1, 2, 3...
On the first day of Festival's performances, which continued to be friendly and intimate, we had the chance to see three shows: (interestingly one solo, one duo and one trio: 1, 2, 3!). The first one was a piece by Christian Stuebner and Alex Wenzlik - Delta 40. Christian Stuebner, who since 1990 has been participating in Butoh workshops, especially with Mitsutaka Ishii and Stefan Maria Marb; as well as taken part in theatre projects, has placed his image on stage as a silver spectrum, one side of the ying and yang, also a paradox and contrast to his stage partner, Alex Wenzlik. Alex, from Nuremberg, studied dance and dance-therapy in Munich and Freiburg, and during eight years has been focusing his investigations on Butoh, performing as a soloist and in groups. The night of October 29th is their premiere and opened the festival in Freiburg. Alex, in contrast to Christian, was evocking a bronze figure who was existing in total connection and dependence with the other performer. Their piece was above all imagetic to me - the effects of the shinning silver and bronze on their skin brought me the disparities, the paradoxes, the contrasts of life, and reminded me that they are ONE, they are part of one bigger project which humans are the greatest participants. Balance vs. Unbalance, Ying vs. Yang, Youth and Maturity, different corporealities and qualities of movement - at the end of the performance, all became one. The bodies needed each other, like the real seeks its image into a mirror and longs for answers for its own existence. They mix, they collapse, they touch and mark each other. In a while, silver became bronze and bronze became silver - the complexity was actually simple, the Ying and the Yang were finally facing their fate, and going towards a new cycle. Non-pretentious, beautiful, simple, imagetic and powerful. Totally worth to be seen and to grow in size and energy.
The second one was a piece by Flavia Ghisalberti, Ezio Tangini (performers) and Frank Heierli (musician). Three very strong pictures were seen on stage, sharing distinct sentiments - the two first performing and the third playing the cello, which became (for my perspective) an interesting physicality sharing the stage with the two others. Down-a is the tittle of it and a refrain composed by an italian madrigalist. The performers share that their piece is about the guilt of the human soul: ¨each character is, in his own way, a distinct one soul entrapped in a guilty net¨. So... Two different solos were suggested for the audience, but it is known that Butoh as well as most of the contemporary art forms offers more than its intentions and give the audience the possibility of connections and intercessions of images, sensations and memory. In other words, the two solos + the music performance became one tension under the perception of the audience. It is out-of-control not to see it as one complexity and create links in along this net. Strong, tense and chaotic. The music and live sound design gave the liveness we usually miss watching scenic events.
Grigory Glazunov performed the last piece of the night, called ¨a shadow¨. I met Grigory two weeks ago in Helsinki where he was collaborating with Finnish dancers and performed in a site-specific project: they danced in a construction site, under the snowy weather of a Finnish autumn. Seeing Grigory this time made me realize the vitality, transparency and plurality of his work. His solo, on the first day of the event in Freiburg, ended the sequences of performances in a brilliant way: manipulating a broken umbrella, he owned the stage and silence and movements with perfect flowing transitions from one actions to the other. It was the poetic part of the night. Poetry + technique + humbleness is a combination that never fails, even when it seems to. Sensitive.
In one night, few words: paradoxical unity, nonverbal tensions and improvising poetry.
