Smoke and Mirrors

THE GREY – IMRE VAN OPSTAL & MARNE VAN OPSTAL

“This work invites you into a story. From a desire to stop time, it explores ways to rethink or re-live a passage in life. A path made through choices and actions. Every choice potentially being a pivotal moment, with an array of different outcomes.

A lapse… This soundless stolen time allows us to wonder with growing questions. What has happened? Where do we go? What are the consequences? Are these matters of faith?

Like clouds hovering between the sky and earth, they convey the hiddenness as well as the manifestation of the divine. Will we ever truly know what was meant to be?

Like clouds, we are in constant state of creation… never black nor white. Whichever choice we make, we always find ourselves in between, in the grey.” – Imre van Opstal en Marne van Opstal

SARA – SHARON EYAL & GAI BEHAR

Sara was created in 2013 and has been composed for NDT 2 especially. The choreography revolves around memories, dreams, emotions, inspiration, loneliness, sorrow, and sharing. “It springs from the subconscious, but is very humane at the same time”, says choreographer Sharon Eyal. The mysterious dream world originates fully from the creators’ feelings and intuitions.

Israeli choreographers Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar have been an innovative pair in the contemporary dance world for years. For this creation for NDT 2 they worked with long term collaborator and musician Ori Lichtik. In these multi-disciplinary efforts movement, sound and lighting stand side by side, creating pieces that exceed the borders of ‘traditional’ contemporary dance and turn all the elements into equal protagonists.

MIDNIGHT RAGA – MARCO GOECKE

“Goecke combines a deep midnight blue with his piece Midnight Raga, the title of which hearkens back to classical Indian music. Usually, Goecke does not begin a piece with music. This time it is different: the Indian music by Ravi Shankar is the starting point. The choreographer liked both the Indian mysticism and the “freaky” quality of the music. He was also excited by the idea of using Indian music without resorting to elements of Indian dance at all. “I have been fascinated by India for a long time now, because life there is so concentrated, intense, and seemingly immaterial yet at the same time many people die in the most bitter poverty. I also think the ritual cremations after death have a captivating and annihilating power.” Despite the Asian-Indian inspiration – also reflected in the heavy blue silks of the costumes –, one thing is unmistakable right from the start: the presence of Goecke’s very own, nervous movement language; tailor-made for these two dancers, who have internalized it in every fibre of their bodies.” – Nadja Kadel

SH-BOOM! – SOL LEON & PAUL LIGHTFOOT

The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty. – Francisco Goya

Sol León and Paul Lightfoot created SH-BOOM! in 1994 for the annual Dancers Choreography Workshop, now called Switch. The piece marks the beginning of their successful collaboration and is therefore of great importance for the choreographic duo, not in the least because León herself performed in the piece. The work combines humour with irony and expresses how people from different backgrounds conduct and relate to one another. Inspired by Francisco de Goya’s satirical black & white sketches, SH-BOOM! masterfully intertwines the dark side (irony) and the light side (humour).

Programme booklet (NDT 2 | Smoke and Mirrors)