Projects: “FOUR”

An evening in four parts

In 2004 I created the duet Fútil with dancer and long-time collaborator, Nuria Martinez. The experience of working together over the last two years, presenting Fútil in numerous theatres and festivals both in Spain and abroad, combined with the audience’s reaction gave rise to our desire to investigate the possibilities of partnered dance as initiated in Fútil and to create a new duet. In order to do this we set out a four premises:

1. The creation of various vocabularies of partnered dance and of different atmospheres as a result of the type of contact occurring between the two dancers.

2. The removal of a narrative line as used in Fútil and instead the creation of abstract blocks, each representing one emotive state, a moment, rather than any ongoing event.

3. The use of an empty dance space, contrasting with the use of props and a large decor in Fútil. A simple static decor will be used to define the starting point of each choreographed section.

4. The use of music in clearly defined, extended sections instead of in short fragmented blocks.

Given the nature of the project, a deepening or maturation of the creation between two experienced dancers, a global theme arose ie. the passage of time within a relationship. Using different approaches to partnered movement I want to investigate the way in which different emotional states might be invoked, without using narrative ploys. This lead me to also set out four clearly defined sections within which the movement generated would be defined by a set of rules, a “control” on the resulting visual experience. The four emotional states that I decided to approach are:

1. Tedium and routine
2. Fragility and vulnerability
3. Aggression both physical and psychological.
4. Fear and dependence

To this end I asked four composers to each create a piece of music of approximately 15 minutes. Each with the same theme of creation, the idea of the passage of time within the relationship, but each within the particular emotional focus of a specific section. The composers were Diego Dall’Osto, Felipe Perez Santiago, Joan Chic and Pedro Navarrete.
Furthermore the piece had to be considered on the trajectory of my work up to this moment. Over the last six years certain key issues have become of fundamental importance to me in the creation of dance.
The equilibrium between virtuosity and austerity, the creation of intimacy while retaining distance and generating emotion from a purely abstract proposition.
The evolution of this current work within these considerations is detailed in the sections which follow.

SET
1. Tedium and Routine (DIEGO DALL’OSTO)
The idea of routine within the partnership is attractive as it leads me to think of the creation of set patterns that can involve one or both dancers superimposed spatially or temporally. It is also interesting to investigate ploys of active/passive roles within the routines to imply narrative without using narrative as a base. In this section there is a great parallelism in construction between the dance and the music.
Movement: The dance is minimalist and should not revert to extravagant partnering, neither in weight-bearing or of great complexity of movement. Furthermore it interests me to reduce the amount of space used and execute the whole section in a limited, central part of the front stage, as close as possible to the audience.
Costume: Neutral clothes of convectional cut.
Starting Point: Two stools at the 3/4 down stage left. Dancers seated facing audience. (Invitation to watch)
Music: The music is based on the investigation into the perception of rhythm ,that Diego Dall’Osto is performing as part of his doctorate. It comprises of combinations of cyclical sound series which possess different periodicities. The sounds are derived from sinusoidal waveforms, processed samples of the Txalapata and the voice samples of Nuria Martinez and Thomas Noone.

TACT
2. Fragility and Vulnerability (FELIPE PEREZ SANTIAGO)
The most technical and formal section. The emphasis is placed on the strength of the dancer contrasted with the vulnerability of his or her body and the manner in which they touch.
Movement: I am interested in the progression of contact, to start from a simple gesture to arrive at large scale lifts and supported forms, equally executed by both dancers. Also I intend to apply the same control to the amount of strength used, both in real and apparent terms by the dancers throughout the section. As with the first section the construction of the music is influenced by the rules of the dance.
Costume: Minimal clothing allowing maximum nakedness without implicitly suggesting sensuality
Starting Point: Two stools upstage right, far from the audience, dancers seated facing each other. (Complicity between performers)
Music: The music of Tact is structured from a base of electronically processed guitar recordings mixed in residence at “Phonos” (Institut Universitari de l’Audiovisual de la Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona).

SLAP
3. Aggression and Violence (PEDRO NAVARRETE)
In order to approach this subject I want to contrast the absurd with the real, using a sort of dead-pan humour. The use of the music of Pedro Navarrete, at once both rigorous and demanding contrasted with great character, compliments such a proposal and avoids cliché.
Movement: Here the dance is at its most gestural. Actions of violence can be used but without any theatricality. The violence also will be translated to the movements of the individual dancer.
Costume: Bulky and unwieldy clothing. During the duo the genders are inverted by swapping costume exploiting the implications of role swapping.
Starting Point: Two stools centre stage left, dancers seated facing away from the audience.
Music: “Gestural Music composed for two pianos” Pedro Navarrete

HUSK 4. Fear and Dependence (Joan Chic) I wish to express the fear of the loss of the partner. There is also an allusion to the dependence created within the relation with the passage of time. Movement: The partnering work is based on a development of a weight sharing contact, although, in line with all my work, it is modulated by the addition of muscular strength in order to create positions of greater instability. From the outset the phasing of the duet will be broken by removal of one of the dancers, so as to create ruptures. Furthermore, my intention is to make use of pause and silence to increase tension, also playing with the visible fatigue of the dancers that will be apparent by the end of the evening. Costume: Dark, formal clothing. Starting Point: Two stools upstage right, one dancer seated laterally, one dancer standing down-stage. Music: Joan Chic has composed the piece “Oniric” for Husk. It comprises of three parts for violin and three parts for prepared piano superimposed. Joan chic plays the violin and Teresa Sánchez the piano.

COLLABORATORS:

THE COMPOSERS:

DIEGO DALL’OSTO (Italy)
Diego Dall’Osto has worked extensively creating music for dance. With the choreographer Jacopo Godani he has created pieces for Spanish National Ballet, Gothernburg Opera House, the Royal Ballet and the Ballet de Monte Carlo and with the choreographer Nicole Fonte for Det Kongelige Teatre de Copenhagen, Het Stadettlei Bern Ballet and Het Konilijk Ballet van Vlaadern. He has also worked with Carlos Ituurioz creating Incert Insert. He has won numerous prizes in Italy and was granted a scholarship by the IUA-PHONOS UPF (Instituto Audiovisual de la Universitat Pompeu Fabra de Barcelona).
Diego Dall’Osto has collaborated previously with Thomas Noone creating the music for Crush, which won both the production prize and the audience’s special prize at the Guglielmo Ebreo Competition in Pesaro Italy during the Biennale Danza e Italia.

JOAN CHIC ( Spain )
Joan Chic started his musical path under the guidance of his father, the distinguished guitarist and student of Emili Pujol. He initially studied piano and violin in his hometown Lleida, complementing his studies with different instrumentalists and theorists. He has, amongst other things, performed in the Catalonian Chamber Orchestra and was also the Concertino-director of the Orchestra Enric Granados. His first three compositions were awarded prizes in the Young Composers Competition of the Generalitat de Catalunya, and he has had several works published by editorials such as “Boileau” and “La mà de Guido”
An inquisitive violinist and versatile composer he has collaborated in a wide range of situations such as performing the music of Jimmy Hendrix with Nigel Kennedy, or directing the Mvsicos de sv alteza, in their creation “Ay Infelice” based on “La Vida es Sueño” by Calderón de la Barca in Cagliari, Sassari, Rome or Barcelona.

FELIPE PÉREZ SANTIAGO (Mexico)
Felipe Pérez Santiago graduated in 1996 as a composer from the CIEM in Mexico and obtained a Diploma in Musical Theory from the Royal School of Music in London. With the support of the Mexican National Fund for Culture and Arts he moved to Rotterdam where in 2001 he graduated from the Conservatory with honours in Composition.
In 2003 he obtained a masters in Electronic music from the same conservatory and since then has won numerous prizes including a Residency at the Institute for Electronic Music en Bourges, France and the Prize to compose for the Kronos Quartet in the USA.
He has been invited as composer in residence to institutions and festivals across Europe, the USA and Latin America. Besides composing music for concert he has created music for dance, theatre, opera and cinema. His music has been performed in over 30 countries

PEDRO NAVARRETE The career of Pedro Navarrete has always been closely related to the stage. After studying piano and composition at the Conservatoire of Zaragoza he returned to Madrid in the mid eighties, where he quickly established his reputation as both musician and arranger and was much sought after by groups and record companies with musical styles ranging from popular to contemporary music and the avant-garde.

He started composing for Dance for the company 10 x 10 Danza (Winner of the Spanish National Prize for Dance 2000) with the collaboration Meeting Point, continuing to create music for the choreographies Años aguardando un gesto (1993), Milagro (1996) and Venus Benedecta (1997). During this time he also composed Ottepel (1994) for Danat Dansa. In 1996 Navarrete began a long term collaboration with the company Provisional Danza directed by Carmen Werner, composing the music for all the company’s repertoire. In 2001 his composition Aonia created for the piece El tiempo de un instante, won the Onassis Prize in the 1st International Competition of Music for Dance. In addition to his activity as a composer, Pedro Navarrete has taken part in various theatrical productions. As both musical director and pianist, he collaborated with the actress Nuria Espert in the tour Poems and Songs – Brecht / Weill.