national premiere
concept and choreography:
Vincenzo Carta and Benjamin Vandewalle
original music: Michael Northam
production: WE GO vzw
executive production: Monty
coproduced by Monty, Antwerpen; Fabbrica Europa, Florence; Santarcangelo Festival; STUK kunstencentrum, Leuven
with the support of Vlaamse Gemeenschap, Buda, UE Cultuure 2000 Programme/Enhanced danceWEB-Europe
thanks to ulti'mates/Ultima Vez and Rosas
Inbetween - Inside view
On 1st May 2007 we entered the studios of STUK in Leuven. We were to be locked up for 10 days. We agreed not to use any verbal communication during that time. 10 days later at 8 p.m. exactly the doors would be opened to let in a select audience to witness a performance. This was the beginning of the process. Only maybe 1% of what was produced inbetween these 4 walls was kept to continue working on. The main direction of the piece was retained: how to create a dance piece using dance as a means of discussing what to create.
It is in the inbetween space that dance is created.
We move in a black space with very soft lights, spatial points of reference are eliminated as much as possible. The only point of reference that we have is the other person's body. Each and every movement we make is always in relation to whatever movement the other person makes. The dance is not a set choreography but a way of moving that comes from specific interaction with the other person while maintaining a specific state of mind. The movements are the means and the result of a dialogue, discussing and negotiating space. Only when we are following each other and concentrating fully on what we are doing do we succeed in creating an interesting conversation. The dialogue itself becomes an active third person in the game, which is pulling us along. What is important is to be completely focused every single split second on the other person's position and movements in space, so that each and every movement one person makes is a result of observing and following that of the other person. An infinite loop of movements back and forth is created, like the feedback that occurs when you hold a microphone near a loudspeaker.
Inbetween the becoming and the performing is less than a split second, they are one and the same thing.
The performance that is seen is one that is in a constant state of becoming, there is no fixed choreography. Each time it is performed we recreate the piece as we go along. It keeps on changing and evolving; new things keep on being discovered and old things disappear after a while. There is a macro structure that we follow but, eventually, this also slowly shifts and changes from one performance/rehearsal to another. Only by going through the ritual each time is a kind of consistency in the dance created. It is this repetition of the ritual that allows it to keep on transforming. There is no difference as such between the creative process and the performance. The context of a performance is very different from a rehearsal, it affects our being, but, ultimately, what we perform is the process.
Inbetween the performers and the audience...
The audience is offered only a partial view of the whole, with the freedom to move around from one detail to another. We, on the other hand, are in a situation where we have to constantly relate the shape and position in space of our whole body to that of the other person. We move around in an empty space with the other person as the sole point of reference, concentrating intensely and losing ourselves in the dance, almost completely forgetting about the audience. Within the restricted viewing of the piece the audience makes his own choreography by moving from one part of the body to the other, choosing what movements to follow. So we have almost no control over what the audience sees and perceives of the dance. By using this particular device the audience doesn't feel left out, unlike with an ordinary performance situation, but are given the opportunity to lose themselves in their own visual dance.
Inbetween paradoxes
The fourth wall becomes a literal fact but at the same time it is eliminated, as there is no front. The audience is separated more from the performers but, at the same time, they are brought closer to them by the viewers they use. It is as if they are sucked into our world. The audience's view is very restricted but, on the other hand, by moving around they can create their own choreography...
