Small run of «Show and Tell» coming up in Berlin this weekend. I'm curious what the Berlin audience make of it and a little nervous if I'm honest too. Next week I will revisit the solo with one show in Rotterdam at the Schouwburg of «We need to talk». Directly after Phil and I will do a couple of shows in Frankfurt at Mousonturm. Should be fun as Martine and Marcus at Mousonturm have both seen the work already and they rather dig it. Welcoming!
Just about to haul myself on stage and perform this new work, «Show and Tell» with the wonderful Phil Hayes. Really looking forward to it actually. Hope to see some friendly faces over the next days as we perform 5 times here before going on to Basel, Berlin, Frankfurt and so forth. (see dates)
Still working on "Show & Tell" which is beginning to take some shape but I am alone in the studio for the moment and looking forward to reconnect with Phil in December for our last working periods. But before that, I have a couple of gigs in Brussels and Paris with the solo, "We need to talk" as well as moving apartments. check tour dates here Should be a laugh as until now we haven't found one and the removal truck comes in less than two weeks. Looks like it's storage for our stuff!
Very fond of the horses arse as an image for "Show & Tell" - feels right in some mysterious, not necessarily definable way. This seems to tie in nicely with our general motto for the rehearsal process of this project...
Don't explain, don't apologize, no excuses and stop trying to make sense!
Began work in July on the first duo in a series of three that I have planned. It’s titled ‘Show &Tell’ and like ‘After Life’ the work tries to approach the notion of biography but this time through a very selective history of the body. I am pairing up with Phil Hayes on this one and it’s been a real treat to work together again. We have basically assigned each other the roles of ‘Show’ and ‘Tell’ and go about conveying or sharing intimate, confusing and defining body experiences through various articulations in these roles. There is also some interest in how we can assign the roles of ‘show’ and ‘tell’ to the space itself; that of tribune and stage, and how these limits become blurred, contaminated and ultimately shared. So there’s some work to do from within the audience as well as for the audience in the form of a presented show. We have jokingly referred to this (not yet rendered) evening as an accidental double booking. I can't wait to continue the process come mid August.
Next week I will be giving a workshop in Munich at the Tanzwerkstatt Europa festival. Here is the link in case anyone would like to make a last minute booking. Should be fun!
Presently spending some time in Berlin where I had some performances of «We need to talk» at the end of March in Hau. Now working in Eden studios with Nic Lloyd on a new project that is trying out the title «After Life». It's actually part of a series of duets that all deal with biography in some way or another. At the moment and at this really early stage of the project it looks like we are trying to create a space in which ghost bodies and other scary figures continue to live in a timeless zone that is both waiting room and eternal dance hall. They will probably take moments to get to know each other and ineveitably ask questions about their previous lives. It is fun to work with Nic again but also quite a challenge to work with notions of afterlife and the ethereal. This performance will come out around mid 2013 so still some time to go yet!
I will be traveling to Gent next week for gigs of «We need to talk» on 19, 20 April. Looking forward to spending a few nights in Brussels on route.
Last night saw the premiere of «We need to talk» in Bern at the Tanz In. Bern festival. It felt good to finally have an audience in the space with me and I think it was a pretty good run of the work so far. I am thoroughly looking forward to performing it more, seeing how it shifts and grows.
One can still catch it here in Bern tonight or tomorrow night. That is the 21.10 and 22.10 at 19.30 and 21.30 respectively. Alternatively, one can see it in Zurich the week after next. See dates here.
Here is a short clip from Swiss television about the work.
Working in Berlin at the beautiful Eden studios in Pankow on the solo performance, «We need to talk». Trying to marry the idea of the last 33 years of the Voyager spacecraft's journey and more importantly, the Golden Record's trajectory through space and time with my own existence and scant travels. I'm using the eceletic compilation of music included on the record/timecapsule as a kind of enforced dramaturgy for the work - dancing my way through the cornerstones of classical and modern music from the world over and looking for affinities. We were both, the record and me, launched in 1977 and if this record is supposed to represent humankind until that point then I should feel some connection with it, right? Or at least become familiar with my immediate past as it travels into the future.
The research is really fun but very wide. I am often getting lost by the ennormity of the subject and the sense of space - quite literally. Liked the picture of dust in the milky way on the right. Could be outer space but then it could just be a cloud of theatre dust or a painted backdrop.
I am really thrilled to finally present «To Serve Zürich» in the context of Zürcher Festspiele. It's been a long wait and this will be the last scheduled presentation of «To Serve» in it's entirety. «Deserve», however, will be performed in Saint-Etinne, France this December in combination with screenings of «Vous etes servis».
(see tour dates for details)
You can see «Deserve» on 23, 24, 25 June in Theaterhaus Gessnerallee at 21.00. It is also possible to see Jorge's documentary film, «Vous etes servis» at 19.30 every evening beforehand in the same space. I think it's a good proposal to make a intimate temporal relation between the two works and I am looking forward to hear how the audience experience them in close proximity.
Here is a list of guests for the symposium on Saturday, 25. June at Villa Tobler between 15:00 – 17:00. Hope to see you there!
Ruth Dällenbach (Moderation)
Director of Solidar Suisse (formerly Schweizerisches Arbeiterhilfswerk SAH)
www.solidar.ch
Dr. Maria Grazia Giammarinaro
Special Representative & Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
www.osce.org
Karin Pape
WIEGO / participant ILO-conference
www.wiego.org
Dore Heim
Director of Gender Equality of the city of Zurich
www.stadt-zuerich.ch
Sarah Schilliger
Scientific assistant at the institute for sociology Basel
http://soziologie.unibas.ch
«House without a maid» will be located in Villa Tobler der Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft Winkelwiese 4, 8001 Zurich on Saturday the 25 and Sunday the 26 between 13.00 and 18.00
Opposite, you can see a couple of images of the Jugendstil interior of the Villa Tobler. It's pretty austere, even a bit gloomy which will make for an interesting setting for the works and a strong atmoshere for the spectator.
Sadly, Vlatka Horvat won't be performing «Unhinged» but the lovely Elpida Elfanidou will be replacing her.
There is a specialist talk happening between 15.00 and 17.00 on the Saturday at the Villa. We are really lucky to have Maria Grazia traveling to Zürich to share her ideas and details of her work fighting against Human trafficking. Dr. Maria Grazia Giammarinaro Special Representative & Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
www.osce.org
Other guests will take a closer look at the current local situation, the disturbing patterns of abuse and also the legal issues of domestic workers here in Switzerland.
