Concept and direction : Thomas Hauert
Dance created by: Thomas Hauert, Martin Kilvady, Sara Ludi, Chrysa Parkinson, Zoë Poluch, Mat Voorter and Samantha van Wissen
Dance performed by: Thomas Hauert, Sara Ludi, Zoë Poluch, Albert Quesada, Gabriel Schenker, Mat Voorter, Samantha van Wissen
Light- and set design : Jan Van Gijsel
Sound design and original music: Peter Van Hoesen
Music: Vicente Amigo, El Mandaito (Bulerias); Roland Moser, Kabinett mit Vierteltönen: Noch ein perpetuum mobile; Knut Nystedt, Immortal Bach ; Sergej Rachmaninov, Prelude Op. 23, No. 10 in G Flat & Piano Sonata No. 2 in B Flat Minor; Maurice Ravel, La Valse; Jean C. Roché, Dawn Chorus At Bialowieja Forest, Concert de crapauds & Concerts de la nuit: Concerts des loups en forêt canadienne; Erik Satie, Première Gymnopédie; Dick Van Der Harst, Drama & De Breton; Stefan Wolpe, Marsch
Duration: 75 minutes
Costumes : OWN
Production : ZOO
Co-production: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels – Kaaitheater, Brussels, – PACT Zollverein, Essen – Festival alkantara, Lisbon – Mercat de les Flors, Barcelona
Project co-produced by NXTSTP, with the support of the Culture Programme of the Europen Union
With the support of: Flemish Authorities, Pro Helvetia – Swiss Arts Council, Wallonie-Bruxelles International, Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie, Ein Kulturengagement Lotteriefonds Kanton Solothurn, Wallonie-Bruxelles Théâtre/Danse
Thanks to: Charleroi/Danses, Centre chorégraphique de la Communauté française de Belgique
With its complex network of movements intricately linked through time and space, Thomas Hauert’s choreographic language could be seen as pursuing the tradition of abstract dance. However, it is entirely through improvisation that this strongly polyphonic “writing” comes to life on stage. Hauert’s work is remarkable for its exploration of the tension between order and disorder, form and formlessness, group and individuals, abstraction and concreteness, product and process, all the while taking advantage of the tension and attention offered by improvisation. With Accords, the choreographer renews the relationship between dance and music. The dancers graft onto musical pieces as if they were instruments, the music being made “visible” by a complex network of individual and supra-individual actions and reactions. The spectators might think they are seeing a choreography written to music. Yet the process of creating movement turns out to be radically different here. It is a “democratic” process, based on individual freedom and permanent attention being paid to others… Thomas Hauert chooses to rely on the intuitive intelligence of the body and the group.
“The company ZOO of Thomas Hauert, a group of responsible individuals, a community which practices the most intelligent, sensitive, witty, surprising, courageous, virtuosic and political form of dance I have seen in a long time.” (Ballet-Tanz Jahrbuch 2009)
