danzon_eng

THE BIG CRYING ©Rahi Rezvani The bare-chested man stands in the front and center of the stage with his back to the audience. In the background of the stage, a long thin pipe with a shaky but powerful fire emanating from the end is positioned on the same axis as the man. From the darkness in the back, male and female dancers wearing black clothes are swiftly coming forward from either side of the pipe. They and the man consult with each other with harsh, intermittent and fast repetitive gestures, exchanging mutual movements. It's like a farewell ritual; They say goodbye to him, as if taking a piece of him, or a memory with him. But it could also be an initiation or a creation ceremony; Perhaps others are getting the blessing of that bare-chested man to be born, to live, to continue to live, or to be accepted as adults. On the other hand, in a later scene and at the end of the work he is on his knees on the floor, his face leaning towards the ground, with his mouth opens wide but d...

© jan versweyveld  nowadays, a presidential election evening. it's just over an hour and a half before the results are announced. the politician who is highly expected to win the election comes together with his family for a dinner in the conference hall being temporarily transformed to the campaign center. the politician is understanding and loving towards his family, and ambitious, honest, and confident. he also believes in transparency so that he will permit the investigation into the cause of death of his predecessor when he is elected. while the excitement of the results of the election is being experienced, the facts about the politician's past remaining hidden even from himself are revealed one by one. when the election countdown is over, at the peak of the tension, the moment when it is announced that the politician has won the election and the moment when he realizes the hardest truth about his past coincide. the politician's name is oedipus. yes, king oedipus, the...

Last September I was in Lyon to attend Moeder (Mother) , the 2016 dated creation of Belgian dance company Peeping Tom, with whom the loyal followers of Art Unlimited are already familiar from my article published on the 38th issue (September-October 2016) and, to make an interview with its creator Gabriela Carrizo (1970). Moeder is the second part of a trilogy that opened with Vader (Father) in 2014, directed by Franck Chartier (1967) who is the co-founder of Peeping Tom and the husband of Carrizo.  On a September day which began chilly and got warmer in the afternoon I met with Carrizo at the Maison de la Danse de Lyon (Lyon Dance House). We walked from the backstage door to the front foyer from the outside, since she had an espresso and deservedly would like to smoke. Till she finished her coffee and cigarette we chit-chatted warming in the Lyon sun. Carrizo couldn’t believe that I came to Lyon from Istanbul just to watch Moeder and to make an interview with her. We talked ab...