“Wir sagen uns Dunkles” by Marco Goecke - NDT 2                                                    22.12.17

 

On November 30^th 2017 the Netherlands Dance Theater 2 performed the new piece by choreographer Marco Goecke named “Wir sagen uns Dunkles” to the music of Franz Schubert, at the Stadstheater Arnhem.

 

“Wir sagen uns Dunkles” is a dynamic, powerful, intensive and exciting choreography which makes you experience something new. The atmosphere is changed. You can feel the electric tension, created by music, dance and light, vibrating through space.

 

By using Schubert’s music, which is a very vivid, dissonant and I think mysterious music; Goecke creates a red line that goes through the whole piece. The movements in the choreography are very musical so that movement and music become one.

When I talk about movements in this piece I do not just mean the physicality of the body but also the gesticulation which is part of the whole movement language as well as the facial expressions which are very strong and particular. Mouths get ripped with a silent scream, toughs get pocked out and pulled back; expressive eyes are looking at the audience.

Clear staccato movements are melting into another movement phrase. Dancers are coming together and separate. The space is moved. This is the movement language Goecke created in this piece.

 

The dancers themselves are on an empty dark stage, lightened just with a dim light. No props are used. The man’s are dancing with a naked upper body, the woman with a tight dark leotard. Both wearing long wider trousers with feather like decoration on the back side which makes them appear like another species (supported by the movement and the music).

 

In Goeckes piece we see the dancers “talking dark to each other”. They show us their “dark side” that we are not used to see very often. I do not believe that Goecke is letting the audience experience his piece as something evil because he is “going into the dark” but more as something that we can be curious about and that we can discover for ourselves. I think everyone has a kind of a dark- or hidden side, an inner, deeper demand or desire (to seduce for example). For me this piece was a great inspiration. I guess we know a lot about ourselves but I think that we can always keep discovering. A human has various sides and maybe starting to “talk dark” to other human beings can help us to find out more about ourselves.

 

Even though I am writing a positive review and I want to encourage you to go and see the piece, I do have some annotations for the dancers and the choreographer.

First: Of cause the dim light was contributing to the atmosphere but if it would have been a bit lighter the expressions of the dancers would have become even more visible.

Second: Although the movement language was well developed, a longer stillness or slow movement phrase would have been good for the audience’s eye, because the music was so vivid and twitchy through the whole piece.

Third: The dancers could have gone into the character even more so that they are not just pretending or copying what the choreographer might have said.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6KoDQdThNI

 

Marita Schwanke

 

 

More information:

Assistant to the choreographer: Fernando Hernando Magadan | Music: Franz Schubert: Trio, Nocturne in e flat, opus 148, D. 897;Presto from string quartets in G minor / B flat major D18 Placebo: Song to Say Goodbye; Slave to the Wage; Loud like Love Alfred Schnittke: Piano quintet, part 2: 'in tempo di Valse' | Music advisor: Jan Pieter Koch | Light: Udo Haberland | Decor & costumes: Marco Goecke

Howl did that work?

  

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 12^th of April.

 

If interested, see link below:

https://www.luxorlive.nl/agenda/spinvis/

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

You can more information in http://www.offprojects.nl/en/

28/01/2018