amours et délices
choreography: Béatrice Jaccard, in collaboration with the dancers direction: Peter Schelling assistant of director and dramaturgy: Sigrid Schonlau danse: Béatrice Jaccard, Judith Rohrbach, Viacheslav Zoubkov/ Marco Volta, Massimo Bertinelli music: François Gendre & Massimo Bertinelli set: Peter Schelling & Ronald Dörfler light design: François Gendre costumes: Yvonne Forster mask: Sylvia Tommasi production management: Beatrice Rossi
First night 24th of November 06 at Espace Nuithonie, Villars-sur-Glâne/Fribourg (ch)
A co-production with
Espace Nuithonie, Villars-sur-Glâne and Tanzhaus Wasserwerk, Zurich
60 minutes duration without intermission
performances:
Nuithonie, Fribourg (ch), Tanzhaus Zürich, Zurich (ch), 20. Berner Tanztage, Berne (ch), Sommertanzwoche – Kirche Reinoldi, Dortmund (d), Festival de la Cité, Lausanne (ch), Oltener Tanztage, Olten (ch), Theater Phoenix, Steckborn (ch), TANZ Bremen – Theater im Fischereihafen, Bremerhaven (d), Teatro Dimitri, Verscio (ch), TanzRäume08, Hagen (d), Theater im Pumpenhaus, Münster (d), XV. Annual Intern. Dance Conference and Performance Festival, Bytom (pl), Kulturkreis Zollikon (ch), Flottmannhallen, Herne (d), KulturstadtLev, Leverkusen (d), Theater in der Brotfabrik, Bonn (d), Theater im Fischereihafen, Bremerhaven (d), Kulturhaus Osterfeld, Pforzheim (d), Intern. Tanztheaterfestival Graz (a)
An intimate piece with its language of movement, ranging from the poetic to the reckless, “amours et délices” presents farce by, for once, demonstrating to its audience a life of feminine coquetry.
Forlorn, longing and lusting men throw furtive glances. But the women are happily dancing in pairs, lost in their own dreams. Each of them is motivated by an unspoken affection for the other. Each being the mirror of the other, but still remaining herself.
As the incarnation of comic strip characters, who transform themselves from marionette, to vamp and to girl friend, they lead their masculine companions up the garden path, ensuring their frustration so that they are beside themselves and thoroughly confused.
The whole creation is turned topsy-turvy, thoroughly shaken up and distorted. The men remain in the background, casting no shadow, remain in the background. If the women do not energise them, they restlessly drift through the corridors increasingly aimless as creatures of impulse.
“Amours et Délices” is a poetical dance production full of casual malice and absurd wit. Not just simply pleasure.
Press excerpts
,...a spellbound audience... Contorsions and enlacements flow into each other in absurd and sensationally acrobatic ways...scenes from everyday life
as well as borderline situations are told with incredible intensity. Humour as well as poignant sarcasm come into play. A bizarre and colourful caleidoscope of human longing...a fragile balance of emotions...sequences in slow motion explode all of a sudden into fast paced dance...crazy and at the same time with an ingenious choreography...in the finale an enormous escalation of speed...surreal scenes...a not always easy treat...’ Pforzheimer Zeitung, Germany 09.02.2009
‚...an elegant and sensual play about the turbulences of the erotic. Behind all the mischievous ease gravity is hiding...It is hard to say what was more enjoyable in this compact dance piece, the inventiveness of the movement vocabulary or the agility of the performers. The fleet-footed quartet gave a big boost to the imagination of the audience...lots of applause...’
Leverkusener Anzeiger, Germany, 24.10.2008
‚...At the National Theatre the dance troupe Compagnie Drift from Switzerland has shown their smashing production ‚amours et délices’. Apparently dance can also make one laugh cheeerfully even when it starts speaking of not entirely funny issues like relationships between women and men...’
Lietuvos zinios (News of Lithuania) Vilnius, Lithuania 10.10.08
‚...Compagnie Drift from Switzerland showed ‚amours et délices’, a piece balancing on the verge of dance and theatre full of farce, irony and the elegant poetry of movement...’
Nemunas, Kaunas, Lithuania, 9.10.08
‚...the masters of contemporary dance – Compagnie Drift from Switzerland – flashed with the richest colours...In ‚amours et délices’ four dancers managed their bodies ideally. They seemed sometimes to fall to pieces like wooden puzzles and got one to believe that their joints were made of rubber and that bones did not exist. All of that took place in a situation comedy about human relations – a little bit slow in the beginning and completly attention grabbing later on...’ Kauno diena (The Day of Kaunas), Kaunas, Lithuania 10.10.08
INFINITE DANCE ABOUT LOVE
‚..beautifully flowing and very sensual...the annihilation of every kind of gravity..contortions..limbs like rubber, moving seemingly independently from each other..striking developments...a loving and witty tribute to love and the appetite for love..’ Oltener Tagblatt, 20.11.07
DANCE OF LOVE AND DESIRE
„.. Drift is no doubt one of Europe’s most interesting dance companies..a surprising, exceptional evening full of poetic and evocative imagery...moments of great tenderness..“
Dortmunder Zeitung, Dortmund Germany, June 16th, 2007
EROTIC DREAMWALKING
„..subtle and beautifully weird movements..lyrical or surreal, provocative or like a fairy tale.. faunlike roguish pranks..strong floorwork, supple contortions, bold exercises on floor, table and bed..the old game between man and woman, between love and bliss comes to an erotical and mischievous as well as precipitous point..“
Mittellandzeitung, Berne, Switzerland, June 8th, 2007
SEDUCTIVE ART, EXTREMELY LOPSIDED
...poetic dance theatre full of haphazard malice and absurd witticism. The language of motion – a concise and often sharp-edged abstraction of everyday gestures – is unmistakeable. It is remarkable that Drift, after long years of cooperation, is still able to come up with new and subtle distinction, thereby creating fresh interpretations of motion....which come along with a profound melancholy, but the moment some malice appears, they generate great humour. Tages-Anzeiger, Zurich, 7th December 2006
FEMININE MISCHIEF
“...Creation is made topsy-turvy, shaken up thoroughly or at least distorted and displaced....Jaccard and Rohrbach play two invented feminine comic strip characters, who metamorphosing from marionette, to vamp and then to girlfriend, lead their masculine companions up the garden path. They make the men frustrated and confused...the course of life turns into a burlesque of the closed loop: Seduction, birth, death....The blissful world of Cupids has become anarchic. ...Although ”Amours et Délices” arrives with colour and wit it is not simply about pleasure.As an intimate play with its language of movement, ranging from poetic to reckless expression, “Amours et Délices” emphasises its effect of buffoonery by demonstrating to its audience life for once as feminine coquetry. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich, 07.12.06
COUPLE
“....A feast for the eyes. ..’Amours et Délices’ is a playful and often acrobatic choreography....in addition to desire and endeavour, companionshipand competition between the sexes also seek a balance that is always fragile , often threatening to collapse. P.S. the leftist Zurich Daily, Zurich, December 2006
FRAGILE AUTONOMY
“...Dealing with the two worlds of men and women...If a woman glances suddenly at a man he will be electrified, as if possessing the wrong polarity,...inclose-up, a tragic aggressiveness can be detected. If one (man) enters (by force)a woman’s autonomy, her world even including her limbs disintegrates. The female joints then seem to hold together only with difficulty....an exciting evening...brimming with action. The Fribourg audience showed that it knows to appreciate quality and originality....” Freiburger Nachrichten, Fribourg 27th November 2006
SURREAL “MOTION PICTURES”, ALL IN RED
“...The initial interpretation is instantly thwarted. Subtle clownery is followed by lusty pranks, acrobatic scuffles by minimal allusions, hectic stress by contemplative concentration, virtuosic body control by maladroit clumsiness, the self-assured demonstration of strength by total exhaustion.... Der Landbote, Zurich, 7th December 2006
IN THE THEATRE NUITHONIE DRIFT DANCES A COMEDY OF THE SEXES
“...All of the ‘driftesque’ art becomes evident in this production. The extreme precision in the movement sequencies, as well as the very far-reaching deconstruction of everyday gestures create a dreamlike and a touching effect. The choreography often has a sensual appeal and ensures that bodies combine with increasing enthusiasm, until suddenly a plethora of meanings stem from those motions. And all this takes place in a lighting design of absolute perfection....Drift draws much of its inspiration from contemporary theatre. And in this respect the Compagnie was absolutely overwhelming yesterday.When the four female dancers adopt a burlesque character, they are absolutely irresistible. Seduction, a witty summary of life from birth to death and an unintelligible torrent of words is brought to the stage by means of extremely precise burlesque gestures and mime....In addition, the plot of“Amours et Délices” is well-conceived, has no longueurs, but a progressive dramatic development.....This production funny, inspired and definitive merits its applause. The audience at the Nuithonie reacted with extended ovations...” La Liberté, Fribourg, 25th November 2006