conversations in ten questions 1 : Wim Vandekeybus (Ultima Vez) - TrapTown
In this series of interviews we try to get to know the directors/choreographers who will be the international guests at the 23rd Istanbul Theatre Festival in November 2019. Our first guest is Wim Vandekeybus / Ultima Vez.
Ayse Draz & Mehmet Kerem Ozel
Art Unlimited Performing Arts Editor & Writer
[The Turkish translation of this interview is published and can be accessed on art.unlimited]
What is the spirit of dance in your opinion? How do you define contemporary dance today?
All what can be seen as dance is a bodily expression, a communication medium to externalise inner feelings, strategies, wishes and emotions. Contemporary dance opened the field for less technically defined dance techniques. Digital accessibility to all dance forms on earth influenced the contemporary dance as an eclectic medium where authenticity is not to be respected but could be copied and pasted as original. In the 80s dance became theatrical, mixed, not specialised and this impurity created freshness that inspired a couple of generations. We could still change/invent/propose/break. Now everything is accessible and that makes it not easier to be original.
Do you believe in the transformative power of art? How?
It is wonderful if people end up sharing their experience after seeing a show. Sometimes they say it’s about them, as an individual, and some start dancing because they have seen a show. Now this is not the case all the time of course, the public is more used to seeing different shows and as I said before it’s not easy to break habits or change forms. Art will not save the world but it can give a wonderful sense to what we experience in life.
When you consider the current state of the world in every sense, what is the most important and urgent issue for you as an artist?
That not everything gets put in pre-prepared boxes and gives you the illusion that you are free to make decisions. A lot is decided before hand, even in art, because before you reach an audience, funding and programmers select and choose. The times that the work spoke for itself are over.
When you are working on a piece, what sources inspire you? Do dreams play a role in your works?
I work very intuitively, not rationally. I somehow sense a direction and then feel what fits and what not, it’s like walking in a labyrinth and arriving somewhere. I am a bad sleeper so I work a lot half awake, a lot happens during the night, where the unconsciousness guides.
When do you decide to give a title to a work you are working on if it already does not have one?
Mostly before but sometimes it happens only during the creation. I would prefer after the birth but now programmers want a year before a title, the names and what’s it about.
What’s your favourite line or moment in this performance, and why?
“Idiots”; cause the rabbits say it speaking about the people.
Is there any artist whom you can describe as "my master", or any person whom you think influenced your art the most? And if there is such an artist or a person, who is s/he?
When young, I refused to refer to anyone and wanted to invent it all by myself. Later you see it differently. More photographers like Koudelka, or film directors like Cassavetes, Fellini, , writers like Ursula Le Guin or Paul Bowles.
How do you think your passion for cinema and your films based on your stage works affect your choreography?
I did a lot of cinema adaptations of stage works. Then I used cinema more in pieces, then cinema on itself. Both mediums can learn a lot from each other, stage is slow and lot’s of practice, film is lots of preparation and then on the spot, film is more like stealing sometimes. I like cinematographical works on stage and theatrical films.
An important part of your shows is film projection. As a matter of fact you shoot the films of your stage works independently. How do you achieve the organic interrelationship between film projection and choreography on the stage?
I don’t like live filming on stage as it shows twice what is there, except if it adds to the reality. I try to use film as an open window to another way of looking , or to let both; reality and film as un-reality play and interact with each other; let real time and past get mixed up and create an new dimension.
Is there anything in particular you want to tell people before they see this show? Is there anything particular you would like to tell the Istanbul audience?
I remember performing BLUSH in Istanbul, it was an incredibly fresh experience. I hope that TrapTown creates another intensive vibe between stage and audience. The show doesn’t happen on stage only but for a big part in the head and feelings of the audience. I am looking forward to it!
Ayse Draz & Mehmet Kerem Ozel
Art Unlimited Performing Arts Editor & Writer
[The Turkish translation of this interview is published and can be accessed on art.unlimited]
Wim Vandekeybus (Photo: Danny Willems)
What is the spirit of dance in your opinion? How do you define contemporary dance today?
All what can be seen as dance is a bodily expression, a communication medium to externalise inner feelings, strategies, wishes and emotions. Contemporary dance opened the field for less technically defined dance techniques. Digital accessibility to all dance forms on earth influenced the contemporary dance as an eclectic medium where authenticity is not to be respected but could be copied and pasted as original. In the 80s dance became theatrical, mixed, not specialised and this impurity created freshness that inspired a couple of generations. We could still change/invent/propose/break. Now everything is accessible and that makes it not easier to be original.
Do you believe in the transformative power of art? How?
It is wonderful if people end up sharing their experience after seeing a show. Sometimes they say it’s about them, as an individual, and some start dancing because they have seen a show. Now this is not the case all the time of course, the public is more used to seeing different shows and as I said before it’s not easy to break habits or change forms. Art will not save the world but it can give a wonderful sense to what we experience in life.
When you consider the current state of the world in every sense, what is the most important and urgent issue for you as an artist?
That not everything gets put in pre-prepared boxes and gives you the illusion that you are free to make decisions. A lot is decided before hand, even in art, because before you reach an audience, funding and programmers select and choose. The times that the work spoke for itself are over.
When you are working on a piece, what sources inspire you? Do dreams play a role in your works?
I work very intuitively, not rationally. I somehow sense a direction and then feel what fits and what not, it’s like walking in a labyrinth and arriving somewhere. I am a bad sleeper so I work a lot half awake, a lot happens during the night, where the unconsciousness guides.
When do you decide to give a title to a work you are working on if it already does not have one?
Mostly before but sometimes it happens only during the creation. I would prefer after the birth but now programmers want a year before a title, the names and what’s it about.
What’s your favourite line or moment in this performance, and why?
“Idiots”; cause the rabbits say it speaking about the people.
Is there any artist whom you can describe as "my master", or any person whom you think influenced your art the most? And if there is such an artist or a person, who is s/he?
When young, I refused to refer to anyone and wanted to invent it all by myself. Later you see it differently. More photographers like Koudelka, or film directors like Cassavetes, Fellini, , writers like Ursula Le Guin or Paul Bowles.
How do you think your passion for cinema and your films based on your stage works affect your choreography?
I did a lot of cinema adaptations of stage works. Then I used cinema more in pieces, then cinema on itself. Both mediums can learn a lot from each other, stage is slow and lot’s of practice, film is lots of preparation and then on the spot, film is more like stealing sometimes. I like cinematographical works on stage and theatrical films.
An important part of your shows is film projection. As a matter of fact you shoot the films of your stage works independently. How do you achieve the organic interrelationship between film projection and choreography on the stage?
I don’t like live filming on stage as it shows twice what is there, except if it adds to the reality. I try to use film as an open window to another way of looking , or to let both; reality and film as un-reality play and interact with each other; let real time and past get mixed up and create an new dimension.
Is there anything in particular you want to tell people before they see this show? Is there anything particular you would like to tell the Istanbul audience?
I remember performing BLUSH in Istanbul, it was an incredibly fresh experience. I hope that TrapTown creates another intensive vibe between stage and audience. The show doesn’t happen on stage only but for a big part in the head and feelings of the audience. I am looking forward to it!
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