HOOP

b.motion report

Il lab dedicato al report del festival b.motion

b.motionreport dance week
Per chi non può essere a Bassano del Grappa durante b.motion ecco il modo giusto di vivere il festival in maniera multimediale!

T.R.A.S.H. - Pork in loop - foto di Adriano Boscato

Day seven - 31.08.09

approfondimenti
Streams of consciousness - dance week 09

SENSE
Movimento è memoria. / Compagnia Carlotta Sagna
E insieme costruzione a partire dalle proprie imperfezioni. / Silvia Gribaudi
E insieme reazione ironica o violenta a certe situazioni limite (una luce, una parola, un segno dello spazio) da cui aprire un varco in cui entrare e far entrare. / T.R.A.S.H.
Nel movimento c’è tutta la scienza comunicativa. / Club Fisk

TRACES
Prigione di pensieri non compresi e perdita del confine che distingue ogni cosa da un’altra.
Viola che galleggia nell’aria / Compagnia Carlotta Sagna
Esplosioni di corpi che si infrangono sul bianco, energia, fisicità, inglese, tedesco, portoghese, francese, parole, parole, parole, fisicità in velocità e parole…stanchezza muscolare nel corpo-pubblico / T.R.A.S.H.
Geometria piana che diviene spazio, dato conosciuto, spiegato, 3 volte noto, esperimento scientifico sulla fisicità: no surprises but surprising / Club Fisk
Looking for Mr. Perfect, does he really exist?
Non, rien de rien, non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien qu’on m’a fait, ni le mal
Tout ça m’est bien egal / Ketilsdóttir & Gerke
Poesia di corpi in una luce calda e soffusa, condizionamento, maschera e ricerca di una nudità dell’animo nel contatto, dolore, ferita lancinante, flusso d’emozione che blocca la via d’uscita per un’espressione…Don’t Breath…Don’t Dance…Don’t Think…Open…Open…Open… è una cicatrice indelebile. / Mayday

MOUTH
Da una bocca spalancata in un grido di vittoria o di esultanza si apre una voragine impossibile da colmare, una paralisi pseudo-anfetaminica / White Horse
Una coreografia sempre matematicamente uguale tenta di portare il corpo al di fuori di se stesso e le cavità orali si deformano piegando i propri angoli in modo centrifugo / Club Fisk
La lettera A si spalanca su un alfabeto di angoscia, la mandibola riporta convenzioni linguistiche per poi disarticolarsi invano / Carlotta Sagna
di Marina Dammacco, Sarah Paroletti, Giulia Galvan

approfondimenti
Biologia del tempo

Il tempo trasforma il corpo biologico e il corpo storico attraverso gesti tumultuosi o lentissime evoluzioni. Trip della compagnia White Horse (Chris Leuenberger, Xavier Fontaine, Lea Martini) è lo stato di coincidenza fortissima di questi due corpi che spesso, e più facilmente, accade nei momenti totalitari dell’esistenza, senza distinzione possibile tra individuo e massa. In scena sono in tre, la bocca eternamente spalancata. Dalla fissità della maschera urlante, comincia un viaggio lungo cinquanta minuti che attraversa tutti gli stadi possibili di forza e di resistenza, dall’esaurimento all’esplosione. Uno schema fisico molto semplice: alzarsi, sollevare le mani, caricarsi, attaccare, cadere, correre, rialzarsi, saltare, respirare, affannarsi, bloccarsi, risuonare con la voce. Nello spazio, uno schema sonoro che richiama la massa nelle sue variazioni. Uno stadio delirante, un raduno senza controllo, un atto di guerra o fucilazione, un’adunata di regime. Questi due schemi si incontrano e si sostengono ripetendosi all’infinito, fino ai limiti consentiti dal corpo. A seconda del proprio immaginario, del contesto di suggestioni (personali o collettive) a cui si vuole attingere, è possibile ritrovare decine di significati calzanti. È la verità assoluta dello schema che colpisce, che non permette di sentirsi solo spettatore, immune da quelle stesse precise trasformazioni del corpo di fronte a quelle precise spinte. Cosa accadrebbe a me se non ci fosse quasi più spazio per decidere, se l’espressione possibile fosse una, estrema quanto un urlo, se i movimenti fossero quelli dettati dal gruppo, dall’unificazione in un corpo solo sotto un'unica spinta? Persino la sospensione dal ritmo sfiancante non può essere un atto consapevole, non una scelta personale ma uno stato di fisica adesione al gruppo. Attraverso l’alternanza di accelerazione e rallentamento, si assiste a una specie di deriva corporea della volontà. Ed è contagiosa. Se alla fine, quando gli attori si fermano e riprendono fiato, offrono anche agli spettatori la possibilità di recuperare coscienza, di osservare con graduale distacco la metamorfosi profonda appena vissuta stando seduti. Alla richiesta di parole da dire, di pensieri da esprimere, in questa serata si risponde più o meno con il silenzio. Nessuno escluso, nessuno direttamente coinvolto. Ognuno con la sensazione di aver visto o mostrato involontariamente un lato presente e incomunicabile di sé.

di Marina Dammacco

reportage
MORNING CLASS

documenti
From the diary room of Everything that happens...

29 agosto
Una grande sensazione di scintillio, luccichini, brillantezza rosa shocking
“Make something of me”; so called civilised human beings ask “may I?” “please…” even to do things themselves, imagine what it means to have someone asking you to make sthg. for him/her. It sounds incredibly like trust. But this trust has been building up each day more, of course it wasn’t immediate but quite fast anyway. It got stronger thanks to our shared experiences, we got to mutually understand each other, the audience, Lucy, Tabea, individuals in the audience…
Abituati come siamo ad avere dei limiti, o a essere educati, esitiamo di fronte a Tabea e Lucy che sembrano immolarsi al nostro desiderio di trasformarle.
Ma è quello che vogliono, no, che facciamo di loro ciò che vogliamo, e c’è misura anche in questo, nel nostro buon senso, credo, o forse no. Il momento di esitazione iniziale in cui non si sapeva se si poteva e cosa si poteva e quando è stato superato brillantemente dall’audacia delle ragazzine ormai aficionadas della performance di Tabea e Lucy. Mi fa pensare alla fiaba di Andersen, I vestiti nuovi dell’imperatore, in cui tutti fingevano che l’imperatore indossasse tessuti preziosissimi, e all’improvviso un bambino urla “Il re è nudo”. Qui non ci sono re né imperatori, ma c’è una selva di abiti da cui pescare per vestire le nostre reginette come l’ispirazione del momento ci suggerisce, e ci sono le bambine che rompono le convenzioni di obbedire a ordini espliciti per sfogare la loro fantasia e testare su Tabea e Lucy colori, trucchi, spray per capelli che, se opportuno, applicheranno su se stesse.
Alice mi ha detto che le piace che si lascino sempre lì le cose del giorno prima, che è proprio quello che succede nella vita.
Le nostre esperienze si stratificano l’una sull’altra, non ne puoi cancellare nessuna, non puoi fare rewind, cancella, riparti. Puoi fingere che sia così, ma ti conviene accettare la realtà, perché prima o poi ritorna a galla.
It’s nice to have the remains of the day before here, because it’s just as life is: our experiences get layered one on the other, on in the other, you cannot erase any of them, you cannot do rewind, cancel, restart. You can pretend it is like that, but you’d better accept reality, because sooner or later it will emerge to the surface again.
di Giulia Galvan

the confession booth #13
Sania Tropp e Tegest Pecht Guido (from T.R.A.S.H.)

the diary of Lara Platman
Day five: Sunday 30th August 2009

This morning, after writing what I had thought was my final entry from the festival I am in fact making one further addition. This is because A) I have something very important to tell you and B) I must have got sunstroke this afternoon by the river and returning to Scalabrini to change for the evening’s performances, I fell asleep and have woken to find it neither too late to go to sleep, but too late to attend any performance!

So after I went for my painting session this afternoon, (by the river next to Scalabrini, reclining on a rock for three hours) I went for an ice cream at the world’s best ice cream shop “Ice One” to try yet another delicious flavour and whilst I was fumbling for some change, I came across the voucher for the Museo Civico, which I quite simply had forgotten about, what with all the dance and the writing and socialising etc… But yes, I thought, what a perfect venue to head for with an ice cream in hand (I am wearing my red and white stripy hat and my ice cream flavours are Vanilla and Fruits of the forest).

The Museo Civico di Bassano, Palazzo Sturn was opened in 1840 by Gianbattista Broccchi, (a famous Naturalist) and is considered to be one of the most important among the small Italian museums. Entering through a small door opening onto a grand grass filled courtyard with surrounding archways, this quiet enclave of Bassano is a far cry away from the busy Sunday promenaders (all with children and ice creams).

What a treat to have found the voucher. I am not one to pretend to know anything about archaeology and religious paintings but this museum is filled with them. Bits of pot and whole urns in fact, from 550AD, paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries. I do know however a little about sculpture and the museum is filled with large and small scale sculptural sketches complete with pin holes where the measure rods have been displaced. Quite quite special. The gallery on the first floor is air conditioned and really this, along with the beautiful architecture of the building itself, is certainly worth a visit.

Then to the six O’clock: Today we are… by Lucy Cash & Tabea Martin

This is the final instalment of their diary piece and we arrived at the Palazzo Agostinelli with both excitement and sadness too. After the regular (refreshing and thoughtful) diary reading by Giulia Galvan, we were lead upstairs to watch a video. The duo had left us a message, still adorned with yesterdays make up and clothing, we were asked with very particular directions to travel across to the Ponte Vecchio. We were given a small envelope to take with us and not to be opened until we reach the bridge. With our earned trust we walked in union to the bridge and opened the little envelopes to find individual printed cards (from that gorgeous paper shop and museum) hand written notes,” When you hear the music please invite someone on the bridge to dance”.

Our “Pavlova” effect of knowing the music and knowing that we have reached the end of the “performance” was such a welcome and once again Tabea and Lucy had provided a warmth (even though they were not there in person) that we wanted to share with ANYONE and EVERYONE on the bridge.

(Is this the way how cults are formed? how operations of revolution are realised?) The bridge was filled literally of people on their Sunday evening promenade and we made them all stop, smile and watch our very very happy little group.

Returning to the best ice cream shop in the world with a few of our happy group, (I tried Watermelon this time)…(really gorgeous), we went to view the bridge from a height and watched the magic hour appear before our eyes delighted with the final piece from the duo.

And here lies the second point. I returned to Scalabrini to dump bags, shower and get ready for this evening’s performances……….sat on the bed……and woke up just now after the second performance had begun. (red and white hat squashed under my head, and bag on top of my knees).

My diary entries for the B Motion Blog are NOW complete.

La
x

the confession booth #12
Chiara Frigo

Day six - 30.08.09 - Nuovi aggiornamenti!

T.R.A.S.H. - Pork in loop (c) foto di Adriano Boscato

documenti
From the diary room of Everything that happens...

28 agosto
Why clear up a mess when you can make more? This is what Lara said about Palazzo Agostinelli today. The perfect justification not to clean is indeed the imminence of a party. The table was still laid, teacups still there and all that remained from yesterday’s aperitiv. Good idea, actually, if I think of what happened today: poly-diving, poly-fighting, the flying poly...
Accolti da grida eccitate, gioioso calpestio di piedi, sfoghi vittoriosi di braccia nei video proiettati all’ingresso, il mio interludio sul sofà dava forse l’impressione di una mamma/nonna che ristabilisce l’ordine e la quiete narrando una fiaba.
Ma la calma è solo provvisoria, Tabea e Lucy saltano urlando su piani di polistirolo stesi a terra, che si divertono a frantumare prima con tacchi a spillo, poi direttamente con le mani o sbattendoli occasionalmente contro le reciproche teste.
Il pubblico, che già si era accomodato nelle sedie della sala a fianco, osserva la proiezione live con perplessità, chiedendosi cosa le artiste si attendano che faccia. Io e altri decidiamo di partecipare più da vicino a questo delirio. Io partecipo emotivamente, più che fisicamente. Non me la sento di giocare alla corrida col polistirolo o di buttarmi sui cumuli di detriti bianchi che nel frattempo si sono formati. C’è chi rischia di mancare il bersaglio e finire sul pavimento di marmo. Io me ne sto lì a guardare col mio vestito da Jackie O. finché non vengo colta dal desiderio di lanciare in aria i pezzi di materiale sparpagliati e di gettarli, anzi, contro chi è rimasto al buio della stanza attigua, nella confortevole sicurezza di non essere coinvolto dalla follia collettiva che nel frattempo si è scatenata.
Forse oggi ho capito cosa stanno facendo Lucy e Tabea. Stanno giocando con la condivisione, di memorie, identità e, ora, in modo assai viscerale, dell’entusiasmo che, in effetti, scaturisce come inoppugnabile elemento di contagio
Lucy and Tabea’s unrestrainable enthousiasm is the binding element of all the layers being added each day.
(di Giulia Galvan)

the confession booth #11
Steinunn Ketilsdóttir e Brian Gerke

the diary of Lara Platman
Day four: Sunday 30th August 2009

This is my last diary entry for the B Motion festival. I do hope that you have enjoyed reading my thoughts on the performances. For those of you, who have not yet began to read my entries, please scroll down all the way to Day 1 when I arrived via Ryan Air....... 4 days ago and start from there. I have tried to report on all of the performances I have seen, however, time writing, time watching and time socialising all adds up and you know how it is! So I do apologise if I have missed out a performance or two.

Today I come into the office, the day after the Back to the 80’s black party. Void of any activity apart from Rosario clearing the last of the debris left over. I think we all had a great little boogie to what tunes that I thought that I would never dance to! Thank you Jacopo and Fabio H....especially for your stripping down for the YMCA. FWARRR!

Meanwhile I write about a performance...

Everything that happens here, happens here today: Today we will change - Tabea Martin & Lucy Cash

I am sad that our ‘six o’clock’ will be over tonight, but last night’s ‘Make of us what you will’ was a superb sensitive piece, although still in the same vain as the previous nights of work, but this was very touching and on a much calmer level. The audience had grown to respect and trust Tabea and Lucy and visa versa. This piece had grown from an accumulation of the previous works, from the initial entry of the duo sharing with the audience family photographs and diaries, to a party where everyone was invited to a roaring ecstatic energy, which was highly contagious to this, last night’s quiet zone.

Let me set the scene: An entrance foyer on the first floor, still with polystyrene debris, and entering the party room, still with remains of the party I might add, now strung with washing lines where clothes, scarves, bras, knickers, coats, material and so forth hang like a completely hap hazard boudoir, then at the far end of the room, where once the audience (guests of the party) sat, now sit Tabea and Lucy, in their underwear. In front of them an array of makeup, hair products, wigs and the like. And a sign behind “Make of us what you will”.

The confidence that has grown between these two parties (the duo and the audience) is such that we are almost so refined in the way that we approach their bodies to adorn them with the makeup and clothing. Great great thought on every application. The make up being inscribed on their bodies is drawn with such delicacy and not restraint, but with such honesty and dedication. We want to make them look beautiful, we want to make them feel beautiful, and we want to take care of them.

The confidence that has grown between these two parties is such that really have become part of our family and we part of theirs. And with that grows a love.

This series of aperitif performances has an audience both from Bassano and the festival. It is a shear test of how integration, acceptance and honesty work. Tabea tells me that although she has been working on this concept for some time, this is the first time the duo have actualised it. Their parameters are firmly set, with openness for any eventuality. Their trust in the audience is implicit for making this series of improvisations work.

I cannot wait for this evening to see what is in store for us but I do know that we will be in for a treat.

Thank you Tabea and Lucy for such a delightful six o’clock, something that I hope my diary will help us all to remember.

Now, I am off to paint by the river and shall not be reporting from B Motion again..... Until next year

La
x

Follow Lara on Twitter or in her blog: where flowers pick themseves

the confession booth #10
Silvia Gribaudi

appuntamenti
Meg Stuart, T.R.A.S.H. e Carlotta Sagna

Domenica 30 agosto gran finale per la prima parte di B.motion, con il debutto nazionale del coreografo canadese Jacques Poulin Denis (ore 21.00 Teatro Remondini) e la dirompente energia vitale del gruppo slovacco Les SlovaKs Dance Collective (ore 22.00 CSC Garage Nardini). Si replica anche la straordinaria video installazione di Meg Stuart (ore 14 e 20 Corpo di Guardia del Castello degli Ezzelini) mentre si conclude, dopo un’intera settimana di ricerca in loco, il “Bassano diary” di Tabea Martin e Lucy Cash (ore 18 Palazzo Agostinelli).

Jacques Poulin - Denis è un compositore, performer, attore e coreografo. Ha studiato danza, musica e teatro e partecipato a progetti che mescolano i diversi linguaggi. Collabora stabilmente con la coreografa Mélanie Demers, come pure con Jadson Caldeira, Sonya Delwaide, Davis Robertson and Katie Faulkner, e con compagnie come AXIS Dance Company e Dandelion Dancetheater in California. Ha ricevuto l’Isadora Duncan Dance Award, ed è stato nominato per il Dora Award a Toronto. In “Target of God”, il progetto che presenta a Bassano in prima nazionale, porta in scena un uomo solo, con le sue delusioni e i suoi fallimenti. Un danzatore presta il suo corpo, mettendone alla prova i limiti, anche fisici essendo senza un piede, per dare forma alla disperazione con la leggerezza di chi non si prende troppo sul serio. E’ lo sfogo di un artista che mette in discussione un’intera esistenza con tono ironico e disincantato. Dopo tutto, anche di fronte ai drammi che si possono incontrare nel corso della propria vita, l’artista deve portare a termine il suo lavoro sulla scena: “the show must go on!” come si dice in questi casi!

L’ultima esibizione di B.motion danza è affidata ad un collettivo indipendente formato da cinque danzatori che arrivano dalla Slovacchia: Les SlovaKs Dance Collective. Insieme sul palco fin dall’età di cinque anni, come membri di un gruppo di danze tradizionali, Milan Herich, Peter Jasko, Anton Lachky, Milan Tomáik e Martin Kilvady hanno dato vita ad un progetto coreografico autonomo, che abbina a quelle prime esperienze il lavoro che singolarmente hanno svolto al fianco di importanti autori della scena contemporanea come Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Roberto Olivan, Giorgio Barberio Corsetti, Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui e David Zambiano. Il risultato è una danza energica, ricca di spunti e di accostamenti originali.

“Opening night”, il loro primo lavoro di gruppo, è uno spettacolo in continua evoluzione, una partitura coreografica aperta che si arricchisce di volta in volta attraverso le improvvisazioni, generando un’opera innovativa, straordinaria per forza comunicativa e capacità di coinvolgimento. Un finale dagli esiti imprevedibili, che conclude perfettamente una ricca serie di proposte artistiche mai come quest’anno così varie nell’approccio coreografico e nella tipologia di linguaggi utilizzati.

Day five - 29.08.09

Forestillinger - Club Fisk - (c) foto di Andrea Zonta

the diary of Lara Platman
Day three: Round Table - Movement is Change

So today at the Round table discussions there were not any artists to discuss with so the B Motion gang decided to play a game. How can we define MOVEMENT?

...difference state of stillness – tension – non representation – wind – life- freedom – reaction – non description – energy – change - sensing of difference – (non) democratic – resisting force – time into space – contact with space – first impulse of exploring and learning - difference of stillness – resistance ..............

The discussion lasted a while, many many .....many words to define movement later, we decided that we were going to ignore the vital theories of Aristotle and go with: MOVEMENT IS CHANGE.

So there we have it.

*******************THE DEFIFINITION OF MOVEMENT IS CHANGE**************************

Performances from Friday 28th August 2009

Every that happens here happens here today: Today we are great - Tabea Martin & Lucy Cash (Switzerland & UK)

So what do these crazy girls have in store for us tonight I wonder?
A whole lot of screaming, a whole lot of jumping and a whole lot of super super fun. That’s what!

The entrance gallery on the first floor is filled with polystyrene and the two girls are going quite literally going mental. Walking into the once previous party room we see a wall with the video of these two mentalists jumping for joy. And what of the party room, where the day before we almost trashed with red confetti, graffiti and balloons?....ergh still the same! I suppose, why clear up when you can make more mess.

The explosion continues with the two jumping and breaking up the poly-boards, soon ‘polydiving’ begins and it is all completely wild. We all leave exhausted from laughter and our ‘crows’ feet get that one bit nearer to becoming embedded on our faces.

Acorpolibero - Silvia Gribaudi (Italy)
I think the evening started as it is meant to continue. Silvia’s fantastic comic entrance is a classic.
Think Buster Keaton, think Harold Lloyd, think silent movies and the 1920’s burlesque, then you will be somewhere on the same thoughts as myself. Silvia appears on stage with a single spot light on her. Shy and modest she fumbles with her dress and after some shuffling she mumbles under her breath, “Who sold this dress to me.... It must be an extra small....and it even has a spot on it... but you cannot see it from a distance...”

This is completely hysterical, she has the audience and she has me. With her outlandish body movements in this brightly coloured chequered dress her physique is of a pure Italian shapely woman from the south. Utilising the one light to the max, her historic one women show is classic in every sense. Using the ‘running’ effect, the ‘hand’ effect and shear comic timing, Silvia’s stage presence is unquestionable.

Later when she takes off her dress for it to become a head scarf, she proudly reveals a green bikini. Then here lies the second part. Isolating parts of the body, you would never imagine and giving them a good shake. I went away from this performance, also proud to have wet washing arms, (Bingo wings) many of us embarked on ‘Doing the Gribaudi’.

Ven - Caterina Varela & Alexi Fernandez / Entremans (Spain)
These two started from the auditorium and used the safe lights. A piece that came from two people who wanted to make movements with each other, to see what happens and to simply dance in ways that interested them. No ideological or political views came into this piece and to my amazement nothing came from skateboarding either. No, Alexi and Caterina began their process by simply starting and then seeing what happened after that.

However, they tell me that they have performed this piece 48 times both indoors and outside and it is the outside that I am interested in. It premiered in Cuba, outdoors at a festival and in Europe in a fountain, in the centre of a town and in a square in Brazil amongst many other towns and countries.

Their music is chosen not through the words or the meanings but through how it fits with the rhythm and along with other musical interludes throughout their piece, it is not really a force neither a demand. The basic principles are of the two dancing together.

With some solo work by Alexi, often he becons Caterina over or visa versa, the two have a dependency with each other that is both captivating and electric. The closeness that is between them literally physically is simply magnetic. The energy and rhythm that is produced during this performance is something that makes the piece complete.

I still have the general idea that somehow the piece is a ‘street’ works, although not something as a skateboard scene, but it has the same mentality of wanting to work on the same spot again and again, trying it differently and doing it better, trying it the same but in a different motion. The skateboard mentality. I didn’t need to question the music, as I didn’t understand the German words, or the stage entrance, but came away feeling that this piece works.

Forestillinger – Kasper Daugaard Poulsen / Club Fisk (Denmark)
This ingenious piece by Kasper really is quite simple. Get two dancers and do the same thing three times. Draw a plan of what they are going to do and do it...only, wearing three different outfits. Simple!

But hey, when you look at what we did, as an audience, it was us that changed our perception and ideology behind the outfits. First of all the warm up clothes, then a French Maid and Nurse outfit and then... yes a large, bloody large panda and bunny rabbit.

Kaspa gave the two dancers a series of tasks to do and from that he found the short route and way of movement that would be used in this piece. After came the costumes and the decision for the map for the explanation to be provided at the beginning.

This scientific yet very entertaining piece had the audience at the end of their seats from the second section, the maid and nurse, we already knew what was going to happen and our expectations perhaps had dipped a little. But the fantastic bombshell of the oversized animals got us back just where they had expected us to be.
I would like to say just one thing. I had put on for this Friday night, eyeliner make up by ‘Laurer Mercier’ (‘make-up artists to the stars’). Now throughout this performance I cried with laughter so much at the end I felt that my expensive application of make-up was completed wasted and thought, might have well have not bothered. But no on reflection in a mirror, the make-up still held strong under my eyes without any streaks. So I wonder, perhaps Laurer Mercier and Club Fisk could get together as this was a great test of the product!

I am so sorry to not have reviewed the following:
Crazy in love with Mr perfect - Steinunn Ketisdottir & Brian Gerke (Iceland & USA)
Kalsh - Francesca Forscarini (Italy)

I simply ran out of time today...will try to catch up tomorrow.....but it’s Sunday and hey you know we have that party and......

But, they were both great performances and I know the artists have had superb feedback.

Follow Lara on Twitter on in her blog: where flowers pick themseves

the confession booth #9
Helen Cerina

documenti
From the diary room of Everything that happens...

27 agosto
Oggi ero molto emozionata quando sono arrivata alla Diary Room. Per superare l’imbarazzo di parlare di fronte a tanta gente Sarah mi aveva consigliato di immaginare di avere di fronte un’unica persona collettiva. Ieri ha funzionato, oggi no… Ho parlato troppo velocemente, come se non vedessi l’ora di finire. In realtà non vedevo l’ora di andare di sopra a scoprire cosa avevano escogitato Lucy e Tabea per la giornata.
“I am Lucy Cash”, Lucy Cash erano i choreoroamers, i tirocinanti, i signori over sessanta che poco prima giocavano a carte all’ingresso di Palazzo Agostinelli
In tutti c’è una Lucy Cash, in tutti c’è Lucy Cash. Ogni cosa, ogni persona, ha in sé un’immagine dell’universo. Come un gheriglio assomiglia a un cervello, così sono anch’io Lucy Cash.
Lucy Cash ha una mutazione genetica che le impedirebbe di volare, fumare, bere, prendere anticoncezionali, preferibilmente anche di aver figli.
Lucy Cash ha un viso che le persone tendono a dimenticare.
Lucy Cash vive a Marghera, ridente cittadina industriale dove tutti si amano e si aiutano (!)
Lucy Cash ha pensato che se sapessimo che manca mezz’ora alla nostra morte non faremmo nulla di malvagio, disonesto. Che la vita è arte, arte di vivere.
Arno-Lucy Cash told me I should relax while I’m talking, that I am not breathing right, I guess I am breathing through my lungs but you never know…
Valentina-Lucy Cash prepared a wonderful cake and chocolate truffles. She wants to become a professional patisseuse, I hope she can succeed I mean it’s not that easy to find someone that age who already knows what she/he wants to do in life, but after all, she’s Lucy Cash.
Lucy Cash is a human being and as such she’s got the image of all human beings in herself, just like, I mean a foot’s got all the organs in it, so that’s why foot massage is so important…
And my language’s got all the languages in it, potentially, so I hope you can understand what I’ve been saying – ma ve lo dico anche in italiano: ogni lingua ha in sé potenzialmente tutte le lingue così spero che possiate capire quello che ho detto finora.
(di Giulia Galvan)

the confession booth #8
Simona Bertozzi

appuntamenti
Meg Stuart, T.R.A.S.H. e Carlotta Sagna

Sabato 29 agosto per la sua quarta giornata il progetto di B.motion ospita tre artisti di punta della scena coreografica contemporanea europea. E’ questo il clou della settimana che Operaestate Festival Veneto, il ricco cartellone proposto dalla Città di Bassano del Grappa con la Regione del Veneto, dedica alla danza più innovativa. Grande attesa per la video installazione di Meg Stuart in doppia replica alle ore 14 e 20 nel Corpo di Guardia del Castello degli Ezzelini, alle 21 al Teatro Remondini tornano a due anni di distanza i travolgenti T.R.A.S.H. in prima nazionale, come pure Carlotta Sagna ospite del CSC Garage Nardini alle ore 22. A completare la giornata la penultima puntata del diario bassanese di Lucy Cash e Tabea Martin (ore 18 Palazzo Agostinelli).

Per la prima volta a Bassano arriva una tra le coreografe e danzatrici più importanti della sua generazione: Meg Stuart. Nata a New Orleans, ha studiato a New York per poi trasferirsi nel 1994 in Europa, più precisamente a Bruxelles, dove con la sua compagnia Damaged Goods ha creato più di venti spettacoli che mescolano danza e teatro, video, arte visiva e musica. Il suo percorsa artistico quindi mette spesso la danza in relazione con gli altri linguaggi dell’arte, come è accaduto con l’eclettica videoartista francese Magali Desbazeille sua partner nella realizzazione di “Sand Table”, il progetto presentato a Bassano. Si tratta di una videoperformance in cui due danzatori interagiscono dal vivo con l’immagine di un corpo proiettato sulla sabbia. Attraverso i movimenti dei danzatori l’immagine si trasforma, passando dalla sensualità al grottesco, sparendo e poi ricomparendo. I video diventano così quasi uno strumento meta-corporeo, ne indagano la materialità, ne immortalano gli atteggiamenti, permettono addirittura una singolare interazione tra il corpo reale e presente e il corpo rappresentato. L’immateriale si impossessa del materico, per suggerire nuovi sviluppi e modalità di rappresentazione. Arrivano invece dalla scena underground rock di Tillburg i T.R.A.S.H., una delle più originali formazioni di teatro danza attive nel panorama olandese. Le loro performances sono dinamiche, energiche, scioccanti, dai tratti hardcore punk ma anche poetiche ed emozionanti. Diviso in 10 capitoli lo spettacolo “Pork-in-Loop” presenta una sorta di album fotografico agito dal vivo. Istantanee di un quotidiano deformato, che raccontano un’umanità senza scampo. I performer oscillano tra corpo e mente: caotici ed esplosivi, i loro corpi si muovono scossi da energia, suono e istinto trascinando il pubblico in un viaggio allucinato di forte impatto visivo. A chiudere questa intensa giornata di spettacoli la coreografa italiana, basata in Francia, Carlotta Sagna, già interprete straordinaria nelle creazioni di autori come Micha Van Hoecke, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Cesare Ronconi, Jan Lauwers e la sorella Caterina Sagna. “Ad vitam” nasce dalla lettura su un giornale di uno slogan che recitava così: “... per gli uomini che sanno vivere”. E gli altri? Quelli che fanno fatica ad affrontare la realtà, quelli che si rifugiano nell’immaginazione, gli artisti ? A partire da questi spunti Carlotta Sagna compone un testo autobiografico, sincero e toccante. Uno spettacolo intimo, ispirato con infinita tenerezza ai quaderni, diari e lettere della madre Anna, coreografa anch’essa. Sola sul palco, sempre divertente e piccante, Carlotta Sagna s’interroga, riflette, ragiona, esprime le proprie impressioni, occupa ammirevolmente la scena grazie a una gestualità coreografata e una padronanza totale del segno teatrale. Il risultato è un’opera di altissimo livello, in cui i momenti di danza sono degli autentici istanti di grazia e di liberazione.

Continua anche il progetto sui diari bassanesi di Tabea Martin e Lucy Cash (h 18 Palazzo Agostinelli).

Day four - 28.08.09

breakfast with artist
White Horse

B.Posted per le strade di Bassano.

the diary of Lara Platman
Day two: This is my review of the performances from the night of Thursday 27th August.

Hello my name is Lucy Cash- Tabea Martin and Lucy Cash (Switzerland, UK)
Well I am slightly partial on my review of this piece as I appeared in it, care of my delicious friend Roberto Casarotto. The idea behind it is very simple. Whilst a group of lovely ladies and gentlemen played cards down stairs the Palazzo Agostinelli, (found by Lucy and Tabea down the street in a cafe where the ladies and gentlemen always play cards) my fellow performers and I waited upstairs ready with our props and precise but gentle instructions. “Take these props into the room and talk for one minute and then play with your props, as we are making a party...oh and always say “Hello to Lucy when she arrives””. (Amongst some other loose instructions and, “have fun, always have fun”. A simple task I say. Well, what to talk about though, what can I say for one minute? As you read in my diary, I discuss my Blind Date; others discuss in Italian about how they are Lucy Cash, even the men, and say something lovely, silly or idiotic. It’s a farce and everyone loves the idea. We then get on with our props, making the party and the party begins. I by the way blew up balloons. And also by the way, had a large, extremely large red and white striped hat on. The stage slowly fills up with 10 performers, who have all said their one minute as being Lucy Cash and begin with their ironing board, tables, balloons, banner painting, napkin folding and cake serving. The party table takes shape and we all begin to take audience members to suit around the table. Finally, Rosario delivers the Prosecco along with the tune from Bassano, continuing this now a familiar finale to the Martin/Cash piece. The ladies and gentlemen playing cards downstairs all shuffled into the room along with a full house. It worked, the simple yet performer packed concept worked and Lucy Cash, who did I mention, was NOT in the piece, ought to be extremely happy with this aperitif piece.

The odd honesty code – Dog Kennel Hill Project (UK)
With the lights placed at stage left, we are just about able to see the set up, a small group of people with a collection of props beginning to make sounds. They are a “Foley”, the sound department in radio and film, the people who use crumpled leaves, water from squeezey bottles, plastic tubs of hard beans, broom brushes, dustbin lids and ‘squelchy’ soap, all to provide us the viewer and listener (if on the radio) with sound effects. Whilst some sounds are beginning to occur, over by stage right a dancer appears and sound soon accompanies him. Henrietta Hale, Ben Ash and Rachel Lopez de la Nieta have choreographed a piece that immediately places us within the realms of the language of communication. When Rachel begins to read what initially sounds like the BBC radio 4 shipping forecast, I quickly realise that semantics is another prop in their repertoire and it is indeed not the shipping forecast, but a documentation of stories, of travelogues, historic events and wild adventures. The dance soon plays out some of these stories and the sounds that we initially heard have actions placed upon them. Questions of what and how much spoken language if any, do we require to be made to be understood? How do we perceive the situation with only sound, or with only dance and movement and if in an alien language, with the spoken word? What barriers do we place upon our own situations to be recognised for what we really are doing or what the situation really is? It is a great subject and wonderfully poignant to see the group of ‘Foley’ workers at work with a short union tea break (and the fluorescents go up). The work continues with the different dancers carrying out their story, accompanied by their sound. For example the sounds we heard of stabbing a cabbage, zipping up a zip, bashing a coat against a chair, water being poured from height down to a bucket, and hands being rubbed by soap all leads to a visual of a wild adventure where she was attacked by a bear and she had to stab it......the story goes on and the sounds are revealed as actions and visa versa. The piece has humour and really allows the audience to feel satisfied with their own revelations. On the whole I really enjoyed this work and found a narrative (not spoken) that I can relate to. Note to Rachel: Your voice was a delight to listen to and I could easily listen to it on BBC Radio 4.

Les angles morts – Melanie Demers/ Mayday (Canada)
One of my favourite venues of the B Motion festival is the CSC Garage Nardini, a large disused garage where, the stage amalgamates with the audience. (Still with a large stage area and a large audience area). It is as if we the audience are almost in the performer’s front room or we are part of an intimate sharing. It is just here at this special venue that Melanie Demers and Jacques Poulin-Denis perform their touching piece. Reflecting on issues that cannot be avoided in today’s political and cultural climate. And yet, as the piece unfolds we find a number of issues that are not only compelling but relevant and unavoidable within our lives. Let me set the scene a little: two bodies with brown paper bags over their heads, one with a large voluptuous tutu with vest, boots and a pair of marigolds. Another with a brown paper bag over head, almost lumber jack sort of shirt, trousers, welding gloves and heavy duty work boots. The male figure is the one lying on the floor downstage and the female upstage on a chair in a statuesque manner. Television blaring out and the lighting quite subdued. It is a large stage and right by the audience downstage is a ‘dumping ground’ for costume change and other curiosities. It takes some time, but the male figure after a series of slow jagged movements gets up and turns the TV off, the female comes to the front and recites words such as “put it away, listen to the wind.... tell me you love me....lift your arm, hear the cry..............be stong, be quiet.........” demanding and authoritarian words continue at a fast fast pace whilst a paper bag is still adorned on the head. The scene is set, we know the story we are in a world of apocalyptic catastrophes, where, we can either choose to ignore or embellish. The point here I believe, is that on the whole, we have chosen to ignore and it still goes on beside us. From hearing discussions after this piece I understand that it was first conceived in 2006 when the Canadian government was being pushed into Afghanistan by the Bush government. But whatever the exact point of conception, this piece works on a number of levels one of course being that of outrageous warmongering, the act of relationship and dependency and (the sheer fact that whatever way I try to put this I will be accused of not being PC) the fact that one of the dancers has one foot. To me all three major levels are as beautiful as each other. A) The simple knowledge that we are placed into a situation where, we know what is going on the world and what do we do if anything, about it. B) The slow motion beautifully poetic rendition of two people making love in the purest of senses, to me was something that I can take away with me as I would always want love making to be. In slow motion and how the clothes are magically disregarded over the stage revealing the flesh of a hand, completely shocked me...to the eventual discovery of the one foot. Aghast for a second only I was transfixed on the sheer strength of Jacques. Leaping from upstage across to downstage in one hefty flight. The Capoeira turns, the velocity that he approached through his mannerisms in his movement, complemented Melanie’s rather garish but sexy suggestions at the beginning. The two soon move together in the stripped form and this perhaps is yet another part of the performance and something that although worked well, I was still relishing on the slow motion of the romance before. Perhaps it is where I am personally, where my mind dreams and perhaps I too choose to ignore this catastrophe that looms in the air. So it was the choice of the choreographers to both wear the paper bag and reveal the leg so it is my choice to acknowledge this proudly. And I strongly believe that this piece would not be the same with a different dancer............. the gravitas of Jacques makes the duo a strong concept. Striking images all around, like vignettes from a Dutch painting. I leave this performance with a lump in my throat. For the pure significance on many levels.

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the confession booth #6
Giuliana Urciuoli e Alessandro Amaducci

documenti
From the diary room of Everything that happens...

26 agosto
mi sono messa sotto lo stipite di marmo, alla destra, mi piace guardare le cose lateralmente.
Tabea and Lucy spoke at the same time so I got confused but I guess the point was not to convery sthg. in particular
Now and then I heard anagraphic details about Lucy and Tabea and then all of a sudden pictures were projected as the two performers shifted their places
Tabea shows actual pictures of her family
Flashback d’infanzia
Lucy hides behind Tabea as she used to do as a child. Mi piace la sensazione, ricordo cosa vuol dire nascondersi dietro qualcuno o qualcosa, da bambini, mica adesso...
Tabea scatenata al ritmo di un tormentone in Schwytzerdeutsch
Ogni tanto i discorsi paralleli di Tabea e Lucy si incontrano in una parola, o frase, detta quasi contemporaneamente. Actual, at the same time. My grandfather.
Come un ballo di coppia in cui occasionalmente ci si incontra nell’intreccio delle braccia
Tabea compie per me un atto davvero coraggioso – ci mostra il suo diario “segreto” di quando aveva più o meno 18 anni.
Sfogliandolo capisco quanto sia importante come documento, quanto lo vorrei anch’io, ora, il diario segreto
Lucy e Tabea hanno aperto ogni lucchetto sulla loro privacy, ci hanno fornito le chiavi. Ci invitano a scrivere un diario fatto di pensieri, evocazioni, insieme a loro.
I dettagli dei loro racconti sono meno importanti dell’atto stesso di raccontarsi, dischiudere brani della loro vita finché uno spettatore, allo scadere dei 20 minuti, lo stesso spettatore a cui è suonato, irriverentemente, il cellulare durante la performance, non dirà “basta! finito!” e comparirà un improvvisato cameriere campanofono, accompagnato da una canzone popolare inneggiante al Ponte di Bassano, e ci offrirà un aperitivo per brindare al compenetrarsi dei nostri ricordi, di Tabea, Lucy, e il pubblico, non più solo spettatore.
(di Giulia Galvan)

the confession booth #5
Freddie Opoku Addaie

the diary of Lara Platman
Hello my name is Lucy Cash

“Hi My name is Lucy cash and I have been on many many blind dates…”
So here we have it, my darling friend Roberto has done it again. I come to the B Motion festival in Bassano del Grappa and Roberto says, “Lara, do you want to be in a performance?”…but it is the way he says it….with that smile and …..you will love it….. really….
I have come here to write for their Blog, to review and comment, but here I am standing in front of an audience, telling them about my blind dates… the ones I have written about, on these very pages. About rubber necking at traffic lights and my doctor and how he saves lives and our affair for twenty minutes, twice a week for three years and…. (Lucy Cash, by the way…because the choreographer who devised this cunning plan is Lucy Cash and we all had to introduce ourselves as she) how I was devastated when we stopped seeing each other and now I look at shoulders on motorbikes with great expectations that one day, we will meet again…
We had a minute or so to talk and then again. We had props and we had tasks. I performed …..AGAIN for my darling friend Roberto.
But my giddy aunt, it was fun. It was a blast. It was a blessing, for now I know approximately eight Lucy Cash’s, all with a story to tell.
Oh my props. They were to blow up balloons, as many as I could in the time on stage.
Well goodbye and thank you. My name is Lucy Cash.

x

the confession booth #4
Alida Dors

appuntamenti
6 performance tra Mediterraneo e Nord Europa

Venerdì 28 agosto terza giornata per B.motion che vede ben sei performance tra Mediterraneo e Nord Europa. Si parte con la terza puntata del diario bassanese di Tabea Martin e Lucy Cash (h 18.00 Palazzo Agostinelli), per poi proseguire con le italiane Silvia Gribaudi (h 21.00 Teatro Remondini) e Francesca Foscarini (h 21.30 Teatro Remondini), gli spagnoli Varela y Fernandez (h 21.40 Teatro Remondini), gli islandesi Ketilsdottir e Gerke (22.10 CSC Garage Nardini) e per concludere i danesi Club Fisk (22.30 CSC Garage Nardini).

Vincitrice dell’edizione 2009 del Premio GD’A Veneto, Silvia Gribaudi con “Acorpolibero” propone un lavoro che ironizza sulla condizione femminile a partire dalla gioiosa fluidità del corpo. Una creazione intensa ed ironica, che rivela il talento di un’autrice originale e fortemente comunicativa. Il Premio GD’A è un progetto di promozione della Giovane Danza d’Autore promosso dalla Regione del Veneto, Arteven e Operaestate in collaborazione con Anticorpi XL, rete interregionale di sostegno alla danza indipendente. Altra finalista dell’edizione 2009 Francesca Foscarini indaga in “Kalsh” il tema dell’abbandono. Abbandonare è cedere, rinunciare, ridurre la presa sul mondo e sprofondare al suolo. In contrapposizione a questa condizione torna forte la volontà di rialzare quel corpo che sembra aver dimenticato la posizione eretta, ma che conserva la memoria di una rabbia acuta. “Kalsh” viene da Kalashnikov, un’arma micidiale che rende combattente anche una scimmia. Completano la programmazione di questa terza serata al Teatro Remondini i Vincitori del XXII Certamen Coreogràfico di Madrid Alexis Fernández e Caterina Varela. Lo spettacolo “Ven” presentato in prima nazionale è un concentrato del lavoro di due straordinari danzatori in grado di manipolare e ribaltare tutti i codici della danza contemporanea. Un modo intenso di agire lo spazio che incolla lo spettatore alla sedia proprio per la capacità di mostrare quante cose si possono fare anche in uno spazio temporale estremamente limitato.

I sapori del Mediterraneo cedono il posto alle gelide terre d’Islanda che abitano il Garage Nardini con “Crazy in love with Mr. Perfect” di e con Steinunn Ketilsdóttir e Brian Gerke. Un duo ironico e dissacrante proposto al festival in prima nazionale. In scena due giovani, un ragazzo e una ragazza, entrambi alla ricerca dell’amore. Fin qui niente di strano, ma quello che i due vogliono disperatamente è “l’uomo perfetto”! Ne discutono in maniera ossessiva confessandosi i reciproci fallimenti... e se l’amore a cui aspirano fosse solo una favola? Steinunn Ketilsdóttir e Brian Gerke provengono da paesi distanti parecchi km l’uno dall’altro: lei nasce nei pressi di Reykjavik mentre Brian viene dagli Usa. Si incontrano nel 2004 al Cuny Hunter College di New York in un corso di danza. I due giovani iniziano a creare insieme. Ma solo in seguito al ritorno di Steinunn in Islanda, dove partecipa al Reykjavik Dance Festival, si crea il sodalizio tra i due artisti che insieme danzano “Love story”, una coreografia firmata da Steinunn. Nel 2007 i due artisti insieme debuttano a Reykjavik con “Crazy in love with Mr. Perfect”, pièce presentata a The Place di Londra, al Dance Base di Edimburgo e al Dublin Dance Festival. Ancora il Nord Europa protagonista, e ancora una volta l’umorismo la fa da padrone. “Forestillinger” di Club Fisk è una breve ed esilarante performance che ruota attorno a due danzatrici, due cambi d’abito, due maschere, un cavalletto e una spiegazione dello spettacolo... in effetti anche le spiegazioni sono due: una semplice e una più complessa, per evidenziare i tanti significati reconditi di un lavoro che più viene spiegato meno si capisce. Il termine “Forestillinger” in danese può essere tradotto come azione, performance, impressione ma anche immaginazione, tutte parole che calzano a pennello per questa irriverente e caotica follia coreografica.

Day three - 27.08.09

approfondimenti
Today we are ourselves…

È possibile in una situazione condivisa, di apparente parità tra spettatori e performers gestire lo sguardo e l’attenzione delle persone presenti? Cosa è successo ieri pomeriggio a Palazzo Agostinelli? In una situazione apparentemente conviviale, quasi una sorta di confessione tra amici durante uno spettacolo-aperitivo, lo spettatore è stato rapito, se non quasi irretito in una sorta di gioco su cosa seguire, o meglio su chi seguire, Tabea Martin o Lucy Cash, Lucy Cash o Tabea Martin. Due racconti di vita sovrapposti, due corsi d’acqua paralleli, che hanno trovato momenti di incontro nelle domande che Tabea poneva a Lucy, o canoni negli echi di alcune parole.
Today we are ourselves.
Sotto questo svelare parti della propria vita, fotografie e diari, si ha l’impressione che si celi un altro meccanismo legato alla relazione: il pubblico era di fronte a delle possibilità, ma quanto la scelta di una di esse era libera o quanto, al contrario, era un conduzionamento dello sguardo da parte di Tabea e Lucy? Realmente quanto era libero di scegliere lo spettatore dove e chi guardare o chi ascoltare?
Tanto che, con effetto assolutamente comico, mano a mano si è delineata una sorta di sfida, di guerra per catturare l’attenzione dello spettatore, il tutto camuffato in una atmosfera di amicizia e di educazione… Viene lecito quindi chiedersi cosa significhi veramente essere se stessi ed estendere la riflessione alla vita di tutti i giorni, alle relazioni che ognuno di noi ha nel quotidiano.
Essere se stessi è una sorta di sfida all’autoaffermazione? È una sfida per gestire l’attenzione dell’altro? Cos’è? Cos’è stato?
Anche dopo i 20 minuti prestabiliti, il fiume della performance continua a scorrere nei pensieri di tutti, a prendere spazio, e un meccanismo preso dalla quotidianità e portato in una performance esce infine di scena per tornare nuovamente nella vita di tutti i giorni.
Everything that happens here happens here today…e in ogni altro oggi.
di Sarah Paroletti

the confession booth #3
Sharon Fridman

the diary of Lara Platman
Day one: Today we are ourselves, and improvised CV

In a delightfully grand room, but rather small for a dance theatre, of the Palazzo Agostinelli off the Piazza de Garibaldi, Tabea Martin and Lucy Cash perform part improvised part rehearsed recollections of their earlier lives, their family and grandparents, sharing thoughts and photographs.

Tabea, the louder or rather more prominent of the two, comes from Switzerland and has a cheeky essence to her piece. Always consistent with understanding the needs of her partner, she travels across the stage well, relating to two audiences, one on the left and one on then right, whilst Lucy, the quieter of the two likewise travels well, but you have to listen hard for Lucy and then you receive the thump. Her take on life is slightly more… not jaded, but less whimsical and perhaps slightly more realistic compared to Tabea’s dreamy thoughts and remembrances.
There was only a small essence of movement in this, but I don’t think that it called for more. The two girls were animated and utilised the international audience. A small amount of Graham technique was explained and shown, through Tabea’s recollection of her first dance class and a handstand emphasised by Lucy’s father in a photograph, prompted Lucy to do some handstands and cartwheels… just spots of remembering.
The piece was timed by an audience member for 20 minutes and then at the end of the twenty minutes, where the piece is at the audience member had to shout ‘Fine’ and she did and it ended at the perfect spot, just after a recollection with a song by Elvis Costello.
A lovely beginning to this aperitif piece.
Following a short evening gap, the second of this evenings performances began with Giuliana Urciuoli from Italy, with a piece called ‘Ex’. A compelling organism slowly moves in the distance, with powerful lighting and intriguing sound, we are transfixed on how this creature moves. Her transformation into a spider/insect/beast allows us to really look at the muscle structure of the human body. At one point, this creature moved backwards upstage as a spider like form, along with the use of lighting, it became completely as if it had always been that creature.
Intense and compelling, Giuliana’s performance was a thorough utility of the body’s investigation through muscle structure and adaptability. Her final extract coming downstage towards the audience we see that she is in fact a human. Clothing was not part of her performance however neither was nudity however Giuliana got round this issue (with neutral coloured pants and perhaps taped breasts) she did it brilliantly.
The final piece of the evening’s performances was from ‘White Horse’, a troupe from Olanda. Lea Martini, Xavier Fontaine, Chris Leuenberger. ‘Trip’ explores the conscience through experiences of repetitiveness, addiction, group agitation for example. This piece began with slow motion increasing to rapid repeated movements and returned to the slow motion. Perhaps confusing for the audience as the slow motion did seem to return us to the beginning and therefore some in this Bassano audience had concluded, it was to be the end. However, ‘Trip’ began once again and led us on another journey of agitation and repetition.
Throughout the ‘Trip’ the three performers had their mouths wide open. As wide as humanly possible, without closing them, without gasping for breath and without relaxing at all. Not only were their bodies put through the paces, their mouths were too.
For me, I didn’t quite understand the ‘gap’ in the middle nor the quite 5 minutes at the end where they asked the audience if there was anything that anyone wanted to say. It made me feel uncomfortable and edgy. That was however, until this morning, when on a closer reflection and a short chat with Chris and Xavier, I began to understand the philosophy behind their reasoning for their quiet-time.
They told me that the slow motion in the middle was to enhance the rapid movements either side, to aid the knowledge of addiction, to appreciate the movements that were just resolved, the timings of the piece are very important, and the 5 minutes of quiet time, of warm down, of calm, was to pronounce that they are not really making a statement as such, that their actions are just that.
Some heard slightly fascist shouting in the soundtrack and others remarks from football matches. The entire soundtrack was filled with perhaps this and more. It relates to a trip, of a feeling of high, of ecstasy. We discussed this morning that the audience bring their own history and social conscience to this piece, that this is very much part of their plan to ensure the audience has some participation in the piece, not necessarily with the obvious verbal or physical actions, but it is their wish to make the audience feel something. To not be passive and perhaps to even make the audience work rather hard.
Sometimes it does take a night’s sleep to begin to understand a dance performance - especially if it is something that you are not used to seeing, or something that you think you may have seen the concept before but the interpretation on different way of presenting it may indeed throw you. Dance is a fabulous tool for searching inside your own soul and for asking questions. I don’t think dance and dancers begin to say that they have all the answers, but they do at least provide a superb platform for raising the questions.

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the confession booth #2
Francesca Pennini

Approfondimenti
Choreoroam - parte prima

Il CSC Garage Nardini si fa custode delle ispirazioni coreografiche dei Choreoroamers, che hanno permesso al pubblico bassanese e agli ospiti di dare una sbirciatina al loro work in progress, portando una ventata di freschezza nell’afoso pomeriggio del 25 agosto.
Choreoroam si potrebbe definire come un progetto di roaming nelle coreografie, una matrioska fatta di viaggi all’interno del viaggio. Percorsi fisici e ideali dei singoli danzatori e all’interno del gruppo. Punti di intersezione fra i novelli sentieri inaugurati dei singoli e la direzione votata alla sperimentazione di cui si fa portatore Choreoroam.
L’interrogativo che ci si pone assistendo alla presentazione dei lavori dei choreoroamers non è dove si è arrivati, ma dove sta conducendo questo viaggio, quali sono le tappe che sono state necessarie per raggiungere questo pit stop e in che modo gli itinerari dei danzautori si sono imbattuti gli uni negli altri e si sono eventualmente influenzati. Sebbene stimolati da ispirazioni apparentemente distanti l’una dall’altra, i partecipanti al progetto sono inseriti in una mappa più vasta che inevitabilmente li contiene, e che è fatta di rinvii, relazioni e negazione di questi.
di Giulia Galvan - (Continua)

the confession booth #1
Lars Dahl Pedersen

appuntamenti
Tabea Martin e Lucy Cash, Dog Hill Project e Mayday

Il programma di B.motion prosegue oggi, giovedì 27 agosto con una nuova replica di “Everything that happens…” (h 18 Palazzo Agostinelli), con gli inglesi Dog Kennel Hill Project (h 21 Teatro Remondini) e la compagnia canadese Mayday (h 22 CSC Garage Nardini). Gli spettacoli di Palazzo Agostinelli e Garage Nardini sono a posti limitati, si consiglia la prenotazione.

Day two - 26.08.09

the diary of Lara Platman
Day zero: Travelling to Venice on the Ryanair 6.30

Louis Vuitton, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, personal luggage boys carrying hat boxes, trunks all with the distinctive LV logo blazered over the surfaces, this is not. Travelling the Ryan Air way is another thing altogether.

I must first let it be known, that a flight at 6.30am from Stanstead is not my first choice on travelling times, but when you have booked a 9.30am and Ryanair rebook you on the 6.30 a day or two beforehand, you really do not have much choice in the matter. So without being number 4002 on the weekly Ryanair complaints chart, I battle on with the task at hand.
What to do to get on an early morning flight to one of the most romantic cities in the world.
Well let me tell you, do not think that post 100ml you can sleep past the security area on an all nighter (getting the Stratford swig across the night before) waiting for your gate to open. And also let me tell you that there are no comfortable places to sleep on an all nighter by the check in desks.
No, and dare I mention this, but the most delicious spot is in Costa Coffee at the arrivals area. Buy yourself a medium £2.35 hot chocolate, which comes in a tall glass, that could easily last you 2 hours, and park yourself on the couch...and if you are like me, a bit slow to grab….hover, wait until the party leaves and then pounce. It is a splendid couch and one that will outshine any sleepover at a friend’s.
Be prepared
Post 100ml the Muji see-through wash bags and the like have come into their own, where you can buy the empty set and fill up the little containers with your favourites. This really does avoid any hassles when you get to security, simply unzip the case and whip out your wash bag all ready.
The Ryanair cabin suitcase has to be concise. They are increasingly becoming stricter about what you can take on board so what fits into the case is of utmost importance. For me, I have to carry a computer and a camera, so what space is left. NOT THAT MUCH. To give you an example, I have space for my through toiletry bag, ‘Barney’ the bear, who has travelled the world with me, plugs and adapter plugs, IPod, painting gear (I always take a small watercolour set) summer shoes, and a book. Whatever space is left must be for clothes and a hand bag.
Therefore the 6.30am does prove to be slightly helpful, in that you can wear almost everything that you want to take with you to a hot climate. So laden with tea shirt, shirt, cardigan, scarf, shawl, jeans skirt, white dress (all on my body) covered by a white summer coat, you can get on the flight AND have all the clothes required for the few days break in the most romantic city in the world. The scarf is great for your eyes during the Costa Coffee right lights and the shawl is perfect for the uber air conditioning on the plane. As soon as you get to Venice airport, dive to the ladies and don the lot, separate out your computer and hand bag and voila an almost empty suitcase!
Now here lies the thing. What to do if you have 3 hours in Venice before setting off up to Bassano del Grappa for the B Motion dance festival?
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
One of my favourite stop offs in a short whiz to Venice is taking the number 2, N or if you must the 1, water buses to Academia, where the Peggy Guggenheim Collection holds a what I can only describe as a Pandora’s box. Something for everyone. Not only do they have a superb cloakroom where, you can leave with knowledge that it is safe, and for free, your suitcase and now separated bags (they give you a small Peggy Guggenheim carrier bag for your money and essentials), they have a delicious cafe, slightly pricey, but an air conditioned cafe adorned with black and white photographs, you really will revel in the eclectic mix of characters that you will inevitable come across, that paying slightly over the odds for a actually what is a really lovely sandwich, won’t break the wallet. And of course, the permanent and temporary collections. The permanent holds the Surrealists, the Dadaists and the Modernists amongst other periods. In the garden lies a selection of sculptures and it is one of these sculptures that draws me to the PG in Venice.
The Peggy Guggenheim collection holds a very special place in my life, it has I suppose changed my life twice now. First with the Rebecca Horn exhibition in the New York Guggenheim, ‘The Kiss of the Rhinoceros’ brought me to tears over a two hour period, watching these metallic horns come closer for that very very first kiss, and then here at the Venice PG with Anish Kapoor’s ‘Black Granite’, a large sculpture in the garden, with two concave circles engraved at the front, on top of one another. It is the basics and formula to photography and this I presume is my love for the ingenious design and engineering of the sculpture.
GLUTS
On this visit I came for Robert Rauschenberg exhibition of GLUTS. Inspired by a visit to Houston, Texas, when in the early 80’s, it was recovering from a recession, there was a surplus supply in oil and this was known as a GLUT. It is from this reference that Rauschenberg takes his final series of sculpture. Always one to recycle this collection of works collected from the detritus found with a revealing second life. Large metal pieces from roofs, shacks and roadside furniture, this series of work is both a representation of the disregard for waste and also very poignant perhaps into toad’s waste behaviour.
‘Measure for Measure’ (1988), a wall sculpture made from two rules approx five and a half feet tall. One bent the other reclining towards its companion, ‘Sunset Glut’ (1987), with a 1950’s car radio dash at the top and metal strips, pointing downwards some bent and crooked, all in a yellow tone and ‘Snow Crab Crystal Glut’ (1987), approximately ten feet long by three feet. A white creature with a propeller for a tail and metal strips for his fangs, al in white, are just some of the many many creatures and satirical wall sculptures shown in this exhibition.
Another series completely juxtaposed to the more comical side is works that I suppose Rauschenberg is more commonly known for, the POP Art revolution, where his sculptures are delightful graphic shapes, dynamic colours and structurally very equal in shape and form.
The exhibition continues at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, until September 20th 2009. Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008).
B Motion
However, the reason for my visit to Italy was to travel up to Bassano del Grappa for the B Motion dance festival. organised in conjunction with OperaEstate, Veneto, this ‘Off’ festival has become something of an attraction. with international performers, this festival now attracts international visitors.
I am visiting the festival this year to write for their Blog, to comment and discuss the performances from the night previous, so those wishing to travel from Milan and Rome for example can have a small taste of what they might expect. Saying that, who knows what you are going to see, with three very different performances a night. But the Blog and reviews do allow for some indication of the level of dancer and their breeding.
B Motion festival runs until August 31st 2009 at Bassano del Grappa.
So whilst I refuel my soul with dance in Bassano and dream of a Merchant Ivory production in Venice, I am pleased to announce that my flight home is at 4.25 in the afternoon, something I think we can all agree is a reasonable time indeed.
END

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appuntamenti
Tabea Martin e Lucy Cash, Giuliana Urciuoli e White Horse

La settimana della danza si apre alle ore 18.30 a Palazzo Agostinelli con la prima giornata del progetto curato dalle coreografe Tabea Martin e Lucy Cash dal titolo “Everything that happens happens here today (Bassano Diary)”. Un diario quotidiano che proseguirà fino al 30 agosto dove le parole lasciano il posto ai gesti e alle immagini video. 5 pagine da sfogliare, ogni giorno un racconto diverso. E’ questa l’originale autobiografia proposta da 2 giovani autrici europee (il progetto è una coproduzione tra Svizzera, Olanda e Regno Unito) che scelgono di condividere con il pubblico un pezzo della loro vita. Un diario agito dal vivo in diretta da Bassano per l’ora dell’aperitivo. Un progetto presentato in prima nazionale che vede protagonisti i cittadini di Bassano, chiamati a condividere con le performer 20-30 minuti del loro tempo. Ogni evento performativo rappresenta una storia a sè stante, ma allo stesso tempo contribuirà a costruire un unico grande racconto in continua evoluzione. Un modo diverso di guardare e vivere la città di Bassano, offerto da due autrici che trasformano la quotidianità in evento artistico.

Il secondo appuntamento è per le ore 21 presso il Teatro Remondini dove andrà in scena una delle finaliste del Premio G’D’A Veneto edizione 2009 Giuliana Urciuoli protagonista della performance “EX”. Una coreografia intensa e vibrante, che mette in risalto il talento interpretativo di una giovane danz’autrice capace di dare forma e movimento ad un raffinato lavoro di videoproiezioni. In scena un corpo solo costruisce trame di interazione con le immagini proiettate sulla pelle. E’ una donna attraversata da bagliori di luce, colori improvvisi che creano strane geometrie, che disegnano la geografia di un corpo immateriale.

L’appuntamento clou di questa giornata è per le ore 21.30 sempre al Teatro Remondini dove per la prima volta arriva in Italia la compagnia olandese White Horse. Si tratta di un collettivo fondato da Julia Jadkowski, Christoph Leuenberger e Lea Martini. Tutti e tre hanno studiato presso la School for New Dance Development di Amsterdam e attualmente lavorano tra Amsterdam, Berlino e Berna. “Trip”, il lavoro che presentano a Bassano, è la loro seconda collaborazione. Si tratta di una coreografia che attacca lo spettatore con una forza frontale che arriva dritta allo stomaco, richiamando alcune immagini dei film russi d’avanguardia. A partire dai fenomeni di massa, i performer usano il corpo per demistificare, scardinare, criticare sarcasticamente le espressioni più restrittive che la storia ha prodotto. Un urlo agghiacciante immobilizza il volto dei performer per l’intera durata dello spettacolo. E’ questa l’immagine più forte che rimane impressa nella mente dello spettatore. Un’immagine che evoca paesi in guerra, popoli in rivoluzione. Prende forma così un linguaggio coreografico commovente e disturbante, di grande forza evocativa per una danza politica e allo stesso tempo poetica.

Completano il calendario gli appuntamenti dedicati ai workshop di danza e di critica teatrale, oltre agli incontri con gli artisti ospiti del festival tutti i giorni alle ore 15.

Day one - 25.08.09

appuntamenti
CHOREOROAM
Progetto Internazionale di ricerca coreografica

In attesa dell’apertura ufficiale della IV edizione di B.motion, il progetto di Operaestate Festival Veneto diventato punto di riferimento nazionale ed internazionale per i linguaggi contemporanei nella danza e nel teatro, martedì 25 agosto a partire dalle ore 15.00 ad ingresso gratuito le porte del CSC Garage Nardini si apriranno per accogliere i dodici artisti coinvolti in Choreoroam, progetto internazionale di ricerca coreografica ideato da Operaestate Festival Veneto (Italia) con The Place di Londra (Regno Unito) e Dansaterliers di Rotterdam (Olanda).

Giunto alla sua seconda edizione Choreoroam è stato acquisito come progetto pilota nel Creative Network Program del British Council già dal 2008. Quest’anno la rete dei soggetti partecipanti si è allargata ad altri centri europei e quindi la seconda edizione vede il coinvolgimento, accanto agli ideatori, anche di Dansescenen Copenhagen (Danimarca), Paso a 2-Certamen Coreogràfico de Madrid (Spagna), Dance Week Festival di Zagabria (Slovenia) e di Espaço do Tempo di Montemor o Novo (Portogallo).
Tutti i centri coinvolti sono impegnati ad offrire a 12 artisti, provenienti dai diversi paesi coinvolti, un percorso di 8 mesi di studio e ricerca applicata nell’ambito del processo creativo e della creazione di spettacoli. I coreografi partecipano a workshop, residenze creative, rassegne, sessioni di tutoraggio individuale e di gruppo, incontri internazionali con critici e scrittori, sessioni di ricerca con drammaturghi, momenti di confronto con il pubblico e presentano, durante il percorso e alla fine del progetto, le creazioni realizzate nei centri promotori.
I coreografi coinvolti nell’edizione 2009 sono: per l’Olanda Alida Dors e Arno Schuitemaker, per il Regno Unito Frauke Requardt e Freddie Opoku-Addaie, per la Danimarca Helle Bach e Lars Dahl Pedersen, per la Spagna Sharon Fridman, per la Slovenia Sanja Tropp e per l'Italia Helen Cerina, Chiara Frigo, Silvia Gribaudi e Francesca Pennini.
L’obiettivo di Choreoroam è di costruire intere comunità di coreografi, per migliorare i profili dei danzatori e per stimolare l’emergere di talenti attraverso l’interazione con altre forme d’arte e il dialogo con tutor, coreografi e drammaturghi come le olandesi Amy Gale e Peggy Ollieslaegers, l’inglese Rosemary Butcher e la greca Katerina Bataksaki.
Nel pomeriggio del 25 agosto i dodici artisti coinvolti nel progetto presenteranno lo stato dell’arte dei loro percorsi di ricerca, condividendo con il pubblico l’evoluzione di un complesso processo creativo.

>>> Vai alla fotogallery di b.motion!

b.motionreport - dance week è un progetto a cura di Jacopo lanteri con la collaborazione di Giulia Galvan, Marina Dammacco e Sarah Paroletti. Guest star Lara Platman.