EXTRA EUROPA Dance and Theater Productions
Press Release
Wednesday 22 April 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009, 8 PM
Sunday, April 26, 2009, 8 PM
Hafenhalle09, Industriezeile 41a, 4020 Linz
Audience Q&A moderated by Susi Puchberger and Martin Heller immediately following the performance
La première fois (The first time) experiments with a naturalistic form of acting, one that approximates a happening. Switzerland’s Théâtre en flammes delivers a highly personal and spontaneous approach to performance in its contribution to the EXTRA EUROAPA cultural festival on April 25 & 26, 2009 in Hafenhalle09.
La première Fois deals with moments in everyday existence, with those simple, moving, egocentric “first times” in our lives. It challenges the cast members’ interpretational capabilities, each ones individuality and personality. In the two performances, the actors and actresses take the stage in a spontaneously orchestrated configuration. Nothing has been pre-set. They relate stories that might be true-to-life tales or utter fabrications; what they have in common is that each account begins with the words “The first time ... .” The cast members come from Austria and Switzerland; accordingly, what sometimes spontaneously emerges is a French or English narration. A multilingual chorus in which the words become superimposed and the voices blend together thus gradually takes shape.
By no means are the stories part of a summation process that adds up to some extraordinary culmination. Instead, they tell of the small experiences that make up a human life and address, over the course of the performance, a wide array of conceptions, impressions and emotions.
Taldans Company: Dokuman
Wednesday, April 29, 2009, 8 PM
Thursday, April 30, 2009, 8 PM
Hafenhalle09, Industriezeile 41a, 4020 Linz
Audience Q&A moderated by Airan Berg immediately following the performance
Following the successful staging of PARALLEL by Övül and Mustafa Avkiran in conjunction with EXTRA EUROPA, the cast was invited to Istanbul, where on April 25 & 26, 2009, they’ll reprise the work they developed in Linz. Now comes the next Turkish production that’s being staged pursuant to an initiative launched by Linz09: a spectacle by the TALDANS COMPANY dance troupe on April 29 & 30. Partners include the renowned Festival Montpellier Danse 2009 and 0090 Kunsten Festival Antwerpen 2009.
The point of departure of Taldans’ latest project is a series of questions having to do with artistic and material quality. These issues arose in the aftermath of several visits to a Linz textile mill, where structure, function, management and production each consists of interrelated modules. A consideration of whether such a modular structure could be applied to the human body, to music, space and dramaturgy was the subject of a collaborative research process. What determines the quality of artistic and material production? Can a system that doesn’t function endure? And, for that matter, what is function? Can one conceive of choreography as a system of functions?
Taldans and the artists involved in this project let their own trains of thought and sequences of actions flow into the intertwined conceptual strands dovetailing in consideration of the connection between material and artistic production. The members of this coalition are also focusing on their respective specific forms of work and the multifarious relationships between production, process and product.
Concept / Directors // Mustafa Kaplan, Filiz Sizanli
Interpretation & artistic collaborators // Loup Abramovici, Cevdet Erek, Kerem Gelebek, Mustafa Kaplan, Filiz Sizanli, Erki de Vries
Partners // 0090 Kunsten Festival Antwerpen, Montpellier Danse 2009, De Singel, Internationale Kunstcampus, Productiehuis Rotterdam
