Commissioned by Nederlands Dans Theater 2
“My approach to movement is rooted in practical actions that most of us are familiar with, such as hitting, avoiding or throwing. I insert many distortions that motivate the dancers’ movements without being identifiable by the spectators. These diverted actions captur a poetic dimension of movement that lies beneath discourse and narration. Far from being purely formal, they aim to trigger affects and emotions in both the performers and the audience without having to be part of a narrative structure.
In About Now, I confront this vocabulary of diverted actions with the steps of classical dance, that can be seen as stylized action verbs: “frappé, fouetté, assemblé… ”. With the dancers of NDT 2, we explored actions present in this classical vocabulary, and thereby delved into the sensual, experiential and affective dimension of this movement language, rather than into its formal geometric structure.
Ballet is disciplinary, and imposes a formal framework on the body that disregards its natural tendencies and conveys stereotyped gendered norms. The problematic nature of this heritage appears more and more clearly. It is, however, illusory to think that we could completely separate ourselves from this legacy. Instead of denying it, About Now aims to rework its principle guidelines to create a new classic movement language that draws on the richness of this tradition. This way, About Now generates a different relationship to the body, one that is affective and sensual, and that reconfigures the dynamics of power embedded in classical dance.” Noé Soulier
Credits
Conception, choreography: Noé Soulier Performance: Barry Gans, Demi Bawon, Casper Mott, Gabriele Rolle, Rui-Ting Yu, Nick Daniels, Omani Ormskirk
Music: Johan Sebastian Bach by Pierre-Laurent Aimard: The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080 Light: Victor Burel Costumes: Nix Lecourt Mansion Rehearsal Director: Ander Zabala
World premiere: March 16, 2023 The Hague
Touring
2023 March 16-18 Nederlands Dans Theater, Amare – Den Haag (NL) March 22: Parktheater Eindhoven - Eindhoven (NL) March 25: Stadschouwburg Nijmegen en Concertgebouw De Vereeniging - Nijmegen (NL) March 28: Wilminktheater - Enschede (NL) April 6-7: Nederlands Dans Theater, Amare – Den Haag (NL)
Teaser
Théâtre de la Ville - Les Abbesses – Paris (FR)
Festival Crossing The Line, Alliance New York, Skyroom - New York (US)
Festival d’Automne à Paris, Ménagerie de Verre, avec le Centre Pompidou hors les murs – Paris
XENOS Festival, Museo Santa Maria della Scala – Sienne (IT)
Taipei Performing Arts Center – Taipei (TW)
Maison de la danse – Lyon (FR)
Théâtre de Nîmes – Nîmes (FR)
Théâtre du Beauvais – Beauvais (FR)
Théâtre de l’Archipel – Perpignan (FR)
Équinoxe – Châteauroux (FR)
Festival Conversations, Cndc – Angers (FR)
Le Grand R – La Roche-sur-Yon (FR)
Les Quinconces – Le Mans (FR)