"DeSacre!" by Christine Gaigg/2nd Nature at Muffathalle in Munich

On 6th October "DeSacre!" by Christine Gaigg was presented at Muffathalle in Munich within the frame of interdisciplinary symposium: "Sacre. A victim in artistic and social context"

As I wrote in the previous post, "The rite of spring" became my leading trademark as a dancer. This time few words about "DeSacre!" by Christine Gaigg...

DeSacre!

The complexity of an art action is high, but also or precisely when the action only lasts for 40 seconds. If the complexity exceeds the possibilities of a society a sore point has probably been hit.
In DeSacre! The choreographer Christine Gaigg interweaves the latest Pussy Riot art scandal of 21 Februaryy 2012 with scenes from Le Sacre du Printemps, which was premièred in 1913 by Igor Stravinsky and Vaclav Nijinsky in Paris. The clash of the two art works points out their motives as well as their social implications.
In the architecture of the St Joseph’s Chapel, which was built in 1772 over several storeys of the Vienna Hofburg and the present-day presidential chancellery, the aspects thrown up also address questions to our society: What is desecration? To what excent does the Pussy Riot action go beyond pure provocation? Is everything answered with the argument of the sacrosanct?

CONCEPT, DIRECTION: Christine Gaigg
DANCE: Alexander Deutinger, Radek Hewelt, Marta Navaridas, Petr Ochvat, Anna Prokopová, Eva Maria Schaller, Veronika Zott
TEXT, TALK: Christine Gaigg, Erich Klein
STAGE: Philipp Harnoncourt
LIGHT: Jan Wagner
MUSIC ADAPTION: Florian Bogner
MUSIC: Igor Strawinsky Le Sacre du Printemps (quotes)
CHOREOGRAPHIC ELEMENTS: Vaclav Nijinsky, Pussy Riot
COSTUME: Dorothea Nicolai
ASSISTENCE: Iris Raffetseder
—
A COPRODUCTION by Tanzquartier Wien and 2nd nature
2nd nature is SUPPORTED by MA 7 – Cultural department of the city fo Vienna

Premiere: April 24, 2013
Josephskapelle, Hofburg, Vienna

The Old Testament According to The Loose Collective

On 6 & 7 September I had the pleasure to join The Loose Collective in their last production "The Old Testament According to The Loose Collective" in the performances at tanzhaus nrw in Düsseldorf

About The Old Testament According to The Loose Collective"

Absurd and comical dialogues alternate with whimsical group choreographies, snottily bawled accusations, enthusiastic dance sequences and the praising of the Promised Land with baroque choir parts. In its latest work the international collective lustfully approaches the Old Testament - with retro whigs from the Sixties, screaming electric guitars, choir and dance. The piece for five performers turns out to be an unconventional collage of parts of this world text, converted into dance, music and vocals. Adapted to the characteristics of various musical styles as electro pop, reggae and diaspora post punk, and with a good dose of irony and cynicism, the collective juggles with biblical quotes and carves out the actuality of the religious texts. The brutality and depravity of man, the futility of all aspirations as well as the utopia and the absurdness of life are presented as playful entertainment within a modern performance.
The Loose Collective is a mixture of musicians, dancers and choreographers, founded four years ago by Alex Deutinger, Alexander Gottfarb, Marta Navaridas and Anna Maria Nowak. Their work is marked by a great deal of individuality and freshness.

Concept, performance: Alex Deutinger, Alexander Gottfarb, Radek Hewelt, Marta Navaridas, Anna Maria Nowak; Music, Composition: Guenther Berger, Stephan Sperlich – 78plus; Costumes: Hanna Hollmann; Light: Peter Thalhamer; Sound: Stefan Ehgartner; Outside Eye: Jacob Banigan. A production of Kunstverein Archipelago Wien and Performanceinitiative 22 Graz, coproduced by Tanzquartier Wien, in cooperation with D.ID / Dance Identity Burgenland, modul-dance, DanceIreland Dublin, Dansenshus Stockholm, Dansescenen Copenhagen and Co-Festival, Kino Šiška Ljubljana. Funded by MA 7 – Kulturabteilung der Stadt Wien, Stadt Graz Kultur, Kultur Land Steiermark and bmu:kk. The performance takes place in the frame of the project modul-dance, funded by Programm Kultur der Europäischen Union. The program series "Back to the future – 35 Jahre tanzhaus nrw“ is funded by Kunststiftung NRW.

Links:
http://tanzhaus-nrw.de/main_pages/the-loose-collective-at?locale=en#.UlZv5xAl97w
http://theloosecollective.wordpress.com/works/current-production/

Echoes after "DeSacre!" by Christine Gaigg

The review from Der Standard by Helmut Ploebst

Pussy Riot und Readymades

Helmut Ploebst, 26. April 2013

Zwei außergewöhnliche Tanzstücke in der Feedback-Reihe des 

Tanzquartier Wien

Wien - Die Eigenschaft von Ereignissen, in der Vergangenheit zu versinken, ist eine Provokation für Choreografen. Denn nach jeder Aufführung "verschwinden" auch ihre Werke. Ein Zusammenschluss aus vier Tanzschaffenden mit einem bildenden Künstler und die Choreografin Christine Gaigg haben im Rahmen von Feedback, einem Kurzfestival des Tanzquartier Wien, mit zwei Uraufführungen auf diese Verluste reagiert.

 […] Und Gaigg zeigte ihr neues Stück DeSacre! - auf Einladung von Bundespräsident Heinz Fischer - in der Josefskapelle der Wiener Hofburg.



Es gibt eine brutale Parallele zwischen dem skandalträchtigen Tanzstück Le Sacre du printemps von 1913 und einer Protestaktion der Frauengruppe Pussy Riot in der Moskauer Erlöserkathedrale im Vorjahr. Knapp vor Ausbruch des Ersten Weltkriegs inszenierten der Komponist Igor Strawinsky und die Truppe der Ballets Russes die Geschichte einer Frau, die von einer Männergesellschaft in den Tod gehetzt wird. Und jüngst war es wieder eine Männergesellschaft, diesmal als unheilige Allianz aus Kirche und Staat, die Frauen nach einem harmlosen Protestauftritt hetzten.



Christine Gaigg hat DeSacre! als Doku-Performance angelegt, in der Le Sacre, dessen Originalchoreografie von Vaclav Nijinsky verloren ist, mit dem Tanz der Pussy-Riot-Gruppe verschränkt wird. Während der Aufführung kommentiert Gaigg zusammen mit dem Autor Erich Klein das Geschehen. Pussy Riot hatte ein musikalisch bearbeitetes Video ihrer Aktion ins Netz gestellt. Als ausgewiesene Filmexpertin untersuchte Gaigg dieses Material und stellt den Auftritt Szene für Szene nach. So beweist sie, dass sich die Frauen in der Kathedrale völlig gewaltfrei verhalten haben. Die Choreografin hat die Arbeit von Nijinsky nicht rekonstruiert, sondern ihrer verlorenen Form mit aktuellem, brisantem Inhalt eine neue Sprache verliehen. Das ist eine wirkliche Leistung.



Link to original preview:
http://derstandard.at/1363709322855/Pussy-Riot-und-Readymades 
 

The Old Testament according to Loose Collective

"The Old Testament according to Loose Collective" by LOOSE COLLECTIVE will be presented within the frame of FEEDBACK festival in TQW in Vienna. The performance will take place on 27.04 at 20:30

"for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff." Joshua 7:11

The Loose Collective has recently attracted attention as a result of the unconventionality and freshness of their productions and their enthusiastic performance-style. In their latest work, the Austria-based international group of dancers, choreographers and musicians dedicate themselves to the texts of the Old Testament.

Using contemporary performance methods – from cut-up techniques and chorus scenes to beatboxing and diaspora post punk – they propose a physical and musical montage of elements of this enormous body of text, which today is still an expression of creativity and utopia, of human ambition and frustration.

CONCEPT, PERFORMANCE: Alex Deutinger, Alexander Gottfarb, Radek Hewelt, Marta Navaridas, Anna Maria Nowak
MUSIC, COMPOSITION: Guenther Berger and Stephan Sperlich – 78plus
COSTUME: Hanna Hollmann
LIGHT: Peter Thalhamer
SOUND: Stefan Ehgartner
DRAMATURGICAL ADVICE: Jacob Banigan
 

A COPRODUCTION by Tanzquartier Wien, Kunstverein Archipelago Wien and Performanceinitiative 22 Graz
IN COOPERATION with D.ID / Dance Identity Burgenland, the EU cultural programme: Modul-Dance, DanceIreland Dublin, Dansenshus Stockholm, Dansescenen Copenhagen and Co-Festival, Kino Šiška Ljubljana
 

WITH SUPPORT by MA 7 – Cultural department of the city of Vienna, City of Graz Cultur, Kultur Land Steiermark and bm:ukk

Link:

http://www.tqw.at/en/events/old-testament-according-loose-collective-0?date=2013-04-27_20-30

"DeSacre!" by Christine Gaigg/2nd Nature

On Wednesday 23.04 the premiere of "DeSacre!" - a new performance by Christine Gaigg - will take place at St. Joseph's Chapel in Hofburg - presidential residencies in Vienna. The show will start at 19:30.

The complexity of an art action is great, but also or precisely when the action only lasts for 40 seconds. If the complexity exceeds the possibilities of a society a sore point has probably been hit. In the case of Pussy Riot the sore point of Russian society is obvious, the result is well-known.

In DeSacre! the choreographer Christine Gaigg interweaves the re-enactment of the Pussy Riot action of 21 February 2012 in the Moscow church of Christ the Saviour with scenes from Le Sacre du Printemps, which was premièred in 1913 by Igor Stravinsky and Vaclav Nijinsky in Paris. Here, in a kind of liturgical sequence, scenes from the original choreography with headings such as »Games of the Rival Tribes«, »Procession of the Sage«, »Dance of the Earth«, »Evocation of the Ancestors« and »The Victim« meet with the action by Pussy Riot and text quotations and commentary on the case.

In the architecture of the St Joseph’s Chapel, which was built in 1772 over several storeys of the Vienna Hofburg and the present-day presidential chancellery, the aspects thrown up also address questions to our society: What is desecration? If one incorporates the divided reactions in Russia and the international support, does the action go beyond pure provocation? Is everything answered with the argument of the sacrosanct?

CONCEPT, DIRECTION: Christine Gaigg
PERFORMAMCE: Alexander Deutinger, Radek Hewelt, Marta Navaridas, Petr Ochvat, Anna Prokopová, Eva Maria Schaller, Veronika Zott
ROOM: Philipp Harnoncourt
LIGHT: Jan Wagner
DRAMATURGY TEXT: Erich Klein
MUSIC ADAPTION: Florian Bogner
MUSIC: Igor Strawinsky Le sacre du Printemps
CHOREOGRAPHIC ELEMENTS: Vaclav Nijinsky, Pussy Riot
COSTUME: Dorothea Nicolai
ASSISTENCE: Iris Raffetseder


A COPRODUCTION by Tanzquartier Wien and 2nd nature
2nd nature is SUPPORTED by MA 7 – Cultural department of the city of Vienna


Link:
http://www.tqw.at/en/events/desacre?date=2013-04-24_19-30