di Sarah WHITEHEAD

Collegamenti rapidi:

- Open Doors

28/30

Introducing "OPEN DOORS"

'Open Doors' is a series of public demonstrations exhibiting the work of the twenty protagonist dancers of the 'Arsenale della Danza' as a result from the cycles of masterclasses held by some of the leading professionals of the dance world. In addition to free entry, the name 'Open Doors' aptly encompasses the diversity and the freedom which are characteristic of the styles of dance shown in the program. Ismael Ivo, who is managing the Arsenale della Danza as part of the “Biennale Danza”, presents the individual performances and at one point conveyed his thoughts of how for these dancers this is a period of exploration, creation and development for their professional and personal selves.

Through the duration of 'Open Doors' they have become the medium through which a group of experts have expressed and explored their ideas and interests simultaneously producing their own interpretation from the influences to which they have been exposed. For the audience, it is not only an opportunity to see a varied range of contemporary dance but also to document how a set of diverse, experienced talents have transcended through to a new set of dancers about to enter the sphere they have mastered.

1. FRANCESCA HARPER

The first demonstration was a result of the work of Francesca Harper. In the workshop, Harper had drawn upon her experience with William Forsythe in Frankfurt and used some of his methods as a base for the movement work. Opening with the pas de burrée movement, demonstrated by Ivo, Harper explained how this was  to act as the basic structure for the movements which the dancers were to elaborate upon. Through this method it was possible to see the individuality of the dancers as despite the pas de burrée being the source each had adapted it differently, portraying their unique ways moving.

This simple principle epitomizes much of the work shown in the demonstration. 

Following, several dancers, who had each been attributed a letter of the alphabet, used the same idea but replaced the base of the pas de burrée with the outline of their letter and portraying it visually through their own movement. The effect of these two exercises united structure with expression and enabled the dancers to explore their individual methods of using their bodies from the stimulus of a basic idea.

Harper had also included a video titled 'You made me a monster' inspired by the illness of Forsythe's wife, which involved Ismael and his dancers working with mannequins and wooden fragments of a body to represent the effects of illness. Unlike the pas de burrée and the alphabet, this emotional stimulus aims to translate experiences into movement giving the dancers scope to work with a base that is not concrete but comes from the memory and emotional self.

The role played by music was also investigated in a sketch titled 'Music is my dictator' which revolved around the idea that music dominates the dancers' body, its rhythm, beat provide the instructions for dancer. To demonstrate this the dancers formed a circle and displayed their reactions to the music and to each other as the movement of one dancer would be trigger to for those of another. This piece saw the dancers and the music  amalgamate to produce almost a tribal, primitive effect, though Bach was played as background music.

Throughout the whole demonstration the twenty dancers have conveyed different approaches to dance through the influence of Francesca Harper. However, simultaneously it is clear that Harper has taken this class with the intention of preserving and nourishing the individuality of each dancer. 

It closed with each dancer introducing themselves with their name and country ,showing how they were not merely bodies learning a series of movements but a group of young people doing, as Ismael described, exploring, creating and developing.