MART KANGRO
"Can´t Get No / Satisfaction"

9+10+11+12.05 Kunstenfestivaldesarts Brussels, Brüssel /BEL/
10.07 / 20:00 NoTaFe, vana spordihoone, Viljandi
19+20.08 far° - festival des arts vivants, Nyon /SUI/
09.09 Homo Novus festival, Riia /LAT/
18+19+20.09 De (Internationale) Keuze Dans Festival, Rotterdam /HOL/
23+24.11 SAAL[ätt]Tartu, Genialistide klubi, Tartu

After a pause one of the most internationally acclaimed contemporary Estonian choreographers, Mart Kangro is back again in SAAL with a new solo.

The core of Mart Kangro's aesthetic language could probably be summed up as a tension between two sides. Everyday actions in close-up on the one hand. And a commentary on commonplace contemporary performance art forms laying bare the way these function and are perceived.

All of this has an aim, a target. He makes use of his own and the audience's previous experience and prejudices in having seen grand shows and spectacles. Laying bare their structure and reflecting back the hopes of the audience Kangro leads the spectators into seeing his performance as what it is, not what it is not. For this he uses various types of stage games that lead the spectator into thinking about the paradoxes and forces around how a stage performance is perceived. What he does is a commentary on experience. He leads the audience into awareness of their own perception and finding their own unmediated approach to the work onstage. He makes the spectator realise his preconceptions and hopes, kind of left-over from previously viewed performances. Spectacular episodes exist in his shows but at places where one wouldn't expect them.

In his new solo "Can't Get No / Satisfaction" Mart Kangro will try to investigate how it affects the performer to know that what he does depends directly on the reaction of the audience. That it is only through a certain agreement with the audience that the performer is on stage at all. What compromises are necessary on the part of the performer in order for his artistic idea to be received and to be able to satisfy the audience?

The audience has the justified right to an emotional recharge. On the other hand, the artist has the right to be understood and give to the audience his artistic idea. A conflict? Possibly. Both sides collide and create a paradoxical situation.

Possibly one of the most internationally acclaimed contemporary Estonian choreographers Mart Kangro focuses in his work on the meanings the body and movements create and the concept of meaning in theatre as a semiotic time-space. Kangro has been engaged as a dancer at the Estonian National Opera. As a choreographer he has for a long time collaborated with Christina Ciupke and Thomas Lehmen. He has created 8 full-length dance pieces that have been presented in more than 20 countries all over Europe and North America.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Idea and performance: Mart Kangro
Music: Taavi Kerikmäe
Dramaturgical assistance: Petra Roggel, Christina Ciupke
Technical solutions: Kalle Tikas
Co-produced by: Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Baltoscandal 2010 festival (Rakvere, Estonia), De Internationale Keuze van de Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Kunstenfestivaledesarts Brussels
Project co-produced by NXTSTP, with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union
Supported by: Cultural Endowment of Estonia
Premiere: 21.01.09 Kanuti Gildi SAAL
NB! Performances on 22 and 23 of January are in English!
Meet the artists: 22.01 after the performance. Moderator: Laur Kaunissaare (in English).