BLAST

from People United Mag 01 2021

NILYNDA

BLAST is the latest choreographic production by VEDANZA Luxembourg created and performed by Emanuela Iacopini (IT/LU) in collaboration with Frey Faust (US/DE), Yuko Kominami (LU/JP/PT), and Saju Hari (UK/IN) to an original soundtrack by Rajivan Ayyappan (IN/LU). In a digital set design created by Laura Mannelli (LU), the piece explores sound projections and the impact of explosions on the response mechanisms of the human body.

BLAST reflects on destruction and creation, transition and transformation, the end and beginning, searching into the light and darkness of explosions. A live performance where Butoh,

Contact Improvisation, Axis Syllabus, Kalaripayattu, Meditation and Contemporary Dance enhance the creative process of the dancers.

Emanuela Iacopini

VEDANZA

Choreographer Emanuela Iacopini from VEDANZA in Luxembourg talks about her creative process and presents BLAST, her latest creation.

Where do you come from?

Mostly from Italy, ancestors from Greece, Turkey, India probably… I was born in Rome and grew up in Luxembourg, lived mainly in Milan, London, Brighton, Madrid, and now I am back in Luxembourg... I like travelling, and that is also part of where I be-come from. And from Venus of course!

What are your earliest memories of physical activity?

I was always very active as a child. My mother would take us to the park every day where we played, climbed trees, swam, ran, jumped around, swam in the sea... I also had the chance to practise different sports: athletics, gymnastics, skating, skiing, volleyball, tennis, and various dance forms. That gave me an interesting overview or over-feeling, I should say, of different coordinations needed to serve a specific gesture or aim. I remember trying to catch the sound-rhythm of a particular coordination and try to sing that song in my mind.

What is your relationship with the body?

The most tangible part of a human being, I discover it every day. An amazingly refined web of receptors that read, process, and respond to material and immaterial signals, internal or external. The body is intelligent, and I see no distinction between mind and body while alive. They are so intertwined that it is difficult to distinguish between them. We can, for example, clearly see the effect of mood on posture or the impact of health on the mood. Placebo happens through the power of the mind and has proven to cure physical disease. At the same time, through movement and touch, we can liberate imprinted emotions or trauma and help improve mental states.

What did you go on studying?

I was always interested in science. I studied chemistry, first in Milan and later graduated from the Queen Mary University of London. Parallelly, I studied dance at the Scuola Professionale Italiana di Danza while in Milan. But when I suffered severe overuse injuries, which were already alarming signs of an unbalanced practice, I decided to move in with some friends in London, where I tailored my further studies to address my needs. Finally, I obtained my master’s degree in dance science from Trinity Laban, combining my two interests, dance and science. Since then, somatic education techniques, movement science research, and contemporary dance forms have shaped my practice. I only started really integrating this learning when I began performing professionally. For me, that came late compared to most dancers: I was already about 25. I also trained and practised as a yoga teacher, Reiki and a bodywork practitioner. I am currently studying the Axis Syllabus, an open-source reference system for biomechanics and physics as they apply to human movement.

What is your relationship with death?

Instinctively, I feel that there’s a soul or spirit in each body. This is what makes life possible—call it Chi, life force, Prana, or however we want to call it—it is life energy. This life force is more clearly tangible when we are in contact with nature or are in love, for example. I see the death of the body as a rerouting of this energy. After all, energy cannot be created or destroyed. When seeing a corpse, one immediately feels that there is no more soul, that this person is no more there. Where did it go? I see death as a transition. If I had to categorise my belief system, I would describe myself as an agnostic who likes the Buddhist vision. I see a continuous merging of things into each other: life, matter, waves, and particles. The moment of death is another merging event. The material body is merged through the ammonia cycle into the soil. The immaterial body flees its house in the form of waves—finding, if given the opportunity, new openings to re-materialise.

What do you look for in your creations?

I like to work with movement art and science organically. I develop dance through science-oriented movement research, and my pieces often result in choreographies where analytical thinking challenges formal and informal movement choices. I don’t decide in advance what end product I look for—I am more concerned with how I look for it. My interest has leant towards sustainability in dance using approaches that respect the integrity of the body structure. As a result, for the past nine years, I have focused on connective tissues that integrate the body. I co-create, confront ideas, and explore with others—this is very inspiring, challenging and elevating for me. During my first movement research, addressing connective tissue as a possible movement generator, I enjoyed working with like-minded practitioners such as Finnish choreographer Annemari Autere, the pioneer of a

new dance pedagogy called BalletBodyLogic, and French artist Florence Augendre, who is also a senior fascia-pulsology practitioner. Continuing in this direction, I met American choreographer and pedagogue Frey Faust, who is the founder of the Axis Syllabus. I invited him to join the creation and performance of UNDO, an artistic collaboration with Hannah Ma at the Théâtre National de Luxembourg in 2017. We wanted to invite an artist working with similar concerns. Frey came to share his movement sequencing based on the elastic recoil of the myo-fascial tissue. I think we reached a very fine point in staging it as pure as it appears—blurring limits between research, training and performing. It certainly made a strong impact on the general public. After dancing this piece, I often feel like I’ve just had an osteopathic treatment, it is so regenerating for the whole body.

Here, you can see the teaser https://vimeo.com/308617542, and if you want to see more, here is an extract of the piece called “Form of a motion/Two to one” https://vimeo.com/530536484 recorded in 2020. To put this in perspective for viewers, it is a work based solely on a readiness to follow and facilitate reactions and responses to off-balance movement and myo-fascial elasticity. It was presented live in Italy, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, Germany, and Greece, virtually in Cuba and will soon be presented in Spain and the Netherlands.

I am brought to work in this direction, the priority being the dancer’s body. Dance science was developed to provide relief from the financial disease that struck big companies in the late nineties—when more than half of their casts were injured and needed to be replaced. Still today, many large touring companies have a high turnover of dancers. I see that either the choreography or the training is not sustainable for the body. Techniques and choreographies are designs. I find it truly more eloquent when the design follows the inner curves of each dancer—I mean the concavities and convexities of their irregular joint surfaces. When a body is integrated, the Chi also flows better and irradiates in space. What intrigues me is the process of letting movement manifest. This is where I think the numerous improvisation techniques that we know today can be wonderful tools—not only for holistic functional training but also as creation tools and as performative forms. They allow the performer to find more freedom in movement, to have more options.

In the end, it is a matter of taste, yes, but also of culture. I see that more curators are starting to think along these lines. It is lovely, for me, this is advanced contemporary thinking in dance practices, and I wish more work with similar concerns could be seen more often to inform new audiences and irradiate into educational settings for the sustainability of dance as a discipline. After all, people make cultures, and this is my way of contributing to its development. My students seem to increasingly appreciate this kind of approach to training and making dances because they can teston their skin and recognise the choice of options it gives them.

BLAST is your latest creation; how was it born and what is it about?

A first residency in Portugal hosted by the DevirCapa Centro deArtes Performativas do Algarve enabled the cast to start materialisingideas from the initial brainstorming sessions aroundBLAST—a project that had been thought about two years beforethe first studio rehearsal. Indian sound artist Rajivan Ayyappanconceived and composed a generous set of modular tracks forus. I began by exploring movement with Butoh dance artists YukoKominami, contemporary and martial arts choreographer SajuHari to lay the foundation for the piece. After the first legendarylockdown of March 2020, we had to work remotely to continue developingmovement and sound material in our own living rooms.Frey Faust joined us and is also co-creator of BLAST as well asbeing one of the performers. The second phase of rehearsals tookplace at his Italian residence, La Radice dei Viandanti, near Ostuni.It has been an absolute pleasure to feel and see the piecegrow in a beautiful and natural context with such talented collaborators.

BLAST is a piece about explosions. We thought: Why do explosionshave so much space both in our everyday lives and in ournatural surroundings? And what is the response mechanism ofthe human body? The piece embraces the fact that explosions arepart of all life cycles and that we can accommodate them as partof the whole, finding positive or negative connotations in them. Itis a piece about destruction and creation, transition and transformation,about the light and darkness of explosions.Rajivan Ayyappan developed the magnificent musical structure:an observational response to what is heard before and after anexplosion. This great soundscape avoided any to-be-expected,very loud blasting sounds, playing instead with subtleties of electro-acousticsparkling sounds such as frying mustard seeds orfireworks. The choreography came together as an inspiring flow, agraceful continuum holding us performers in a shared space evenduring the intense moments of solo performance where I wishedfor the strength of each dancer to become even more evident. Iloved so much sharing the creation time with them. They are alsomy dear friends.

Do you often work with international artists? How important is it for you to collaborate with people from diverse cultures?

Yes, VEDANZA often collaborates with international artists, inBLAST for example we are: Indian, British-Indian, American, Italian,Japanese-Luxembourgish, Luxembourgish and Canadian.I enjoy working with people, no matter where they are from, aslong as they are open-minded, open-hearted, and skilled. I find it

artistically very enriching to collaborate with people from diverse cultures as they may bring along unique skills and perspectives. I have lived and travelled extensively in Europe, the UK, and India, have worked in and been several times to the U.S., South-America, and South-Africa amongst many other places. I think getting in touch with different cultures makes us open up, recognise and absorb different visions of life. It gives us a chance to expand our awareness from seeing, hearing, or sensing something unusual or doing something in another way. It is definitely a path to growth.

What is coming next?

A 30-minute extract of the piece was presented in the form of a duet in the avant-premiere in Ankara at the SOLO Contemporary Dance Festival in September 2020, amongst the strictest regulations in place in Turkey. Here, you can see a teaser created of that occasion: https://vimeo.com/470394021. After the last phase of rehearsals at VEDANZA STUDIOS in Luxembourg in November 2020, the piece premiered at Opderschmelz in Dudelange and played subsequently at the Centre des Arts Plurels Ettelbruck. These two theatres were our main co-producers together with the Luxembourgish Ministry of Culture. The piece was then presented in Portugal at the Sons em Transito Festival/Convento Sao Francisco in Coimbra in 2021 and online at the Rencontres Chorögraphiques de Casablanca. We are now planning a tour that includes cities in the Netherlands, Spain, Luxembourg, Senegal, Cuba, and Germany. Have a glimpse at the latest trailer: https://vimeo.com/487287480, or watch a bit more of the work: https://vimeo.com/609731295

What are your future projects?

I am delighted to work towards creating bridges and partnerships with new artists and venues in Europe that have similar artistic tastes and concerns as we do. VEDANZA has recently been selected in the first step of Perform Europe, a funding programme to create sustainable touring in Europe and beyond. We are working with Rajivan Ayyappan to increase the Live Room Series network (https://vimeo.com/346441569) together with like-minded artists and programmers. I am also always in the learning process as a member and teacher candidate in the Axis Syllabus for which I am working toward consolidating the Luxembourg Hub (http://vedanza.org/axis-syllabus-in-luxembourg-online-classes-and-livestream-event/). While we are touring BLAST, we also have in the pipeline to restage, with the same cast, a previous work from Frey Faust—‘Living River’—which is a testimony to the unexpected events in life.

Artistic direction: Emanuela Iacopini

Sound design: Rajivan Ayyappan

Choreography/ performance: Emanuela Iacopini, Frey Faust, Yuko Kominami, Saju Hari

Light design: Nico Tremblay

Scenography: Laura Mannelli/Nico Tremblay

Creative technology/interface design: Sonic Invasions

Costume design: Anne-Marie Herckes

Technical director: Nico Tremblay

External eye: Stephane Boko

Production manager: Lucile Risch

Producer: VEDANZA

Co-producers: Opderschmelz (Dudelange), CAPé-Centre des Arts Pluriels Ettelbruck with the financial support of the Ministère de la Culture du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg.

Partners: CERModern Ankara, Embassy of Luxembourg in Turkey, Corpo de Hoje, DeVIR/CAPa Centro de Artes Performativas do Algarve, Les Rencontres Chorégraphiques de Casablanca, Sacem, Dance Science Net, Axis Syllabus International Research Network, Centre de Création Chorégraphique Luxembourgeois TROIS C-L, FOCUNA, Fondation Indépendance.