Description
Which art form combines classical music and movement? It's a safe guess to say that almost everyone would answer „ballet“ in a quick poll on the street. The mixed programme Radical Classical aims to show just how fascinating the not-so-rare combination of contemporary dance and classical music can be. The means of choice: six contemporary „classics“ by famous choreographers. The added media value in the breaks between the dance: six specially produced explanatory films that illuminate each piece of music from a different angle.
Developed by Eric Gauthier and dramaturge Thomas Geiger, the focus here is partly on the instruments, partly on the composers and partly on the performing artists. And although these short documentaries will certainly be of interest to the whole audience, Eric Gauthier had a special target group in mind when planning this programme: Young people who normally have little contact with classical music. All the signs are that Radical Classical will not only inform, but also inspire them. After all, the Gauthier Dance JUNIORS are not just immensely likeable. In this extremely demanding programme, both in terms of performance and technique, they prove just how radical classical music can be.
With her pas de deux from Lascilo Perdere (A Journey of Letting Go), originally created for her own company AB&A in 2005, Aszure Barton might have just set a record for the longest and most audacious tongue-locked moment in a dance piece. For the entire duration of Antonio Vivaldi’s hypnotic Nisi Dominus – Cum Dederit, the new artist in residence entwines a couple in a physically near-impossible feat. Vivaldi has certainly never been translated to dance in this way before!
The big bang of modern dance: Nijinsky choreographed his iconic L'Après-midi d'un faune for Les Ballets Russes in 1912, set to the impressionist masterpiece by Claude Debussy. Inspired by Nijinski's ground-breaking choreography and historical photographs showing him in his famed role, Marie Chouinard created her own version for a female faun, which has since emerged as a key work in her oeuvre. With the first notes of Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, the solo transports us into a mythical, archaic, literally inhuman world. How and what does a fabulous creature dream? The Canadian dance avant-gardist shows us.
Another mythical creature takes centre stage in Marco Goecke's work, which is also closely linked to the history of Les Ballets Russes at the beginning of the 20th century. The long-standing Gauthier Dance artist in residence created this pas de deux to mark the 100th anniversary of Igor Stravinsky's Firebird. In Goecke's typically feverish, hyper-precise dance idiom, with fluttering hand and jerky head movements, the choreographer tells the story of a rapprochement between man and bird.
Britten, Handel, Mozart, Schütz, Purcell, Schubert, Wagner ...: Few choreographers have delved into classical music, and opera in particular, as thoroughly as Andreas Heise. Frühlingsstimmen (Voices of Spring) also looks beneath the surface. On the one hand, there is the exuberant bliss of Johann Strauss II.'s classic waltz, the rapture and beauty of nature awakening. On the other hand, there is doubt and scepticism, a puppet-like scene with dancers moving as if remote-controlled. And the pressing question: Where are the faultlines in a supposedly perfect world?
It is hard to think of a piece of music that has been translated into dance as often, as differently and as creatively as Maurice Ravel's Boléro. Ohad Naharin was also inspired by this iconic piece – on his own terms ... Not only does the title B/olero contain a slash, but the Godfather of Gaga has also opted for a synthesiser arrangement by Japanese composer Isao Tomita. With his powerful, relentlessly synchronised duet, Naharin achieves a real feat: demanding flawless precision from the two dancers – and at the same time acknowledging the comedy in the clockwork-like movements.
Orchestra of Wolves by Eric Gauthier is also full of humour. Set to the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, this miniature comedy invokes the notorious rivalry between conductor and orchestra. In the professional music scene, this is usually a struggle between two almost equal opponents. The only problem is that in this piece, the conductor is a bird and only wolves play in the orchestra ...
Time passes particularly quickly for dancers. After all, they have far fewer years left for their active career than in practically all other professions. In Susto, the choreographer duo Sol Léon & Paul Lightfoot visualise this race against time in an allegorical stage set that is as humorous as it is impressive: a large funnel from which sand constantly flows. The dancers let themselves be sprinkled like in a shower, they chase each other and slide on the slippery surface. Fittingly, the final piece by Radical Classical also takes up the first movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony – the „Symphony of Fate“ ...
