NDT 2 opens the season with an exciting double bill: Lucid Variations. Featuring Folkå by Marcos Morau and a new work by Nadav Zelner. To be seen from 24 October to 20 December.
View the NDT 2 programme Lucid Variations as video on demand in Digital Theatre.
Folkå – Marcos Morau
An untold story – Nadav Zelner
Dear friends,
Welcome to the first NDT 2 programme of the 2024-2025 season: Lucid Variations. We are thrilled to have you here.
As a creation house, we’re not only committed to our legacy and the collaboration with renowned choreographers and artists, we also believe that talent development and creating space for new voices in dance define us as a company. Tonight, our emerging, exceptionally talented dancers will showcase just that: a vibrant double bill, celebrating the next generation of dance artists and makers.
We revisit Folkå (2021) by internationally renowned choreographer Marcos Morau. The pulsating visual and auditory landscape tells a story of community and its customs and traditions. Amidst rising polarization and a growing disconnection from ourselves and others, this work calls us to come together in pursuit of shared aspirations. Uplifting, liberating, and transformative.
We are also very proud to welcome back Nadav Zelner with an exhilarating world premiere. Following the euphoric Bedtime story he created for NDT 2 in 2021, his latest work An untold story delves into life’s celebrations and challenges – particularly his complicated relationship with his father. Through humour, unexpected images, expressive costumes, and Balkan folk music, the complex, fast-paced choreography shines, bringing out the dancers’ artistic virtuosity.
I want to thank Marcos, Nadav, our wonderful collaborators, extraordinary dancers, and dedicated team for their passionate work. And you, for being here.
Enjoy!
Emily Molnar
Artistic Director
STAGED BY
Shay Partush
MUSIC
Composition / sound design by Juan Cristobal Saavedra, contains compositions: Condividiamo La Luna & Whisper: Kim Sutherland.
The London Bulgarian Choir led by Dessislava Stefanova: Mor’f Elenku, trad.; Izgreyala Yasna Zvezda, trad. arrangement by Dessislava Stefanova; Razbolyal Se E Mlad Stoyan by Kiril Todorov.
LIGHT DESIGN
Tom Visser
DECOR
Marcos Morau
COSTUMES
Silvia Delagneau
NDT REHEARSAL DIRECTOR
Ander Zabala
WORLD PREMIERE
November 4, 2021, Amare, The Hague
DURATION
±30 minutes
Nathan Allen, Maša Anić, Viola Busi, Conner Chew, Sophia Frilot, Joey Gertin, Eliana Hayward/Giovanna Doria, Ruth Lee, Miquel Martínez Pedro, Casper Mott, Nathanaël Plantier, Gabriele Rolle/Esmee Boevink, César Sautès-Vescovali, Rebecca Speroni
“The frenetic pace of contemporary life elicits us to stop for a moment and collect the legacy of time. Human beings, from their solitude, face the awareness of their finitude and the drama of not finding their definitive place in this world. This difficulty is in turn the gift that allows us to express ourselves and transmit our concerns from one generation to the next.
The person who leaves the cave versus the person who leaves their apartment in the 21st century is the same person that builds fictions where they do not find the answers that calm their spirit, asking themselves the same questions about life and death generation after generation. All fictions, from primitive rites to their manifestation in updated images, are developed in communion with the group.
Folklore is the expression of the customs and traditions of the peoples, it is the celebration of life and the honor of death through music, dance, symbols, legends or superstitions.
Folkå acts as a ceremony of our time that looks to the past to remind us that we continue to celebrate life, though mystical rites, here bathed in the fury of contemporaneity, where we continue to be part of an endless cycle.
Folkå is a song to life, a night of offering and celebration.”
– Marcos Morau
“Marcos’ movement language is very demanding. It’s isolating parts of your body, trying to dissect your anatomy and then, rebuilding it. The physicality is all encompassing, and by consequence, we evolve into something else entirely, haunting, and mystical. The journey of reviving Folkå has been a beautiful challenge filled with precision and detail. It has been thrilling trying to bring this piece back to life.
Guided by Shay, we entered a metamorphosis, arriving in a new self, looking through new eyes and waking up in an enchanted, dystopian world. With an audience, or without, this world exists. A ceremony celebrating birth and embracing the wildness within us. Despite the piece’s obscure climate, this ritual is somehow so human, maybe a reflection of things that exist within all of us.”
“Folkå is a piece that allows us to go through an extremely intense journey as a group of individuals. Marcos Morau has created a powerful world full of whispers and ritualistic pathos where a community of beings experiences loss of control, madness, fear, excitement and rebirth. The movement language and the music bring us in a dimension dominated by the conflict between feeling safe in a community and the desire to break out from it and express one’s individuality. This fills the piece with constant tension, vibration and contained energy with outbursts of freedom.
The process has been truly great, under Shay’s supportive guidance we entered this world and explored our individuality within this beautifully specific movement language. And Marcos pushed us to dive even deeper in the freedom we can find within the choreography and gave us the power to get in touch with the craziest and weirdest parts of us. I think this piece has connected us more as a group and will continue to do so throughout all the tours. I am so excited to see how we will grow with this on stage and what unknown sides of us will come out as we dive deeper into this world.”
MUSIC
Ionica Minune: Barbu Lǎutaru, Electrecord.
Henry Ernst (aka Adrian Sical) / Fanfare Ciocarlia: Doina Si cintec, Balaseanca De 8 Or, Piranha.
Taraf de Haïdouks: Dumbala Dumba, Rustem, Cintece De Jale, Crammed Discs.
Taraful Ciuleandra: Hora Staccatto / Ciocarlia, ARC Music Productions Int. Ltd.
Robert Schumann, Daniel Barenboim: Kinderszenen Op.15:7. Traumerei, Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Berlin.
LIGHT DESIGN
Avi-Yona Bueno (Bambi)
DECOR
Eran Atzmon
COSTUMES
Maor Zabar
SOUND EDITOR
Matan Onyameh
NDT REHEARSAL DIRECTOR
Lydia Bustinduy
WORLD PREMIERE
October 24, 2024, Amare, The Hague
DURATION
±30 minutes
Cast A:
Nathanaël Plantier, Casper Mott, César Sautès-Vescovali, Miquel Martínez Pedro, Conner Chew, Rebecca Speroni, Viola Busi, Maša Anić, Giovanna Doria, Nathaniel Belnavis-Wright, Nathan Allen
Cast B:
César Sautès-Vescovali, Miquel Martínez Pedro, Nathanaël Plantier, Gabriele Rolle, Joey Gertin, Ruth Lee, Sophia Frilot, Casper Mott,
Eliana Hayward, Nathan Allen, Nathaniel Belnavis-Wright
My father said
Turn your pain into poetry
So I compose a lament
Like a fly stuck on the wall
Charmed by the bitter taste of rejection
Indulging in a glass of limoncello
I keep pouring myself
This spectacular party
Where everybody can be crushed
Proved to me that being happy is a martial art
– Nadav Zelner
“Nadav Zelner is a creator of universes. He is a human so full of life, humble, honest, and generous. Working with him has been a true pleasure and a huge challenge. His vitality and love for his work allow him to push the boundaries of the body and the mind in unimaginable ways. Surrendering to his way of working has allowed me to expand and find new paths within myself.
This new work is a kaleidoscope, various and changing. It is an ode to life, to all of it, the good, the bad and all the in between. There is space for celebration, fun, craziness and for oddness, intimacy, and vulnerability.
I would love for everyone who watches this piece to dive in with us, to surrender to the madness and to try to find all the little universes that compose the work, like shooting stars that appear and disappear in a fraction of a second.
Thank you Nadav for your generosity, thank you Lydia for your guidance and thanks to all my colleagues for their infinite support.
I hope you enjoy!”
“Working with Nadav Zelner is a fast-paced, electrifying dream, where a multitude of stories and symbols reign over a physicality in constant acceleration.
The buzzing sensation of each step, meticulously crafted from his mind to ours makes for a thrilling piece.
It is like a challenge, with oneself, with the audience, that generates wonders on stage.
In this neon yellow universe, where flies and Limoncello collide, you will find deep poetry floating in the air, bouncing from side to side, like a fly.”
View more photos in the gallery
Want to experience the performance in a unqiue way? On December 27 and 28, Lucid Variations can be seen as video on demand in Digital Theatre. During these two days, you can watch the performance at home, at your convenience.
A ticket for the online performance costs €15
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