En Atendant, at Sunset

After watching Cesena at sunrise, the CCA jury returned to watch the related sunset piece, En Atendant, also choreographed by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker. 

the sky was all sorts of crazy 

the first red carpet walk for jury 3 

waiting for the show to begin in the jahrhunderthalle

the sky again

we had a great artist talk after the show with one of the dancers... she told the jury about what went wrong in the show (the brring brring of a cell phone), demonstrated a time she hurt her leg while on stage, and answered questions about being a dancer

after evaluations, we went to Pulse Park, an interactive installation by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer that takes your heart beat and pulses it in lights across the field

the photos don't really show the pulses very well...

ghost jury

Talkativity

Rosas & graindelavoix | CESENA from Olivia Rochette Gerard-Jan Claes on Vimeo.

As often happens, we've disrupted a couple of performances. At both of Anne Teresa De Keersmacker's performances a couple of the jury got a little bit talky and a bit giggly. 

We're very very sorry. 

Up until that point we had been doing so well, but Keersmacker's work is challenging, though it's important to point out that the talkative girls actually liked the show a lot. 

One thing that is important to note is the historically evolving role of the audience and the expectations that we have of audience behaviour. It wasn't so long ago that the audience was found onstage and was more than welcome to talk and even interact. This tendency disappeared for a while but has shown strong signs of returning. A good chapter on the evolution of the role of the audience can be found in Clarke Mackey's book Random Acts of Culture. He argues that the reduction of the role of the spectator occurred in tandem with the reduction of the role of an active citizenship, though, Claire Bishop cautions against making too much of the political power of audience participation in her Artificial Hells. 

In any case, the role of the audience is always changing and if we are to take the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child seriously and include young people as active citizens, we may need a small rethink of their role at events like this. Is it reasonable to ask them not to attend? Probably not. Is it reasonable to ask them to not lose their shit when they see a naked man? Probably not. So what are we going to do? 

All I can do at this point is offer an apology to the performers and assure them that the young people meant no disrespect and that they did, in fact, enjoy the performances, it's just that sometimes enjoyment requires comment and a giggle. 

Romeo Castellucci's Folk, part 1 of 3.

Cesena at Sunrise

The jury got up at 4am this Sunday to watch Cesena, a music and dance piece by choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. Here is the Jahrhunderthalle in Bochum on arrival at 4:45...

Anne talked to the kids in person before the show (earliest artist talk ever?) to explain the concept and prepare them for what they were about to watch. She talked about developing the show in Avignon, the middle ages, the plague...

The jury was given ginger/scallion soup as an early morning snack.. but they didn't go over too well

Coffee wasn't a much better alternative... eww

It's light outside! Consensus after the show?

We ate breakfast and were visited by one of the French dancers in the show, who answered lots of questions about her training and work as a dancer (Do you get paid? Did you go to dance school? Do you do it for the money or because you love it?)

The kids jamming on the player piano. Hassan was enamoured.

The Bochum kids dancing on the Europeras set. Their energy for 8am on a Sunday after a 2 hours non-stop dance performance was astounding.

Running up the risers... (see the video in the previous post)

Queen Lise, on Our Century

Then finally... home and back to bed.

Castellucci's Folk, part 2/3

Castellucci's Folk, part 3/3

Folk

On Saturday night, the jury saw Romeo Castellucci's new work created for the Gebläsehalle in Duisberg, "Folk." We had no idea what to expect and we won't ruin the surprise. But needless to say, we had fun taking off our shoes and splashing around during the show...

VIP arrival time

Julia's second moustache-related outfit

Damien on the red carpet

Inside, waiting with the theatre goers for the show to begin

Should I or shouldn't I?

A man came up to the jury while we were waiting and told him how great he thought it was that the kids were coming to see all these shows in their spare time

Hamsa with (formerly) Jenna's Canadian hand sanitizer he got in the trade game at 12 Rooms

curly hair twins

snacks and a post show artist talk with two performers from Folk

as always, judgement time...

Seating Risers

Red Carpet INTRUDER

Red Carpet Treatment

One of the criticisms we've received even before the project was developed was the use of the red carpet and giving the kids a star moment. The concerns are usually that 1) It's fake. 2) Emphasizing empty fame - fake or not - is politically regressive.

My responses.

1) It's Fake. No, it's not, it's performative, which means that it's becomes that which it portrays. It's real because we say it's real. In the context of the festival, these young people are VIPs. Perhaps even more important VIPs than the artists. There's a never ending parade of artists willing to be artists but such is not so in the case of young people willing to be audience for contemporary performance. Audience development, particularly of difficult to access populations, is a tough slog and public support of the arts  depends to some degree on the continued appreciation of the arts by the demographics that these young people represent. They are, as they say, the future and if in the future we want to continue to fill the seats in the theatres, then we're going to need these kids.

Good thinking on this from the head of Canada's National Theatre School and chair of the Canada Council, Simon Brault.

2) Fame is stupid. Yeah, yeah, yeah and the sooner you learn that the better. So that's our contribution to progressive politics. The sooner these kids get their 15 minutes out of the way and get on with their lives the better. Like this guy:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e68_1345694804

Prescient but still a douchebag, Andy Warhol demonstrates that he and his crew deserve fame even less than the jury: http://youtu.be/ESGrKwIdb8A