420PEOPLE, Ann Van den Broek
Phrasing the Pain is a piece for 7 dancers based on an original movement phrase, the pain phrase, used in the production I SOLO MENT (Ann Van den Broek, 2008). Movement springing from the feelings of pain and sadness one feels after losing a loved one, a friend, a parent, a child. Stepping on stage, each of the dancers sets on a path of confronting one's inner emotions - from lust to aggression, from euphoria to apathy. Sorrow is an eye-opener, revealing unexpected forms and perspectives. A compelling choreography, transformative force, rhythm and intense emotions.
Ann Van den Broek on Phrasing the Pain:
"The subject matter is pain. But there are a lot of kinds of pain and I have dealt with different kinds in my previous pieces. But this particular pain is the pain of losing somebody. It can be through death but it can also be through a mental process, someone may be drifting away from you and you feel you're losing contact, physical or spiritual. It is the pain of losing and also the process of trying to fix it and the frustration and the anger around it (...)"
"Sorrow melting into anger, the inner layers of our soul turning denser and darker. For this darkness to cross the demarcation line between the stage and the auditorium, it needs to be genuinely lived through. The two main protagonists of the company, Nataša Novotná and Václav Kuneš indeed succeed in this quest. They lure our vision as magnets. We see them in roles so far unrevealed to us, roles that are none the less than freezing. (...) It is obvious that the endless hours of rehearsing have paid off: the two can virtually emanate the newly found emotions through their skins. (...) Transformation of characters, their inner selves stripped to the bones. So much as to suggest that the protagonists at the end of the piece are galaxies far away from those at the beginning."
(Markéta Faustová, Dance Zone magazine Prague)
"Most demanding, probably causing more of psychic exhaustion than the physical, this piece sees all of the performers at their best. The analysis of inner suffering goes to the core. Either you indulge in empathy with the protagonists or you revel in the wide scale of forms of inner concentration, energy and dynamics of motion, all of them transforming every single minute. Quite naturally, emotions are a matter of individuality, aren't they. Phrasing the Pain is a probe exploring a single issue. And that is precisely what makes it strong, despite all of its abstractness."
(Lucie Kocourková, Opera Plus)
Credits
Choreography: Ann Van den Broek
Assistants to choreographer: Cecilia Moisio, Jan Deboom
Performing: Sylva Nečasová, Nataša Novotná, Ombline Noyer, Václav Kuneš, Milan Odstrčil, Štěpán Pechar, Saša Volný
Music: Arne van Dongen, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
Light design: Ann Van den Broek, Adam Uzelac
Photo: Fabiana Mertová, Pavel Hejný, Michal Hančovský
The piece is co-produced by 420PEOPLE o.s., Archa Theatre and the Dutch WArd/waRD
