August DanceFestival 2009:
METTE INGVARTSEN & JEFTA VAN DINTHER
"IT´S IN THE AIR" /DENMARK-BELGIUM/
We are perpetually haunted by the question of re-inventing the body, of what it can do, or what it is capable of. In IT'S IN THE AIR, Ingvartsen and van Dinther ask the question: how can we perceive the body as a body; as expressive qualities generated through movement? IT'S IN THE AIR unravels the body in the nexus between the human-cultural and the natural-physical, between will, effort and desire and mechanical laws and conditions.
A female and male body grow organically into body-machines, natural, yet against nature as a habit. They jump, bounce, flip, flop, ripple, slide, levitate, reverberate, shiver, rub, tick, explode... Bodies that defy the laws of motion and rest, the joy of muscles being moved, the many nuances of rhythm, density, texture, the tactility of movement, in virtuosity that elicits pure joy.
Jefta van Dinther is a choreographer/dancer living in Amsterdam and Berlin. In 2003 he graduated from the Amsterdam School of the Arts, MTD. He has been engaged as a performer with various choreographers, recently with Ivana Müller and Mette Ingvartsen. Together with Mette Ingvartsen he made the performance IT'S IN THE AIR, and in collaboration with Bojana Cvejic, Mette Ingvartsen, Sandra Iche and Jan Ritsema (COCOs) the performance Breeding, Brains and Beauty. His most recent piece THE WAY THINGS GO premiered in February 2009. He is currently working on a new performance together with Frederic Gies and DD Dorvillier.
Mette Ingvartsen is a Danish choreographer and dancer. From 1999 she studied in Amsterdam and Brussels where she in summer 2004 graduated from the performing arts school P.A.R.T.S. Since summer 2002 she has made several performance works among others Manual Focus, 50/50, to come and Why We Love Action. Her practice includes writing, making, performing and documenting work. Her most recent performance works are IT'S IN THE AIR (2008) a collaboration with Jefta van Dinther and the YouTube project Where is my privacy (2008/9). She is currently working on "GIANT CITY" that will premiere in October 2009 at steirischer herbst in Graz. Besides her performance work she is engaged in research and in questioning modes of production within the performing arts. In 2008 she participated in 6Months1Location confronting questions around education, structures of production and research within the performing arts. Since 2005 she has been working on "everybodys", an ongoing collaborative project based on open source strategies that aims at producing tools and games that can be used by everybody in order to develop work. She is part of the collective COCO's who recently presented Breeding, Brains and Beauty. And has collaborated with Jan Ritsema and Bojana Cvejic on several theatre performances.
Reviews:
„The two dancers start moving slowly. But for the next hour or so, Mette Ingvartsen and Jefta van Dinther will no longer stand still. (...) After near-static movements at the beginning, a rhythm suddenly imposes itself on the play through the screeching noise of the springs, a substitute for music. (...) Ingvartsen and van Dinther shed new light on everyday movements by performing them in the air. The movements thus become meaningful, though the choreography never suggests a specific interpretation, the simple and subdued stage direction allowing each figure to produce a new - and alltoo- familiar - image. (...) Ingvartsen and van Dinther literally perform a feasibility study of the human body: their virtuoso dance performance explores the boundaries between free and wilful movement and its culturally conditioned codes. (...) While in dance theatre the movement of the body is not an unusual topic, the idea to relocate the action in the air proves as convincing as its straightforward implementation."
Sarah Heppekausen, WAZ, 16.06.08
„(...) But here come Mette Ingvartsen and Jefta van Dinther. The Danish-born Mette Ingvartsen (...) is familiar with theory and postmodern philosophy. Ingvartsen is furthermore gifted with an astute sense of irony. (...) The result of their investigation can now be seen on stage and takes the shape of two large trampolines. For more than 50 minutes, the two dancers are heartily jumping, hopping and bouncing on the springboards. For once, the fact that spectators are merely allowed to watch is somewhat cruel. (...) „It's in the Air" is a concert in movement, a circus number, a reflection on dance, a children's game, a piece of existential wisdom... It's astonishing to see how much sense can be drawn from such a simple construction: two people jumping on a trampoline - and taking off, physically as well as intellectually speaking."
Nicole Strecker, ballettanz, August/September 2008
„Another climax is Mette Ingvartsens and Jefta van Dinthers production „It's in the air" - a performance with two dancers on two huge trampolines. The dancers start with careful bounces, that slowly increases to different figures and movements: lurching wild through the air, bouncing from the back to the feet, on all four, bouncing very high till nearly reaching the stage ceiling, or very softly fare from each other or intensely hugged. The trampolines allow completely new movements, qualities, dynamics, and combinations, on top the jumping has a kinaesthetic effect on the public: dizziness, feeling nauseous. A very convincing idea, that gets to move as well the head and body of the spectator."
Elisabeth Nehring, Deutschland Radio Kultur, FAZIT, 21.08.08
„TOPP-ACHIEVEMENT BY PERFORMERS-TRANSCENDENTAL EXPEREINCES ON THE TRAMPOLINE (...) An as simple as solid discovery constitutes the basic idea/starting point: two tribunes, two trampolines and a man and a woman as jumping performers. Perfectly synchronized they hypnotize the gaze of the spectator. The ever-present drone of the springs produces a compelling rhythm. Again and again they manage to shift into yet another surprising variation, sometimes minimal, sometimes rupturing, but always effective and impressive. A body that at the highest point pushes itself higher. (...)"
Annette Embrechts, Volkskrant, Amsterdam, 26.02.09
Choreography and Performance: Jefta van Dinther and Mette Ingvartsen
Light design and set: Minna Tiikkainen
Sound Design: Peter Lenaerts
Dramaturgy: Bojana Cvejic
Production Management: Kerstin Schroth
Technique: Oded Huberman
Photos: Peter Lenaerts
Co-production: PACT Zollverein (Essen), Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin), Kaaitheater (Brussels)
Funded by: Haupstadtkulturfonds (Berlin, Germany) and Kunstradet, Danish Arts Council (Denmark)
Supported by: Eurotramp (Germany), Les Brigittines (Brussels), Charleroi/Danses, Centre Chorégraphique de la Communauté Francaise de Belgique (Brussels), Ballhaus Naunynstraße (Berlin) and sommer.bar 2007 a project of Tanz im August (Berlin)
A production of Mette Ingvartsen / Great Investment and Jefta van Dinther / Sure Basic
Performances in Tallinn are supported by: Danish Arts Council, Vlaamse Institute, Ministry of Culture of Estonia
Performances in Tallinn are presented in co-operation with Festival Baltoscandal and supported by NXTSTP, with the support of Culture Program of the European Union
More info: www.aisikl.net/mette
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