Dance, Dance and !mehrtanz……The Lofft’s Tanzoffensive=Great Stuff!
annette lopez neal, photo: maeshelle west-davies
I remember talking to a former ballerina and dance teacher after a performance of a modern dance piece. Her criticism? Improper technique. For some contemorary dance that’s a hard one because many times you are trying not to look as though you are performing, but rather being and doing. That doesn’t mean you don’t need help in learning about your body and where the energy comes from. Yesterday I got to watch a workshop where Annette Lopez Neal worked with dancers to improve their technique by understanding the moments and the sensations that should go with them. She’s here all week as part of the workshop series from !mehrtanz and connected to the Lofft’s Tanzoffensive.
annette lopez neal, photo: maeshelle west-davies
a bargain at 7€
Jelena Kostić's March, photo: rob hogeslag
TONIGHT’ TANZOFFENSIVE brings us the German premiere of March from serbian born Jelena Kostić. She is the artistic director and choreographer at Kostić, Foundation for Contemporary Art situated in Tilburg, Holland.
“With themes like collective political protest, being an alien in unfamiliar surroundings and gender/sex, Jelena Kostić creates art that means to make her international audience reconsider life itself. Her choreographies do not as much focus on dance aesthetics, the perfect physique or sublime technical skills. The performers are rather like cinematic characters, adapting to their role similar to actors. They limp, move about clumsily and are far from perfect. Their dance is sometimes brutal and confronting, then light and hilarious.
Cooperating with a small group of dancers, film makers and other creative professionals, Jelena Kostić keeps working meticulously on her own dance vocabulary, which blends surprisingly easy with the theatrical components and the social subjects that are so typical for her work.
As a director Kostić aims for a complete theatrical experience that dissolves the borders between drama, choreography, vocals and music. The contrast of sobriety and laughter is an important aspect of the performances: irony and other humoristic techniques are used as a balance for personal and social engagement as well as philosophical and moral values.
Jelena Kostić’s March, photo: rob hogeslag
A significant issue for Jelena Kostić is to explore new narrative directions within the realm of dance. The first performances already showed a particular use of anecdotic theatrical elements but since then she has been searching the limits to stretch the concept of storytelling. This results in a less literal approach: it has become a technique that she can fade in and out to suggest the presence of a story, rather than to give it away. This surreal effect is enhanced by involving other disciplines like film, visual arts and originally composed music as a major influence; all with the intention to move the spectator between a sense of comfortable reality and the alienation of abstraction.”
This is definately a must see. But if you can’t come tonight, you’re in luck because it will be performed again on Thur.
shows start at 8.00
16€/10€
The Lofft’s Tanz Offensive has People Flocking to Leipzig
The Lofft is arguably the best place in town for cutting edge dance. Today marks the beginning of their contemporary dance festival, Tanz offensive.
Tanz Offensive 5-12 May, photo: Maeshelle West-Davies
The festival will consist of 5 German and International productions along with films at Augustus Platz, workshops, talks and even a festival lounge (with a BBQ). Wow!
up:
daily workshops with Annette Lopez Leal
Leipzig Stadtbad: next in Leipzig Ballet’s Dancing in the City’s Buildings series
With the success of Mario Schröder at the Leipzig Ballet some might be fooled into thinking he is resting on his laurels. This isn’t the case at all. He continues to create new and challenging works. Combining this with his goal to reach the people of Leipzig he has a unique series this season called “Tanz in den Häusern der Stadt” where he is creating site-specific work in private rooms, museums and shops.
It is unusual to dance or view dance in these places. Part of the experience is the context. How do we see dance when it is outside the Oper? Does it make it more personal? Does it make it less artistically valuable? How does it change the dialogue between the choreographer and the viewer? How does it affect our role in the work?
At first thought architecture is static, but when we have a closer look we see it as almost malleable. It is constantly changing: Factors like the people inside or outside and their activities make a big difference as do sound and heat. We also see the building in different ways depending on our relationship to it. What happens in our mind when we touch it? What happens when we take the time to look at the details?
The focus of these pieces is three fold: examining the architecture itself, connecting with the audience and collaborating with people in the community.
This series has already been in Fitness First and Lehman’s book store. This Sat’s experience, entitled Obstacles, will be at the Badehaus Klinikum St. Georg at 8.00. Mario sees the bath house a traditional village, “which offers a place for recreation and meeting with visitors outside the hospital rooms….and it is an area of obstacles for the dancers.” This new way of looking at the familiar coincides with the 800 year anniversary of the hospital and shows there’s life in the old girl yet. The bath house itself was built in 1913 by Otto Wilhelm Scharenberg (1851-1920) who was a master of combining beauty and functionality. For years the building housed the Leipzig Institute of Radiology. In 2005 it was returned to its original use and currently is the home to the Physical Medicine Clinic. The central hall is its showpiece and feels like you are stepping back in time. This is where “Obstacles” will be investigated.