Digital program book ‘Traces left within’

Chloé on Toss of a Dice:

“Toss of a Dice for me is a very sensitive and somewhat magical piece. In it, I find not only the representation of group structure, but also the beauty of individualism. It gives me a feeling of being in a defined place and yet simultaneously looking for some place else.

It was such a pleasure and privilege to have Jiří in the studio with us adjusting and reworking Toss of a Dice from within. He gave us space and inspiration to find our own voices in it. A big thank you of course goes to Lorraine  Blouin and Ken Ossola for passing on the piece and sharing their knowledge and wisdom with all of us.”

Thalia on I love you, ghosts:

“When I am dancing Marco’s work I feel a great sense of relief. It’s almost like my body breaks down into many little pieces. I am no longer fully formed, everything has been altered or disturbed. As if this reality goes blank and I am completely uncertain of what I will experience, what will come to the surface, and what I will eventually show you. The inner sensation make its way through my body to find its form that the audience is able to read.

In the end, I hope that when people watch this piece they can feel the struggle, the darkness, and the love that creates it.”

Boston on How to cope with a sunset when the horizon has been dismantled:

“I have always felt disenchanted with the spaces humans’ design for themselves. Floors below flat ceilings, connected by four corners. White walls with square windows and doors in that shape that also has four corners. It feels like everything about the way we move and live is in relation to the famous angle: 90 degrees.

However, when I spend time here, it’s hard not to fall in love with the shapes. My body rearranges as a playground. I get to relate myself in new ways to the environment. The objects, like us, are varying degrees of squishiness and they all offer a different perspective. The grey rubber coating is freckled like my arm and creates friction and static, making my hair stand on end. Colours are huge in this world, they exist on a scale that is not only stimulating, it’s satiating. It’s a remedy for normalcy.

We are guided by Marina to value the unexpected, to channel experience and find harmonious autonomy. We also bounce around like kids a lot. It feels important to mention that this creative team consists solely of people of female experience and it feels like home. Between that and the shapes, I wish I could live here.”

Scott on Toss of a Dice:

“As a young dancer I remember watching online excerpts of Jiří Kylián’s Toss of a Dice, and being captivated by the distinct atmosphere of the piece. The music by Dirk Haubrich, based on a single drop of water, has always stuck with me over the years. There is something so constant yet unpredictable about it, and I have remained moved by the beauty of its ominous suspense. Diving into the work all these years later feels like a dream, since I can embody it with the inspiration of its impact on me. The refined craft of the movements and the concepts behind them allow for a balance of rigour and freedom within artistic interpretation.

It has been a pleasure to get to work with Kylián himself, who shares the depth and complexity of his ideas with such beautiful clarity. The movements explain themselves to you on their own, but having Kylián speak about them brings an even stronger purity and significance to the experience of dancing the work.”

Paxton on How to cope with a sunset when the horizon has been dismantled:

“Something present in the space that Marina creates is respect. It fills the room. Everyone in this process respects and cares for each other, which is rare and beautiful. It affects every choice, every word, and every movement. It is the foundation upon which ideas are built.

One of the ideas that Marina has been building is our relationship with authenticity and play. She says that when we learn movements, material, or steps… we kill them. We suck all of the life out of them, leaving them as a husk of the original idea. But this is the nature of defining something. Of putting words to feelings. Our job then is to breathe life back into it. To find qualities and nuances. To play in the little spaces between the definitions. That way, as we are revisiting some movements, we never feel as though we are. We are experiencing them as genuinely as possible, just as we did the first time. This practice is a state of mind. It is so easy to fall back into a rhythm of repeating. But if we strive for that authenticity and play in our being, it brings us somewhere new every time.”

Charlie on I love you, ghosts:

“I have seen ghosts all my life. They have no form, as if made of gas. I can see them best in the dark.

-I run out of darkness into darkness, where you can see me but I can’t see you, I am terrified, formless, I take shape, and I vanish-

And so in this, Marco has founded an exercise for anyone who wants to dissolve into that same formless state that haunts them- run into a field at night as fast as you can, and when the terror of what’s behind you and what you are fearing makes you unable to bare it any longer, dance, and when you dance in pure terror, you are a ghost!

To say I “enjoy” this piece is a flat sentiment, as I am scared the entire time and want to either explode or buckle.”