The international BODY WORD festival The international BODY WORD festival
unusual forms of dance, related to the literature
festival 2009    about festival    workshops 2008    program 2008    ðóññêèé
 

participants of the BODY WORD festival 12-17 May 2009

  • Andreas Karperyd (SE) and Staffan Eek (SE) “Typography Now” Andreas Karperyd has since 1987 worked with graphic form. He is one of the founders and the designer of MERGE magazine, he also produces music. Staffan Eek is choreographer and dancer and has worked with several choreographers from Sweden and abroad. Recently together with Christina Caprioli, internationally with Christel Johannessen/zero visibility, Christine de Smedt and Les Ballets C. de la B. among others. As a choreographer, he has created a number of works that have been presented both in Sweden and internationally. During the spring and autumn 2008 have Andreas Karperyd and Staffan Eek had residency at Weld. Together they have done a research in how typographical expressions and work methods could be used in movement, and how movement can create typography. The result is shown in the project “Typography now” during Shoes off. Parallel with the work at Welds studio Karperyd has made notes about the project at www.karperyd.com/blog/

  • Bob Eisen is a dancer, choreographer and improvisor who has been active dancing, creating work, teaching, studying and traveling for over 30 years. He spent many years in Chicago where he was a founder and co-manager of Links Hall Studio, a center for creating and presenting alternative performing arts. Presently hecalls New York City home, although at this moment he is living in Russia. In 2004-2005 he spent a year dancing and traveling around the world. He has written a book about this year-long adventure and has had it translated into Russian.
    “I would like, if possible, to do two performances at your festival, on different days if possible. The first is a dance to some Bach music (Goldberg Variations). It will be about 12, 13 minutes long (it is not done yet). I will title it "B & B #1". The second piece is not dancing at all and is only about four minutes long. It uses a Bob Dylan song and signs written in Russian. I will title it "B & B #2”. The only music used in "B & B #1", a new dance choreographed and performed by Bob Eisen, is the third movement of J. S. Bach's Goldberg Variations as recorded by Glenn Gould. This short (30 seconds) movement is repeated over and over (and over) again, and the structure of the dance grows out of the effect of this repetition, as well as the playfulness and driving quality of the music. The repetition, the music itself, and the dancing, is relentless; but just for 12 minutes. Then it stops. "B & B #2" is more a performance piece. Its impulse is the Bob Dylan song "Love Sick." The lyrics to the song have been translated into Russian and as the audience hears the song in English, they will see the lyrics written in Russian on large pieces of paper. It is very simple and straight forward. Of interest is the juxtaposition of Dylan's masterful use of the English language in rhyming and phrasing with the, by necessity, more literal Russian translation.

  • Friedmar Voigt is a graduate of the German University of Sports in Cologne and finished a doctoral degree of sports sociology. After a sportive and playful time of competition he discovered 1990 dancing-theatre and contact-improvisation for himself. Nancy, Ray, Dieter, Frey and Scott are as some of the important teachers to designate. Based on the variety of movements in contact-improvisation Friedmar integrated since 1995 acrobatics, bodywork (BMC/Shiatsu), psychomotoric groups, Argentine Tango and improvised performance in his work. He taught till today in Argentina, Brazil, Estonia, Germany, Mexico, and Spain.
    Tango feeling for contact dancers Argentine tango is a dance of 2 Dancers usually well connected with her chest and the 4 legs handle it! One might have closed eyes and follow with great confidence and fun. First we will feel and discover what qualities we need to capture the Argentine tango dance style. What does it mean to be responsible for the shared steps or for someone who has eyes closed. Both sides should be discovered by all participants. Depending on the level that we can realize, we will develop some improvisation and integration of shoulder-lifts or small sliding. If we should have reached this point, I am open to add music and rhythm of tango - but it is not the main objective.

  • Another Shade of Thinking is a creative effort by dancer/accordion player Jens Biedermann, dancer/choreographer Giorgio Convertito and sound artist Marko Timlin. The three men have developed a personal communication and awareness of each other performative languages, which they add to their knowledge of composition to produce a unique piece. Their powerful combination of dance, music and voice will engage, charm, entertain and surprise.
    Jens Biedermann is a dedicated mover. As a freelance dancer he has worked with the Hans Hof Ensemble, Andre Gingras and other Netherland-based companies, Nigel Charnock and Joachim Schlomer. His background in sports, especially winter sports, accounts for an acrobatic element in his work as dancer. In addition, he is also a musician. Giorgio Convertito, born in Italy in 1966. He holds a BA in dance and lots of dreams. He’s worked as a dancer and a choreographer since 1993 with a gap at some point. He lives in Helsinki since summer 2001 and works around Europe. Improvisation/Instant Composition is the main interest and influence in his work. He is currently obsessing with the question: why do we make dances? Marko Timlin (b. 1973, Karlsruhe, Germany) is a sound artist, composer, and musician. During his concerts he improvises with self-made sound devices using amongst other things solar panels, torches, ultra sonic sensors, neon bulbs and coffee grinders. He also collaborates with various visual artists to create audio-visual artworks. Marko Timlin is currently studying at the Centre for Music & Technology within the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki.

  • Heide Moldenhauer born short before the war, studied architecture and sociology, since about 20 years ( when I was about 50 ) she entered the world of Dance/ Theater/ Improvisation. Her first evening long piece she showed when she became 60. Aside the set Solos, she showed even more Solo and Group-Improvisations in Berlin, Dresden, Hildesheim, Tuscania, St. Petersburg and elsewhere. She is, after others, organizer of Improperformance platform "Freistil" and"incontro danza Roccatederighi". The Solo "a l l e i n" is inspired asides other by a text of Marguerite Duras, saying, that wanting to be like the others,doing sunbathes, she was late and it was not working. Time passes by in all her life, she is late, but she wrote a book about the more/ sea. (the text is spoken in italian in the beginning) The piece is about small moments in the life of an old woman,fallen out of time, who carries all her things with her…

  • Monika Koch Studied expressive dance and theatre in Germany, then at the Laban Centre London.Trained and performed with the Expressionist dancer Hilde Holger in London for five years. Other performance experience include Bilder and Tanztheater Bremen Germany, Kiss Theatre Holland, Amici DanceTheatre and Duden Dance Theatre London. In the early nineties went to Moscow to train at Anatole Wassiliev's international directing class. In 1996 started her own Tanztheatre Ensemble. Performed and taught at various international festivals in England and Europe. Since 1998 taught Tanztheater Theater, dramaturgy and expressive dance at Coventry University, at the Laban Centre London and regular master classes at international festivals.
    Workshop Tanztheater and its Legacy
    This masterclass investigating the work of the German "Ausdruckstanz" (expressive dance = theatrical movement not based on classical technique) and its impact on choreographic and devising procecesses of Contemporary Tanztheater. We will explore Laban s concept of movement and study the work of the expressionist dancer Hilde Holger, originally from Vienna, contemporary of Wigman, student of Laban who developed her own distinctive pedagogy and choreographic form. The morning sessions will focus on tuning the body as an expressive instrument through exploring the interrelation between purpose/ motive and quality of the movement. "Man moves in order to satisfy a need" (Laban) The afternoons will be spent on choreographic research based on practices of German Tanztheater focusing on how to generate ensemble qualities, how to incorporate dramaturgic elements into choreography, how to transform texts, poetry into movement. Tasks will be given always linked by a theme , to encourage the performer to create abstract forms. Guided improvisation will play an important part in this work, helping the performer to create an inner landscape for his score/theme. The workshop will lead to an informal presentation/lecture demonstration at the end of the week.

  • Mabel or The Queen of Bones
    Choreography and dance Liisa Pentti
    Artistic advisors Frans Poelstra, Robert Steijn
    Musician Aleksi Haapaniemi
    Lighting design Mia Kivinen
    Sound design Patrick Kosk
    Costume design Terttu Torkkola
    Make-up Tuija Luukkainen
    Production Liisa Pentti + Co/Paula Karlsson, Zodiak – Center for New Dance
    Premiere 18.10.2008 Helsinki
    With this solo, Liisa Pentti investigates the diva phenomenon through dance and plays with the possibilities it creates. Diva is the shaman of urban life, and the channel for self-reflection for the community and audience. This solo is also a tribute to femininity and female performers, whose charisma and sensuality bring the stage to life. Mabel or the Queen of Bones is a dance about a woman who knows no regret or remorse. The stage figure is an inventor,a diva, a shaman and perhaps occasionally a prostitute, a dark mixture of different architypes. For these types, the stage and performing is essential in life, although they also create natural drama outside the stage as well. Drama that the audience loves even more than their stage performance perhaps. Mabel is not sorry about being a woman, she celebrates her femininity. To her, sacrifice is no virtue. The working process of Mabel began in spring 2008 in Vienna and Amsterdam, where parts of the piece were performed at The Diva Body -event at Melkweg. In September 2008 Mabel was seen in a work-in-progress performance in Vienna. Premiere was in Zodiak in October 2008.

  • Nalkateatteri (Helsinki, Finland) The most extreme experiment of In Alternate Spaces -group thus far, Odradek Variations, makes its comeback to Kiasma Theatre. Based on the short story by Franz Kafka, the performance hides itself in a variety of ways: in the building and the streets, in the body, in history, alone and together. Hiding can be a method of survival, a game, a political act, rest, pleasure, or a secret passageway to the unknown. The performance investigates our longing for home. We all wish to find a space, a state of being, where we would be accepted as we are and learn to accept ourselves. Yet when we encounter a creature that is truly at home here, do we remain as self-assured? With this project, In Alternate Spaces heads towards the unknown in us. It has been named Odradek after the famous Kafka short story. Odradek is the creature that inhabits the home. It lives in our bodies and perhaps defines the way we feel about being at home in our bodies. One could perhaps interpret is also as the spirit of a place. Kafka and his interpreter Walter Benjamin have seen the phenomenon in clearly historical terms: Odradek is the form things take in oblivion. In Alternate Spaces is an experimental theatre laboratory established in 2004. The group is very large, and characterised by the diversity of the members' backgrounds and skills, ever-changing performance spaces, minimal production and technical solutions and extraordinary performance situations. The core of the group's activities comprises exercises involving language and the body, based on strong imagery and thought. Come and disappear!

  • Kerstin Lofvander (Copenhagen, Denmark) Been doing contactimprovisation and dance since 89. 1998 - 2003 - O.D.C. Performance School, San Francisco. Done small performances and teaching. Worked as a massage therapist since 1993. Currently teaching contactimprovisation, acroyoga and swing dance in Copenhagen. The performance they will bring to the Body Word festival together with Malou Lindholm is titled “Passion of the dance”.