Saturday, June 9, 2012

Enfant

Enfant - by Boris Charmatz 20:00 8th June 2012 Zuiveringshal West of Westergasfabriek Amsterdam (Holland Festival)
Every time I go see some performances in the Netherlands I often get so angry with people's bad manners. They cut in line and talk during the performance. They have no concerns for others and are very pushy and always selfish. They appear to be great audiences, though, like they would always stand up, clap so hard and make the artists run 3,4 times for the big goodbye. They do. But once the light is on and the show is over, they start to share the weirdest and silliest opinions with everyone around and far away. I really hope that they could keep their "great" observation for themselves. Really, I would rather to stay with my own impression for a while longer please.
Anyway, the show is interesting, but not something you can't live without. The concept is simple: in the modern society we try to tame and control our children. The desire to suppress their untamed living energy is actually the result of our own separation from the life and our own subservience to the materialism and technical civilization. If we give in to the untamed energy that children's world represents, however, we might fall into an unknown and rather a dangerous situation. Is control really a bad thing after all? We can also see this piece as an essay about the methodology of dance. When the movement is totally freed, can we still call it dance at all?

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

The art of (dis-)harmony: C(H)OEURS

The art of (dis-)harmony: C(H)OEURS So today I went to Carré for the first time and got the total vertigo experience, to see this dance/orchestra/opera-choir piece: C(H)OEURS, by Alain Platel and Les ballets C to B. I have to say Carré's super scary gallery seats does make the cheapest ticket worthwhile, if you are not afraid of the height of course. But even someone like me, who have a serious problem with the arena style gallery, still managed to forget the height when the show started.
It was awkward in the first 20 minutes. Even with all my brain cells try to make sense out of it, I still find it difficult to conclude everything with a clear concept. However it is a very interesting piece, and gives you a sweet feeling afterward. The art of it, lies exactly at the play between harmony and disharmony, the unity and individuality. As the title has already suggested, choirs (choeurs) can only be constructed with all hearts (coeurs) singing together.
All hearts are the same yet different, and only with different individuals and their different personality the true harmony can be achieved. The choir, the dancers and orchestra, each plays a role in it and each of them tries its best to be unique and even to overtake others' territory (and therefore to be disharmonious). The moving is awkward, sometimes even rigid. The choir chat loudly at the back. But somehow in the end, they all become the indispensable parts of the great harmony. And a very joyful one.