VIVID - review by Lív Smáradóttir Frodell

I saw VIVID on the 29th of December 2014 in the National Theatre of Iceland. The piece premiered the day before.

VIVID is about daring to be different. Allowing yourself to jump outside the box and experiencing new things. Daring to experience.

The piece is choreographed by Unnur Elísabet Gunnarsdóttir, an Icelandic dancer and choreographer which has been very noticeable in the last years. The music is very present during the piece and is composed by Viktor Orri Árnason. Costume and set-design is by Raluca Grada-Emandi and the motion-graphics are designed by Olivu Lugojan-Ghenciu. It is very obvious that Unnur has picked very fitting strong dancers for her piece that complement each other and fit together very nicely.

As soon as the performance starts you get a clear atmosphere which invites you into a different world. Everything is very minimalistic and clean. From the white tables and chairs that are both on stage and hanging from the ceiling to the loose see through open-back dresses they wear. Their costume is similar to hospital wear, with their loose underwear under the over sized dresses and on the contrary their hair is fixed in a very tight bun in the front over their hairline. For the most part I did not connect with the concept and I feel like the piece is more about the movement itself. The dancers perform with incredible softness and the movements are incredibly intricate. They dance in a perfect synchronisation and I was especially intrigued by the part where four of them sit next to each other by a table and manage to somehow look like one in their movement. The piece is split up on solos, duets and group pieces but the whole group does not dance together until the end which sum up the piece nicely. You notice very soon that one of the dancers does not move for almost the whole performance. She sits on a chair floating in the air, her face fixed in a blank stare. This paints a very strong image immediately but for some reason she then separates from the chair and performs a strong solo but I am unsure what causes this.

In this performance viewers could try to not get too caught up in the meaning and just enjoy pure, well rounded movement complimented by interesting music and a beautiful set.

Trailer from rehersals:

The whole piece is watchable on this link:

https://vimeo.com/channels/vividfull

Choreography: Unnur Elísabet Gunnarsdóttir

Music: Viktor Orri Árnason

Costume- and set design: Raluca Grada-Emandi

Motion graphics: Oliviu Lugojan-Ghenciu

Lighting design: Jóhann Ágúst Friðriksson

Dancers: Berglind Rafnsdóttir, Ellen Margrét Bæhrenz, Elín Signý W. Ragnarsd., Sigríður Ólöf Valdimarsdóttir, Þórey Birgisdóttir.

Camera: Antje Taiga Jandrig

Producer, camera and edit: Gunnar Hansson

Co(te)lette, Danielle Huyghe

Co(te)lette

Written by: Danielle Huyghe. 

I went to Co(te)lette on 28 November 2015, the performance was in CCBerchem, Belgium. The choreographer was Ann van den Broek. The performance was danced by three dancers from the compagnie 'WArd/waRD'In the production Co(te)lette, Ann approaches emotions from a different perspective. Ann searches for other ways to connect elements to the topic: female. During the peformances you can see aspects like: curiousity about needs and urges, satisfaction, euphoria, lust, desire,…

I had been looking forward to see this performance and I really enjoyed it. I knew that this production, was seen as Ann’s masterpiece, she has got several prices for Co(te)lette. She has received positive feedback from the press and that was why I really wanted to see this masterpiece.

Ann has found the concept and choreography for Co(te)lette, on stage you can observe three female dancers cought in a vicious circle between desire en fulfillment.

Arne Van Dongen has composed the music, I found that the music fitted with the movements. Bernie van Velzen standed in for the lighting design. The dancers danced in a white empty space. I found that the lighting plan in combination with the white empty space was artistic, the lights changed in color and that gave just that extra touch.

Co(te)lette portrays all the activities stemming from woman’s needs, both psychical and wordly. There are three female dancers on the stage. For me the mental and physical states the dancers were in, touched my feelings. The dancers danced very precisely, they felt eachother very good. The movements were controlled and synchronised.

The dancers moved in a white empty space on five imaginary islands. Each of the islands conjures a particular mood or atmosphere that influences the movements and the actions of the dancers. I saw 3 characters that moved from imaginary island to island. You can see as a spectator that each island has its own particular state and mood. I saw that in the expression and the movements of the dancers.

The dancers in Co(te)lette are filled with emotions and feelings. You can see that the dancers are at times connected to each other, but sometimes there is no communication between the dancers at all, that is why I think that the performance is more about individuals as opposed to a group.

I liked this production because Ann has zoomed in on the smallest detail of the woman’s emotional life. Ann doesn’t give the spectator the stereotypical image of a woman. I was impressed by Ann’s work, I had been thinking about this production for a long time, I wanted to find out every detail of this masterpiece. That is why I bought the book ‘Protect/Perform’ on the work of Ann Van den Broek. When I read this book I understood every aspect. It is really interesting to understand Ann’s vision and interpretation about Co(te)lette.

 

During the performance the dancers directly faced the public. The dancers were often naked. The nudity was not humiliating for the dancers, it was just something that fitted with the topic. Ann uses every possible aspect that you could think of her work is so precise. The movements were very intensive but the dancers have handle it very well. I find it interesting to see how Ann the physical and mental states of the 3 dancers shows to the public. As a spectator I got sometimes bad feelings towards the dancers. They were sometimes presented in a very negative way. The style of the performance was dance theatre. The dancers weren’t very technical but they had a lot of expression.

I love Ann her style, it's so expressive. The cooperation and the combination of the three dancers was so good.  They complemented each other perfectly. The dancers were credible and confident. Ann had thought a lot about the movements and the concept so the performances was a finished product. The dancers danced with passion and pleasure and they were very professional about their nudity. This production is still fresh in my mind and it will haunt me for a long time. I definitely recommend this performance to all dancers. As watcher you have to be open-minded because as audience you get confronted a lot.  

co(te)lette: 
Date: 28 November 2015
Concept: Ann van den Broek
 Music: Arne Van DongenLight 
composition: Bernie van Velzen
Production: WArd/waRD
Coproduction: Korzo Producties: (Den Haag), CCBerchem (Antwerp)
Dancers: Frauke Mariën, Cecilia Moiso, Sura Dohnke. 

Wim Vandekeybus's ''Speak low if you speak love...'' by Ivar Draaisma

 Speak low   if you    speak love

Written by Ivar Draaisma

''Speak low if you speak love isn’t an opera, nor a musical in the usual sense of the word, but a stirring combination of experimental music and the classical tradition.''  

~ Wim Vandekeybus

For Wim Vandekeybus love is perhaps the most unwitnessed and capricious of all our inner states of mind: ''it moves mountains, and creates immeasurable heights and depths. It gives strength, but causes devastating pain when it turns against you. Love inspires poetry: it is exalted and cursed.'' Wim Vandekeybus describes love as an exhausting and energy-draining emotion that results in a conflict more often than ecstasy.

In this performance I could see how Vandekeybus experimented with love, what love can do and what you can achieve with it. It showed innocent love, love as an outrage, game or seduction. The eight dancers are on stage for almost two hours. showing explosive duets and duels about who is the strongest. The dancers constantly run into each other in this choreography. Time to time you will see a hug or a kiss, which can be called ''love as we know it''. But the most of time you will see the four men and four women being drifted apart or separated. Guided by onstage musicians, consisting of couple of guitars, percussion and the voice of the South-African Tutu Puoane they try to look a certain connection. The dancers were most of the time, wear shorts. So a big part of the body was bare and clearly visible. I prefer dancers not wearing a lot of clothes. I can see more emotion, honesty and it is more natural.

You would almost think that love is an illusion. On the site of UltimaVez, Vandekeybus tells us that his inspiration for this piece was the Greek mythology which consists of failing love stories. But it is not because of this that you can notice that the dancers are getting tired, And it does not matter how powerful the movements and body language are. I felt like a lot of scenes are being stretched, which results in that the thrill of the choreography will decrease.

All in all it is a very explosive and heavy piece and it is a lot to let it sink in. But I would definitely recommend this production by Vandekeybus. The physicality of the dancers is truly beautiful to see. The connection between the dancers with the musicians on the background were present, honest and right. Every now and then a singer or guitarist would come in between the dancers and give them impulses by using their instrument or even by touching them. There was one scene that really touched me. One dancer was being put in a coffin by the other dancers. this reminded me of the loss of someone that i love so much. Personally seen it showed me how cruel love can be, and also how beautiful it can be. 

Click here to see the teaser of ''Speak low if you speak love''

LOCATION, DATE&TIME
Schouwburg Tilburg,
11th of Octobre 2016,
20:15-22:00

DIRECTION, CHOREOGRAPHY, SCENOGRAPHY
Wim Vandekeybus

CREATED WITH & PERFORMED BY
Jamil Attar, Livia Balazova, Chloé Beillevaire, David Ledger, Tomislav English, Nuhacet Guerra Segura, Sandra Geco Mercky, Maria Kolegova

ALSO PERFORMED BY
Diego Sanou

ORIGINAL MUSIC (LIVE)
Mauro Pawlowski, Elko Blijweert, Jeroen Stevens, Tutu Puoane

ARTISTIC ASSISTANT & DRAMATURGE
Greet Van Poeck

MOVEMENT ASSISTANTS
Iñaki Azpillaga, Máté Mészáros

STYLIST
Isabelle Lhoas ASSISTED BY Isabelle De Cannière

LIGHTING DESIGN
Davy Deschepper, Wim Vandekeybus

SOUND DESIGN
Bram Moriau, Antoine Delagoutte

STAGE MANAGER
Tom de With

SCENOGRAPHIC ADVICE
Isabelle Lhoas, Davy Deschepper

COSTUMES STUDIO
Lieve Meeussen

TECHNICAL COORDINATION
Davy Deschepper

Sources: http://www.theaterstilburg.nl/evenementen/4633/speak-low-if-you-speak-love#information-tab
            http://www.ultimavez.com/en/productions/speak-low-if-you-speak-love