Description
High Moon by Virginie Brunelle (World premiere)
The Blue Brides by Barak Marshall (World premiere)
Podcast Vol. 1 & 2, Eric Gauthier (Premiere)
as well as Lickety-Split, Alejandro Cerrudo and Jardi Tancat, Nacho Duato
One year after the sensational success of their debut production RENAISSANCE, the Gauthier Dance JUNIORS are following up with a second programme of their own, consisting of two world premieres, two tried-and-tested classics of contemporary dance and a brand-new podcast format hosted by Eric Gauthier. Originally, the title of the concept evening was supposed to be Something old something new something borrowed something blue, like the Anglo-Saxon lucky charm dress code for wedding gowns. And indeed, each of the four pieces refers to one of the four lucky features. Together they may bring the Gauthier Dance JUNIORS good luck for their future in dance!
Something old: Jardi Tancat (Catalan for a walled garden) is an extremely appropriate choice for the JUNIORS. For it was also a young company, NDT 2, for whom Nacho Duato created his choreographic debut from 1983. The atmospheric piece is named after the album of the same name by Catalan folk singer Maria del Mar Bonet, an icon of resistance against the Franco regime. The lyrics as well as the dancing of the three couples dressed in earthy colours evoke the hard life of the peasants in their tireless struggle against the aridity and barrenness of the Catalan soil.
Something new: Virginie Brunelle counts among the great hopes of Canadian dance, as anyone familiar with her two previous collaborations with Gauthier Dance will confirm. The fervent, poetic group piece Beating for the concept evening Grandes Dames aimed to synchronise the heartbeats of the performers. During the pandemic and remotely from Canada, she created the passionate solo Off White for The Dying Swans Project, where she had a dancer run up against loneliness. Her next world premiere, High Moon, is perfectly tailored to the JUNIORS and looks like it could become the company's next great hit: an uncompromisingly young, dynamic choreography with a club feel and original music by Laurier Rajotte, inspired by Maurice Ravel's Bolero.
Something borrowed: Despite its title, Lickety-Split comes across as a rather relaxed and, above all, very human, humorous piece. Set to the hypnotic music of Californian indie songwriter Devendra Banhart, Alejandro Cerrudo, then the resident choreographer of Hubbard Street Dance Company Chicago, acts out the encounter of three couples – very sensual, very sophisticated and with a slightly eccentric touch. In one of its first seasons, Gauthier Dance included the piece in its programme as part of the bill Lucky Seven from 2011. Now it's time to pass this choreographic pearl on to the next young dance company of Theaterhaus Stuttgart ...
Something blue: The Blue Brides by Barak Marshall is a tongue-in-cheek cautionary tale about doomed love and the dangers of naivety, blind obedience and jealousy. In the style of a morality play, it begins with the bride at the altar, waiting in vain for her groom, and ends with a gruesomely comical wedding massacre. The colour blue in the title alludes to the psychological instability of the abused bride, who eventually becomes an avenger and murderer. Sarcastic, funny and accompanied by love songs from all over the world, The Blue Brides promises to be an extremely entertaining, fast-paced tragicomedy.
In addition to the four good luck choreographies, Eric Gauthier will be exploring what breathes life into the „Dream Team“ claim with a very special new format. As the host of a podcast, he will talk about the topic of artistic collaboration in two episodes – just like in a radio show. Podcast Vol. 1 features conversations with the performers – the JUNIORS. How does dance collaboration work best? And when and how does the „dream team spirit“ materialise? In Podcast Vol. 2 he interviews the choreographers involved: How does the artistic approach differ in a group piece compared to solos or pas de deux?
