL – images: Jochem Jurgens
28/01/2018
