CLAIRE CROIZÉ & AISHA ORAZBAYEVA / ECCE — OUR SOLO ‘About our solo’ was the subject title of a casual email that violinist Aisha Orazbayeva sent to choreographer and dancer Claire Croizé and her co-choreographer Etienne Guilloteau at the start of a new creative process – which eventually led to the title of their collaboration. For Our Solo, Croizé and Guilloteau took a trip down memory lane, starting close to the beginning of their careers with a solo performed by Croizé in 2009. This solo, The Farewell, was based largely on Der Abschied, the sixth and last part of Gustav Mahler’s symphony Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth). Our Solo borrows elements from this as well as other pieces from both choreographers’ repertoire – which fits the theme of Der Abschied: the cycle of death and rebirth in nature. More recognizable, at least for lovers of classical music, are the German texts that accompany Mahler’s work – themselves translated from 8 th -century Chinese poems* – turned into poppy English song lyrics and set to music by Orazbayeva. She earned her stripes in the world of contemporary music, as a soloist and a member of the ensembles Ictus (Brussels) and PlusMinus (London). For Our Solo she composed almost all of the music herself, drawing from her personal musical archive and using techniques that, like the poems, are from a bygone era. While this leads to wildly different styles, from a 17 th century ‘passacaglia’ to an interlude fueled by bright synths and techno beats, each piece flows harmoniously into the next. Even when the music ushers in a darker mood, the change is always gradual – and much like in those poems, the darkness is always followed by light. Mahler’s music, however, is not part of this flow. Rather, Croizé and Guilloteau wondered what it would mean to create The Song
of the Earth today, when our relationship to the earth has become so fraught with guilt and anxiety. Can we still attain that romantic sense of peace and trust in nature? In Der Abschied, the fleetingness of the present symbolizes the fragility of life. ‘Weary mortals make for home […] The world falls asleep.’ Two friends bid farewell to each other for the last time. On stage, two figures – Croizé and Orazbayeva – start the piece facing each other on a diagonal, like a mirror image that is slightly shifted. The set-up is not spectacular. There is no orchestra, just one musician with a violin and a synthesizer. The dance, too, remains vulnerable in its simplicity. Croizé starts off with a kind of study, a set of sculptural tableaux that develop into a series of gestures, repeated in different variations like the stages of a ritual. As in previous pieces, Croizé and Guilloteau use the text of Der Abschied as a basis for the choreography, making gestures correspond to words and concepts. When these texts are sung, and the movements are superimposed on the words, they become momentarily transparent, like a sketch on wax paper. On several occasions, the song is shared by Orazbayeva and Croizé, as is the dance. Since neither is skilled in the other’s craft, this sharing invites a different kind of vulnerability. Together, they sway their hips and shake their hands to the music, as if they are dancing in the middle of a crowded club. It is a feeling we can imagine, just like the desire to move your body in sync with the rhythm – something often considered ‘taboo’ in contemporary dance, but indulged in here with an infectious pleasure. Throughout the piece Croizé and Orazbayeva meet in symmetrical formations, break apart and reunite in a scenography that is as changeful as the music. This is the work of a third protagonist: light designer Hans Meijer,
DANS PREMIÈRE WO 25 & DO 26 OKT 20:30 STUK STUDIO 50’ ——— HET IS VERBODEN FOTO’S OF VIDEO’S TE MAKEN | TAKING PICTURES OR RECORDING VIDEO IS PROHIBITED
CHOREOGRAPHY ETIENNE GUILLOTEAU & CLAIRE CROIZÉ DANCED BY CLAIRE CROIZÉ MUSIC COMPOSED AND PERFORMED BY AISHA ORAZBAYEVA OTHERS COMPOSITIONS TELEVISION CONTINUITY SOLO (2016-19, JACK SHEEN), CIRCULAR BOWING STUDIES (2012, ANGHARAD DAVIES) LIGHT HANS MEIJER COSTUMES ANNE-CATHERINE KUNZ ASSISTED BY CHIARA MAZZAROLO SOUND ROELAND LUYTEN PRODUCTION ECCE VZW DAILY MANAGEMENT, DISTRIBUTION AND COMMUNICATION CARINE MEULDERS FINANCIAL MANAGER ANNE CREVITS COPRODUCTION STUK, KAAITHEATER, PERPODIUM RESIDENCIES STUK, KAAITHEATER, CONCERTGEBOUW BRUGGE, ULTIMA VEZ, DESTELHEIDE, JOJI INC WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE FLEMISH GOVERNMENT AND THE TAX SHELTER OF THE BELGIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THANKS TO GREAT INVESTMENT AND ICTUS
who has collaborated with Croizé and Guilloteau since 2004 and was part of many of the creations referenced in Our Solo. With each scene change, he moves his mobile lighting installation by wheeling tripods around and rearranging fluorescent tubes, opening up the space into a landscape of possibilities. Sometimes it is unclear whether he is following the performers’ movements with the lights, or whether the performers are following his. When their paths diverge, the reframing of the scene takes on a logic of its own, making it clear that Meijers’ role goes beyond simply lighting the scene. His utilitarian movements cut through the piece’s dreamlike atmosphere, which does not pause during his interventions. Rather, the fiction of the stage becomes briefly porous, allowing a shared reality to seep in.
Everywhere the dear earth Blossoms in spring and grows green again! Everywhere and forever the distance shines bright and blue! Forever, and forever…
The outside world also intrudes in other ways – through recorded bird calls, for instance, which seem to herald the ultimately hopeful message with which the songs, and Our Solo, end:
* For the Song of the Earth (Das Lied von der Erde, 1907),
In Mahler’s Der Abschied, the beauty and wholeness of nature is offered as an antidote to human angst: by accepting that we are a part of something greater, we can transcend our fear of loneliness and death. In Our Solo ‘all of creation’ is brought back to the microcosm of an artistic creation – something small enough to grasp, yet great enough to contain our loneliness. This loneliness is shared between the artists on and off stage, and it is shared with the audience, who for a short moment become part of their encounter.
Mahler used a collection of Chinese poems co-written by Meng Haoran (689-740) and Wang Wei (701-761). These poems were translated into German by Hans Bethge under a collection titled Die chinesiche Flöte. Mahler wrote the last verse of Der Abschied.
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