How can we know the dancer from the dance?
is a performance which took place at the Central railway station of
Utrecht. A half year long four performers were present daily among the
crowds of people thronging through the station. These performers did
nothing to stand out in the crowd, in fact they behaved exactly like
everyone else: taking a sip from a paper coffee cup, checking the news
on their phone, or just ambling around aimlessly, waiting for a friend
to show up. Only they did so all four at the same time, in perfect
synchronicity.
This synchronous choreography of
everyday movements is based on a large video archive of behaviour at
that same station. The scènes selected from this extensive study of body
language where copied until the last detail in a month long rehearsal
process. This procedure gives the performance a documentary quality –
all scenes are based on real life events – but also a richness of
information that can only come from the density of reality. It is
grounded in the idea that that which surrounds us everyday, that which
we find boring and normally don’t notice, can actually learn us a lot
when taken a closer look at.
The performance was consciously not
publicised, it had to be individually discovered by the audience.The
spectators at the station stood still and watched because they noticed
something, not because a sign or booklet told them to do so.
People that walk through the group of
actors without having noticed the performance – some people even stand
still right in the middle of it without being aware of what’s going on –
they unconsciously become an extra actor in the performance. With a
minimum of means, a theatrical space is created where it is least
expected. How can we know the dancer from the dance? infiltrates in the
environment, subtly and subversively changing the behaviour of the
passerby.
Performers:
Aleksandra Lemm
Alondra Castellanos Arreola
Dwayne Toemere
Eva Kijlstra
Fabian Holle
IJbert Verweij
Jason Gwen
Judith Hazeleger
Khadija El Kharraz Alami
Klara Alexova
Luca Hillen
Matías Daporta
Merel Severs
Milan Boele van Hensbroek
Nina Fokker
Raoul Copier
Rochelle Deekman
Thijs Bloothoofd
Production:
Bibi Scholten van Aschat
Astrid Oudenhoven
Titus Nouwens
Artistic Team:
Carlijn Diesfeldt
Nicolette Gast
Maaike Lauwaert
Yoeri Meessen
