1500 Ft
Le Jardin, their next creation, comprises a film followed by a dance performance. Together with Rika Esser (62 cm tall and spokeswoman for Little People of Germany), mezzo-soprano Eurudike de Beul (also appeared in La Tristeza Complice) and her two-year-old son Melchior, film sequences were shot in the sensual Brussels nightclub 'Le numéro Uno'. The main character is Rika (who is no bigger than a child of 1 or 2 years old). What do we consider as 'normal' in our present day and age?
In the film, representing a dream or a nightmare, a world without barriers is created. The dream changes their character and situation, in a relationship of thesis and antithesis. This is used in the film, with the necessary humour. Part two, the dance performance, deals with the naked reality of a couple and their family. This part is very rigid and takes place in a completely private garden (‘Le Jardin’) enclosed by 4 hedges.
Le Jardin - The Film
The final edit of a dance film is only one ending in a range of infinite possibilities. The sequence of the material is essentially down to artistic decisions made at a particular point of time in the edit, usually by the editor and director of the work. Hyperchoreography offers an alternative approach; it is a non-linear dance performance 'space', existing in an interactive, networked medium. The elements are put in place by the creators, but the shape of the work is decided by the user at the moment of interaction. “We wanted to create a very special ambiance: a small unconventional cabaret with a private peepshow, its background and the relations between the customers. The film represents one night of this microcosm: life as it is, but it’s a hidden life that goes on at the same time as the outer life. We were greatly inspired by the nightclub itself. It is inseparably bound up with the film. Customers who tell a story, and may or may not show an emotion. These different personalities with their own natural and original way of behaving made us think about our own professional life as dancers. We discovered a new kind of dance, which as ‘professional dancers’ we cannot master anymore. Certain coincidences resulted in original angles of view. For example: A scene with a stylish older man dancing with his two wives. We were especially interested in the stories of the ‘club-people’.”
Le Jardin - The dance-performance
A complete new reality begins... Some characters from the dream turn up again, but in a different context and another surrounding. Separated from their neighbours by four hedges, in their own little closed world. They really are in a totally different universe: hermetical, withdrawn into themselves. Gabriela, Franck and Simon are the principal characters.
The movements are based on the characters. Organically but also extreme, in a rhythmic crescendo. Through rapidity and fatigue the true faces of the characters will be seen, like a very tight string of a harp that breaks, they will continue as if nothing happened.
Between these frolics a weird inner void is experienced, the void of a man looking back at his life, alife that is past. A moving monologue performed by a pitiful old man who has lost everything and calls helplessly for attention. “We try as much as possible to integrate the dance into the strength of the character. In this way we can create a better contrast and give a deeper sense of reality to the movements. We start from a certain situation and develop possible gestures and movements. In this way we can make the character pure and invent an original choreography so that the character and his act will be strengthened. Thanks to the non-linear structure we allow for a multitude of directions and contradictions, which makes the whole piece rich, real and unpredictable. We find this changing point of view very exciting”.
The music Live music is an important element in the film. Gianfranco Celestino arranged the songs for voice, harp, double bass, guitar and oboe.
