I don't remember what time it was
This duet between Malgven Gerbes and David Brandstätter was the first collaboration between the two choreographers and the visual artist Julien Crépieux. The two performers show a meeting between two bodies, how it could have taken place at a time before vocal and written language. Simultaneously, in collaboration with Crépieux, they create a stage setting in which the passing of time is approached with a neutral measure. The piece is continuously evolving every time it is re-performed, although its essential choreographic elements remain consistent throughout these changes. The strength of this work lies in its subtle quality of attention and in the transparency the two performers create. Their suggestive approach to an ambiguity in perceptions of time gives space for reflection to the spectator. Reading the precisely composed lines in this work the spectator’s imagination becomes an intimate mirror of the moment.
Credits:
dance, concept, choreography: Malgven Gerbes, David Brandstätter
video installation: Julien Crepieux
soundscape: David Brandstätter (original live sound: Wilco Boutermans)
co-production: Generaleoost, Arnhem; productiehuis Oost-Nederlands, Deventer NL
residence: inteatro festival, Polverigi; theater aan de Rijn , Arnhem, NL
working period: december 2005, january 2006
performed in: Theater aan de Rijn- Arnhem, Melkweg- Amsterdam - NL, Tanzhaus nrw Dusseldorf, Ikonoclaste Festival Wuppertal, Marameo Berlin, KNUA Seoul, Session House Tokyo, Fabrik Potsdam.
residence: inteatro festival, Polverigi; theater aan de Rijn , Arnhem, NL
working period: december 2005, january 2006
performed in: Theater aan de Rijn- Arnhem, Melkweg- Amsterdam - NL, Tanzhaus nrw Dusseldorf, Ikonoclaste Festival Wuppertal, Marameo Berlin, KNUA Seoul, Session House Tokyo, Fabrik Potsdam.
“I have had the pleasure of seeing in Essen last week Malgven Gerbes and David Brandstaetter's piece "I don't remember what time it was". Their presentation was very well received, with unending applause.
The clarity of the compositional lines running through their work, made them appear entirely human and real, as they performed phenomenal lifts and energy changes, while bridging between theatrical gestures and anatomical simplicity.
The complexity of their message which was physical, and intellectual as well, produced amazement, laughter, kinetic surprises, and culminated in spontaneous magnetism.
The integration of the video, which remained mysterious until near the end, provided a challenging intellectual counterpart for some time, and then resolved to become a simple narrative line of a single man walking over a hill. As this little, somewhat teasing effect developed into a simple and logical progression, the audience became absorbed into the understanding that the envelop form of the man walking surrounds the encounter of the two performers and provides not a logical explaination, but an independent essence, a luscious dialog.
In short, the work of these two artists is absorbing, challenging, entertaining and vivid.”
The clarity of the compositional lines running through their work, made them appear entirely human and real, as they performed phenomenal lifts and energy changes, while bridging between theatrical gestures and anatomical simplicity.
The complexity of their message which was physical, and intellectual as well, produced amazement, laughter, kinetic surprises, and culminated in spontaneous magnetism.
The integration of the video, which remained mysterious until near the end, provided a challenging intellectual counterpart for some time, and then resolved to become a simple narrative line of a single man walking over a hill. As this little, somewhat teasing effect developed into a simple and logical progression, the audience became absorbed into the understanding that the envelop form of the man walking surrounds the encounter of the two performers and provides not a logical explaination, but an independent essence, a luscious dialog.
In short, the work of these two artists is absorbing, challenging, entertaining and vivid.”
Mary O Donnell Fulkerson (NL / USA)