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Interview with Brice Leroux, part 2: Choreographing bodies and spaces

Posted by body pixel on April 1, 2010 at 9:00pm
This is the second part of the interview with choreographer and dancer Brice Leroux. Read the first part here: Interview with Brice Leroux, part 1, Dancing lumino kinetics

Electron-positron interaction from Continum by Brice Leroux


Could you describe a little bit the processes of your work from the beginning…

BL: I guess it depends on every process in particular. Of course, it’s always the first initial point, and it's about the movement and about the perception of this movement. So, I work on certain parameter of movement and then I’m trying to magnify the perception of this for the viewer.

Usually, it’s a physical process. First, it’s about what are your physical cababilities and how far can you go with it? The idea by itself is not important enough; it’s about how we are going with it? How far you’re going to bring it? And about the training with dancers

It’s a long process of building a technique, actually. Of course, it’s not only about us in the studio as performers, but also about the audience. I think that this experience of watching is important. Then, it’s a lot about the scenography, and the light and the costume. How it’s going to allow the audience to focus on the performance. This focusing is important. And I think that these experiments are a mayor issue, although they are not sensing physical experience, it’s about the perception.


Electron-positron interaction from Continum by Brice Leroux


I guess that’s how the process goes and I’m trying to take away everything that is not necessary for the experience, both for the ‘doer’ and for the viewer. On this way you can have full experience and really focus on what we are really doing.

What about these technical parameters? Because you’re using many elements that are based on science… in your work scenography takes an important place, it’s a huge element in your language… basically, the light is dancing, the sound is dancing…

BL: Right! Yeah, as a choreographer I feel as much as a visual artist then a choreographer. Because it’s about the perception of the movement. In this sense I feel like a visual artist and in a way, for me choreography should be a part of visual art. It’s working with the perception, what is specific here we have perception on human movement.

I’m focusing as much on the perception of the movement then on the movement. Of course, I’m also doing costumes, lights, scenography… for me all of these are part of my job, because it’s about the perception of the movement. I have never collaborated with a visual artist for instance, or with a scenographer, or costume designer…


LED cube, photo taken from Instructables


So, you are doing everything by yourself?

BL: Yes! But for me it's much more coherent this way, because I can't work on the movement and then let someone else to show it the way they want. I don’t want to work with visual artists who haven’t been through the whole process and decided randomly to pick up some element. This aspect is gonna magnify or hide somehow. I’m responsible for this, and on this way I’m the scenographer, and the costume designer, light designer, because it’s a part of the process.

It has to be me, who goes through all these processes, otherwise it can’t be coherent. It goes along the creation; all these aspects are going to be parallel works. For instance, I can’t work on the movement and then wander how I’m going to show this, it’s all the part of the same process.

I’m working on the light little by little as much as with the movement. It’s all part of the same process, it can’t be divided for me, and it would be totally incoherent to work on the movement and then let someone else decide how it’s gonna be shown.

Continum by Brice Leroux (c)


What are you seeking from your dancers?


BL: I want my dancers to go fully with the work. That they wanna go as far as they can building up a new technique every time with a new project, and not being afraid to spend hours and hours in the studio working on one simple thing, trying to bring it as far as they can.

You have rather good connections with Bulgaria? One of the company member is Bulgarian contemporary dancer Krassen Krastev...

BL: This just happened like this. Somehow I ended up in Bulgaria long time ago. I guess that was in 1992, if I’m correct, because I have won this Paris competition as a dancer. That was an arrangement with this competition, which is mostly ballet actually, I won it with contemporary dance, but it just happened that there was no first prize for ballet…

So, they have invited me in Varna to show my work. Of course, it was in the early nineties, still post communism situation, especially in Bulgaria; and there were mostly ballet happenings. I’ve felt a little bit like an alien in the middle of those things. I have showed them a quite contemporary solo in the middle of TuTu’s and point shoes, and Paquitas' and Copelias’… (laughs) which was really weird and I felt like most of the people were wondering what is this weird thing they were watching?


Continum by Brice Leroux (c)


But there were actually few people; somehow it seems that it opened a lot their view on what was possible. Although, maybe for three or four person in the audience. For me that was really a strong experience to see that I could touch few people, and that my work has changed their artistic lives.

That was quite intense experience. One of these few people was Krassen. When he saw my work, he founded contemporary dance company in Bulgaria, which was the first. So, it felt like there was some kind of connection. Few years later we met again and I proposed him to dance for me, and since then we have been collaborating and it’s been a great collaboration.

What artists did inspire you in your work?

BL: It’s hard to say. There are a lot of artists that I really like. But in my work, I tend to avoid influences because I’m trying to build what I think choreographic work should be. I don’t want to take it for granted that this is dance and I should go for this.

I’m trying to build my own ideas on what contemporary dance, choreographic composition should be for me. Yeah, I don’t feel any influences. I find the work I’m doing as I’m being completely within and that’s the way it should be.

Led Fiber Optics


What do you think about technology in dance?

BL: It’s just a tool. It’s not interesting by itself for me. I don’t need amazing technology. Actually for this solo, it’s the first time that I’m using some sort of new technology which is really simple. It was just this idea that the source light is lighting an object, but the object is being lit by itself, it’s the object itself that is giving light. And for this I had to investigate in new technology and I ended up working with this electronic luminescence which is kind of new.

Actually, it was really complicated to build this show because it was new, you don’t have a lot of information how this thing is going to work. That was the big part of the process to discover how this is working. There was not a lot of information on this. But it's just a tool, it could be something else. In other shows, I’m only using what’s already in the theatre. I’m not using a lot actually, just few lights most of people are using and I’m trying to get the most out of it.

Continum by Brice Leroux (c)


With this performance 'Solo#2-Fréquences' it was a little bit different. I wanted to use something we are bringing by ourselves. We have our lights; we have our curtains, the scenography that we are bringing with. In this situation when everybody is so close and all around you can not hide the source of light. So, then I needed to have light but not coming from outside. The source of light needed to be hidden, from every point of view. But it was just a tool to go where I wanted to go.

Do you work at the moment on some new piece?

BL: Yeah, I'm coming back to the trajectories in the space. Actually, I'm focusing more on bodies moving in the space and the interaction between the bodies. Rather then the movement of the body in one place, like in the 'Solo#2-Fréquences', where the body is not moving in the space. Then it's about the articulations of the body. I'm coming back more to trajectories and I would like to work now with more people. And again using the theatre context, front stage, big venues… we'll see how it goes…

Thank you, Brice!


Read the first part here: Interview with Brice Leroux, part 1, Dancing lumino kinetics


(Originally published on BodyPixel)
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Interview with Brice Leroux, part 1: Dancing lumino kinetics

Posted by body pixel on April 1, 2010 at 9:00pm
French choreographer and dancer Brice Leroux presented in February his lumino kinetic dance piece 'Solo#2-Fréquences' at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb. The guest performance was organized by Eurokaz – The International Festival of New Theatre.


Photo of Brice Leroux by Sandra Piretti (c)



Brice Leroux (b. 1974) graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Lyon in 1992. For his First Solo he received a prize for best contemporary dancer at the Paris International Dance Competition and the Gold Medal of the city of Paris. In 1992 he was awarded a scholarship by the American Dance Festival in North Carolina and completed his training in New York at the studios of Trisha Brown and Merce Cunningham.

In 1994 he moved to Brussels to dance with Rosas. Three years later Brice Leroux decided to give up this work and decided to the study of Musicology and Ethnomusicology at the University of Paris VIII. He worked with David Hernandez, George Alexander Van Dam (violinist in the Ictus Ensemble), Sarah Chase, Jean-Luc Ducourt and others.

In his work 'Solo#2-Fréquences' Leroux uses mathematical schemes applied on movements, LED art, and sound tempo. It's a poetic science on trajectories in space. Brice Leroux is a fascinating and uncompromising choreographer; and he doesn't care much about the establishment, but is fully committed to the processes of work.

Brice Leroux: Continum, photo by Wolfgang Kirchner (c)


Therefore, here is Brice Leroux to tell us more on his art_space_sound_body articulations...

Let's start with your education and interest in dance…

BL: First I've been trained as a ballet dancer. I guess like a lot of dancers, I was being educated like this till the age of sixteen and then I oriented myself to contemporary dance. I’ve studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Lyon. Afterwards, I left for the States to study a bit with the Cunningham Studio and with dancers of Trisha Brown Company. Voila! That’s about it, I’m mainly dance trained…

I’m very interested in your American experiences, because techniques by Merce Cunningham and Trisha Brown are slightly different… What was it like to work with them?

BL: Right! Well, it’s true, the movements are very different in these two techniques, kind of opposite. For instance, Merce Cunningham did everything as a sort of geometry, whilst in Trisha Brown’s technique everything is more free and more like fluid forms. Trisha’s movements were actually informal in a way.

But at the same time, what was interesting to me was the fact that these techniques are really working mostly on the movement. And there is nothing theatrical in it, a dancer is a dancer and dancers are really not pretending to do something, just letting their bodies to work.



Photo: Gravitations by Brice Leroux (c)


I guess, some people would call it abstraction, but I don’t think it’s really abstract, because it’s still a human person doing it. So, I think there is still a possibility for the empathy for the viewer.

It can’t be abstract and for me really is important to define the art of dancing in a way. Like really playing with your body which is totally something else then being an actor, like pretending to live something else. I don’t feel like I’m pretending anything, I’m just playing with my body and I’m living the sensations it gives me, hoping that this is also 'lived' by the viewer, I guess.

Seems that you are interested lately more in corporal work and kind of minimalism… Is there anything that has triggered this interest particularly? When did you decide to do this kind of aesthetics?

BL: Well, I was just trying to learn as a composer. I guess I needed to focus on one figure at the time. I didn’t study choreography for instance, compositions and these kinds of things. My way of working is actually studying every aspect of what composition is. For instance, if I would work on trajectories in space that’s enough for me to focus on, without a need to also work on arms movement for instance or something else.

For me, there is my own 'composition' I work on and then, I work for the viewer… because I’m also trying to create things to let the viewer see this work on trajectories.



Gravitations-quatuor


Therefore, everything out of that I'm moving away to show what I want to see. Hence, I’m working on what’s necessary and what’s enough.
I’m not interested in minimalism itself. I’m just interested to focus on one aspect of compositions, if it’s already a full work, that's enough and I don't have to mix everything.

As for the viewer, I wanna show the specific thing I’m working on. I’m dividing it into parameters, only working on certain parameters at time.

What is your relation as a choreographer to the space… to theatre space? More precisely, how do you treat space in your work?

BL: Um, that’s a large question. As for theatre space, I started experimenting with space more like Trisha (Brown), having more events in site specific spaces. Afterwards, I started to go to theatres and then working in some propositions this space gave me, for instance: What is a block box? What is a frontal perception of the audience?

Solo#2-Fréquences by Brice Leroux (c)


Well, in this performance 'Solo#2-Fréquences', the audience is all around and it's a little bit different. I’m trying to use what's in the theatre and what’s interesting in this situation, the audience is sitting in front of it, in the dark, there are no other stimuli and it’s a live show, it’s direct and you know that’s not an image. A human body in front of them, and that’s a specific situation that I want to work with.

In terms of space, what’s interesting for me is the space between bodies. If you are only working with trajectories, the distance between bodies and how they come close or get far from each other. In a way, what’s really visible for me is happening between space and that’s what I’m trying to work on.

OK, now we can switch to music and the importance of the sound in your work. You studied ethnomusicology and came into contact with other cultures through traditional dances ... Why did you decide to go in that direction?

BL: Traditional dances were interesting to me because you are entering the field that's not about the style, specific style that has been built by some choreographer, but was built over the years, decades, centuries.

Photo: Olivier Matterlart (c) from Quantum-Quintet by Brice Leroux


There are really coherent forms that somehow attracted me to study them and to see what style actually is? You can do the movement with it, like for instance, if you would ask a ballet dancer to do a movement or if you would ask an African dancer to do exactly the same, it’s not going to be the same thing at all. This is what interests me. What are these differences in the way of doing things? And for me, these differences are style, so researching on this was important. Body movements are not only shapes, it’s also a way of doing it.

For me that was a way to go toward the source of the pleasure of the movement. It wasn't being built by someone thinking about what movement should be, it’s just something that has been built up over the centuries, something that is very coherent within the society and just a basic pleasure of what dancing is.

Photo: Olivier Matterlart (c) from Quantum-Quintet by Brice Leroux


Yeah, I know... many people very often use these terms like, lets make now a Forsythe movement, or a Cunningham movement… what about non labeled body and movement?

BL: Yeah, I didn’t want to create my style based on taste. For me that was training, too. As a dancer, I wanted to have all these experiences. But, I don’t wanna be imprisoned with a certain style that I would have to study more then others. I wanted this range of obvious possibilities and from this point, my work is about not deciding on style.

I’ve never decided to use a movement because I think: oh this is nice, so I would do this. So, I’m building this compositional mathematics in order to avoid this. There is some sort of logic and coherence with the project rather then a decision of taste.

I guess, that’s what I’m trying to do, which is somehow opposite to traditional dances. But because it’s opposite, I was really interested in this. I needed to go through all these things to pull away from this, I guess.

Read the second part of the interview with Brice Leroux: Choreographing bodies and spaces

(Originally published on Body Pixel)
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Interview with Maja Drobac: Dancing between East and West

Posted by body pixel on September 17, 2009 at 2:00pm
Dancer and choreographer Maja Drobac could be with certainty described as multi-talented artist... she expresses herself, parallel with dance, in the fields of photography and writing, too...

Portrait of Maja Drobac by Srikanth Kolari (c)

She is a world traveller and culture explorer that really enjoys to dance between cultures…Maja Drobac is a graduated dancer from Amsterdamse Hoogelschoole voor de Kunsten (Theaterschool in Amsterdam) since 2005. She did her stage for one year with Magpie Music and Dance company, an improvisation company based in Amsterdam. She has presented ‘Satu’ (a dance video) as her first independent project as part of Magpie Company.

Portrait of Maja Drobac by Srikanth Kolari (c)

Performance ‘Squirrels on the loose’ with contemporary dancers Darija Dozdor and Ognjen Vucinic was her first independent project made for theatre stage. She is studying Bharatanatyam (Classical Indian Dance) since 2005. This summer Maja presented two dance pieces: Spirit (prone to change) with Studio for Contemporary Dance and solo work Vipassana.I also had an opportunity to see her dancing Bharatanatyam… Hence, I find her artworkz, experiences and attitude to be very moving…

Photo from Vipassana by Srikanth Kolari (c)

First you were trained in contemporary dance, and then in soft Chinese martial art Taiji Quan, afterwards you picked up Bharatanatyam dance, instead of Wu Dang martial art… obviously you’re dancing between two cultures…MD: They say if nothing goes right, you have no other choice but to turn left. I believe some of us are just wired by the polarities of the differences. Which makes me not an exception.I know that all styles interfere your imagination and creativity, but I’m curious… when you are choreographing do you make difference in a sense of, you know, doing a piece which is more based on Western or Eastern approach?MD: If I am asked to do a pure form of contemporary dance for example, of course I will have my focus on western techniques… yet I don’t believe one can ever deny or escape his relieved experience. Even with conscious switch in mind and body, and focus on pure technique, there is always that something that makes us who we are, self special and unique… and if some people recognize it in me as pieces of West and East… than maybe that’s what it is. I never really thought of it, nor am I thinking about it when I am choreographing.

Photo from Bharatanatyam recital by Srikanth Kolari (c)

Usually I have an idea, and different ways of expressing it are just different paths I have crossed or am crossing at the moment. I mean, we all are East and West, North and South… and all the connections in between. I don’t feel green bamboos are more East than Christmas tree, though one can recognise it like that. Or if I jump around like a kangaroo, that action will make me Southern and being all dressed in white will make me Northern. Still… there are certain forms of dance, and/or movement that are characteristic for certain parts of the world. But to be honest, unless I am specifically asked to make a difference, I myself don’t make a difference in the choreography… I only use the movement if it means something to me. Or if the body can express something meaningful by it.

Maja Drobac in ‘Squirrels on the loose’, photo by: D. Gavran (c)

How would you describe your working processes when you are dancing as solo performer and when you do choreographies for other dancers?MD: It is a totally different approach. There are different ways of choreographing, and I am not sure I am an expert in any. I just go with the flow, and where my personal drive takes me. Doing a solo is the hardest, yet easy to think the easiest task to accomplish. You can play with yourself, and there is nobody to control you or say they can’t do what you ask for.At the same time, I find it very hard to observe myself. To choose what is better or more interesting to use as a movement. In this sense, I think my true heart will always be an improviser. I can feel myself in body only if I improvise. For the rest, if the material is set, then it is very much textual. I choreograph it in sentences. So that I can be sure I know what I am saying. I make very clear choices about where my dots, or comas, or exclamation marks are.Working with other dancers, on the other hand, is like taking a trip to an unknown country. It is so much an observation directed method than just clear choreography. If there is a right click in between a dancer and me… then I just allow that dancer to do what ever he/she wants, and I just try to make photos of the moments I find most intriguing, and we put it together in a sentence. I find it very hard when I am asked to choreograph and transfer the material to the dancers. It’s just that my body is very different from other bodies and it is very hard to find two bodies with the same experience. It may work nicely in a very technically based company, but it would also require the choreographer to be trained in the same technique, or at least have the time to introduce dancers with his/her body quality.

Photo from Vipassana by Srikanth Kolari (c)

Could you describe a little bit days you have spent in India while learning Bharatanatyam…MD: The first time I came to India it was entering not just another continent and different culture, it was like a discovering a complete new universe. I lived in Gurukulam, at the top of the hill, where most of the time we didn’t even have the basic facilities like water or electricity… some times there was not even food enough.At the same time, classes were very much intense and demanded abnormal discipline for someone who has never done Bharatanatyam in her life, and who all of a sudden had to dance shoulder to shoulder with dancers doing it all their lives. I had to wear only Indian clothes (saris or churidars), eat with my hands (rice three times a day), wash my saris hitting them on the stone at the back of our house and then just splashing them with little bit of water… We were not allowed to talk with boys alone, not allowed to leave the campus walls without special approval, our days were very determined by the schedule and the will of our gurus. Not to mention being locked on the first floor from 9pm till 4.30am.

Photo from Bharatanatyam solo by Srikanth Kolari (c)

It is funny to notice, but nothing I experienced before in my life could help me go though this military training, except classical ballet. Movement was something that was so much part of their daily life, and so far away from anything I have ever experienced in my body, so after a while I started noticing some similarities with ballet. There is a clear structure, and if you don’t know your body well, you can get easily hurt or lost in your own movements.Later I have joined a school in Bangalore, which was something totally different. My guru lives in the city and although Bharatanatyam is a very traditional and disciplined art, and you can see it in the class or on the stage, life in the city was much easier than on the hill. Though, life in the hill after a while became closer to my inner self from the life I led in the city. But living both was maybe the cocktail of who I am today.Anyway… it was not easy the first time, there were times I was so ready to pack my bag and run back to Europe. It took me long to accept India.

Photo from Bharatanatyam recital by Srikanth Kolari (c)

You needed about six months to accept this…MD: Yeah, about six months. And it’s a solid piece of time. I started my studies with three more girls who came from abroad, out of which two were of Indian origin so very well accustomed to Indian culture. But nobody lasted longer than few months. After they left, I really had no other choice but to come closer to India and Indians. I couldn’t talk to anyone, share anything with anyone… nobody understood anything of what I was saying or what I was trying to express. It was in fact, the moment I have started to live India. When She (India) became my only true companion.My ballet teacher who lives in India as well told me once that not everyone can survive India, since She is definitely finding the way how to confront you with the worse and the best in side of yourself on a daily base. After few years there I still haven’t stopped being smacked to my face from time to time with the new realizations of myself, and the world around me.

Photo from Vipassana by Srikanth Kolari (c)

When did this happen… this complete cultural acceptance?MD: I went to my friend’s house for a month. We had two weeks free from school, but I stayed one month. They just didn’t let me go back. Even when I think about it now, it still stays so clear in my thought. They didn’t speak English, but they were so engaged to teach me Malayalam, the language spoken in Kerala. They spent weeks just talking to me, wanting to know more about my culture, at the same time making me feel part of their Malu culture.I was very much interested about the plants they had in their garden, so my friend’s father presented me with the books on traditional Indian medicine, Ayurveda and Swami Vivekananda’s books. Her mother helped me prepare different kind of herbal medicines for the members of the family; it was a life I never lived before. My day was involved about preparing tea or meals, or helping with the house work, or just being on my own on their roof and learning about Indian medicine, history and spiritualism. It was so simple that it occupied my whole being. They treated me as their own daughter, and I don’t think I have ever felt so much respect and love coming from so much simplicity.Even on the train back to Gurukulam my role was so clear with my friend. I was an older sister returning to school, we were really there to take care of each other. It was the moment when it hit me; the phase of surveillance stopped and living begun.

From performance ‘Kanda’ by Veena Basavarajaiah and Mirra Photo by Maja Drobac (c)

The question of ‘normality’ (whatever it means) rises up…MD: Yes, because of what actually means to be normal in one particular culture?! Something that is perfectly normal in Zagreb could be completely odd for instance in China. I think we have to tend the oddity because it enables us to be more adaptable to different cultures. So many people were asking me to explain them how I felt while I was in India, but each time I would write or speak to them, they would always finished the sentence with the words: “Ok, now tell us how you really feel.” I don’t think we are able to speak out the changes that are happening to us if we are still in the process of changing. If I was really and truly changed, I don’t think I would be the first one to notice.This is how you got drowned into Bharatanatyam completely… not explaining but accepting…MD: Even up to now, I was never explained anything about India. There is a beautiful Japanese saying my first Sansei used to tell me: “Everything I ever learned, I owe to my teacher who never explained me anything.” Indians live their art. It is so much part of their beings. It is of course departing from them as well, especially in the big cities like Bangalore, Bombay, unfortunately even Chennai, though Tamilians are still the most involved with their culture and they are trying to nourish it even today. Young people are trying to approach Western models of life, and there is simply no time anymore for all the rituals and dedication that were done even by their parents on the regular base.My teacher was never explained why Lord Rama holds a bow in his left hand, and arrow in his right. And it can’t be the other way around. She has lived with the statues of Lord Rama all her life… ever since she knows about herself, she knows what Lord Rama is holding in his hands. As well, Bharatanatyam is danced on lyrics. There is a clear story behind which is sung by a singer.

Photo from Bharatanatyam solo by Srikanth Kolari (c)

It became so clear to me that dance is the oldest art form existing. Older even from drawing and maybe even music. Though I believe movement and sound can’t be really separated one from another. People used to get in touch with divinity by moving their bodies. Getting into the trans.After living in a country where first few months I could communicate only by moving my body, I became perceptive to movement and I threw away the dance. Natural constellations exist without us being aware of them. They are ready made choreographies improvised on spot. What we call today instant compositions, are nothing more but becoming aware of the space we are part of. Choreographies exist in space without us making them. But when we do catch them, and transfer them onto the stage… than we are talking about theatre, or art.

Photo: Jogulabhavi Satyava Temple by Maja Drobac (c)

Beside heavy work, what would you highlight in your experience with Indian tradition in the context of dance?MD: I had a privilege to visit quarters indented only for females in Indian tradition. Nobody else is allowed to enter. This is something I will always keep and bear with me. When I’m wearing Sari I’m wearing something that is deeply related to my experiences in India. Something that is part of me now.

From performance ‘Kanda’ by Veena Basavarajaiah and Mirra Photo by Maja Drobac (c)

You have spent a month in the jungle in Ands, how did that experience change the way you perceive things?MD: I didn’t care about anything but elemental things like keeping the fire up, finding food for today, washing the pots and so. Most of my time was spent while sitting on the ground, underneath the tree, looking at the performance by facing the nature. There is no similar way of seeing things, no similar way of sitting or moving, even if you are picking the same spot over and over again, because every time something else will happen. Heraclites wrote: “You can’t enter the same river twice”. It is rather fascinating when you realise that is so true.

From ‘Escalator Clause’ choreographed by Veena Basavarajaiah Photo by Maja Drobac (c)

You are very talented for photography and writing, do you plan to work more in these directions?MD: I wouldn’t say I am talented in any form, I just love what I do, and I do what I want. It happens very often that I get overstuffed with certain things if I do only them. I need space, and freedom to explore and change, and be different, and just look at life from different corners. So when I get tired of listening to myself, I start writing so I can read myself. If I dance too much I really need to have a break and grab a camera and go somewhere and just freeze the movements that I find moving so fast when I move against it.It might sound very hippy saying my directions are orientated by the wind… but that is honestly how I feel.

From ‘Escalator Clause’ choreographed by Veena Basavarajaiah Photo by Maja Drobac (c)

As a world traveler give us some advices and several tips for trips, for instance in India or South America jungles…MD: Consult with someone more experienced than me before you go.Thanks a lot, Maja!p.s. Srikanth Kolari often travels with Maja… an amazing photographer who is a part of Asian Motion, Cambodia’s first photography agency… don’t miss this link… amazing photos…(This interview was originaly published on blog Personal Cyber Botanica)
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Interview with Jasmina Prolic: Dancer on Sound Wires

Posted by body pixel on May 24, 2009 at 11:30am
Jasmina Prolic’s latest project ‘Julie(t)- duet in absentia’ deals with technology versus body interrelations… elusive moments and impulses between sexes…The performance she choreographed and performed was collaboration with multimedia artist Hubert Pichot, known for his project ‘Try Me’ Rolling Chair Jockey - RCJ which he had introduced at the iMAL’s OpenLAB Projects in Belgium three years ago. About what Pichot said back then: ‘RCJ (music and vidéo compatible) is an electric rolling chair with sensors measuring its move and acceleration, and also some of the moves of its user. A computer processes the sensors data and generates images and sounds. The person using the chair becomes a sort of conductor controlling an audiovisual creation through his/her moves in and with the chair.’

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

Along with this line Hubert Pichot designed an experimental wearable sound device for dancer in order to give her a tool for generating soundz connected with her movements via bending wires and pick ups through accelerometers to computer and mixer at the end.Jasmina Prolic dances 'tuned on' with minimal, transcendental movements at the beginning, which grows up as the dramaturgical structures are growing too, into rhythmically more completed textures…

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

The piece is fragmented into smaller parts which are developed through wordz / dialogues with a man ‘behind’ the ‘technological wall’ emanating himself through video installation and complex DIY electronic sound device letting different sounds to come out depending on dancer’s moves. It’s a kind of a sound mapping of their virtual communication based on practical physics (more precisely micro-kinetics) - her dancing.

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

Although, the use of such devices could be constraining for the performer, seems like Hubert did a great job with his real-time sound device, Jasmina Prolic accepted it superbly as part of her body, mainly because it’s a communication tool between human being and entity of electronic nature, if you understand it banally.Prolic deploys a sort of micro-inquiring within her body narration and technique creating an artwork of emotional depth… She is questioning the issues of being emotional and physical attached via technology to another person, and the possibilities of having the same relation as if this person would be made of flash and blood…

Because of choreographer’s intention to go further the whole story is not finishing with a pair of lovers running through the meadow into each others arms… But seems like this whole ‘wired’ love is functioning with some boundaries… which leads you to the point where, as a viewer, you can realize that lots of thingz in our lives turned out in some direction because of our previous expectations… Can we accept relations with ‘entities’ and being emotionally involved with… well, actually we already live this life without even perceiving it, or maybe we all like to live in certain oblivion…

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

Jasmina Prolic is a Sarajevo ex-ballet girl on her ‘movable’ life journey, heavily ‘spiced’ with contemporary dance, in France… At the beginning of 90’s Jasmina was already an award winning ballet dancer and member of Sarajevo’s National Ballet Ensemble … but due to terrible thingz which started to happen in Bosnia at that time, she first found refuge in Zagreb, and then she entered at The National Superior Conservatoire of Dance and Music of Paris in order to study Contemporary Dance.Her graduation dance piece was her first solo work ‘Sarajevo, 25th of April 10 o’clock in the morning or Why?’. Jasmina Prolic has received Award for French Young Choreographers in 1999; she was a member of the Junior Ballet of the CNSMDP from 1996-97, which followed the residency - danceweber at DanceWeb Project within ImpulsTanz in Vienna in 1998. Artists she had collaborated with are: Jean Claude Gallota, Maguy Marin, Joachim Schlomer, Palle Granhoj, Gildas Zepffel, Gildas Bourdet, Balazs Gera, Maja Pavlovska, Szilard Mezei, Albert Markos, Henrik Jaspersen et Ko de Regt (Duo Resonante), Jérome Poret etc.

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

Lucid choreographer Joseph Nadj invited her in 2002 to base her very own dance company in Orléans (France), which was initially a new trigger in her carrier, not just for her solo artworkz but for promoting younf dancers and companies from South Eastern Region… Jasmina Prolic is spending a lot of time on givin’ dance workshops and classes in this region…From 2007 she is an art consultant for Nomad Dance Academy regional network presenting the Bosnian organisation for contemporary dance Tanzelarija; and she have an active participating role in the Balkan Dance Network and IETM. She’s the organizer of ‘Choreographic Meetings of the Balkans’ dance event with the National Choreographic Centre of Orléans and National Scene of Orléans in France. Jasmina is artistic director of the First Bosnian Contemporary Dance Festival ZVRK in Sarajevo.

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

After such a technical complex dance piece ‘Julie(t)- duet in absentia’ with a dancer immersed deeply in the theme, I couldn’t resist not inviting Jasmina for a small talk on her solo work… technology… about her challenges…about ZVRK … and all that stuff…Hi, Jasmina! Could you please tell me something about that how did you first get involved with technology? Something that actually can’t be controlled in a way you can control your own body and expressiveness…J: Hubert Pichot and I met while working together on the theatre production in February 2006. Then he introduced me with his technological stuff and expressed a wish to work with a dancer in order to create a live instrument!!! He said he would like to work on Romeo and Juliet by Prokofjev, but I replied that Romeo and Juliet that I think off are written by Shakespeare. In that sense I was ready to enter the adventure of exploration for a live instrument, not being interested in the love story, but in the conflict and all that destroyed love.

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

Are you planning to work or develop the same working process within ‘Julie(t)- duet in absentia’ or some other future performance?J: The work with Juliet isn’t finished yet; we’re still developing and rethinking this piece. Maybe, if I will feel the urge, I’ll provoke something similar in some other project.In your opinion, what is the perspective of a human moveable body through dance in the context of technology?J: Well, there are so many things in that context that need to be discovered. It also depends a lot on what you want to express, in what direction you want to develop and what kind of message to send.Do you think that you can expand your possibilities as a dancer by using experimental performing devices, DIY tools, data sensors and so?J: These devices push you in some very different ways to use your body and to develop conscience about some still undiscovered parts and possibilities. But, they influence your style also.

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

Josef Nadj has inspirited you with invitation to work and base your dance company in Orleans…J: I can only thank him for everything.What do you give to dancers on one side and learn from them on other side in your international classes?J: When I teach, first of all I give respect and get human quality. Sometimes, I learn everything from the beginning…What could you tell me about the development of dance scene at the moment in South Eastern Europe, in the European context?J: Although I am not completely familiar with the whole South-East European scene; dancers and choreographers that I do know can with confidence stand side by side in the European context.

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

The first Bosnian Festival for Contemporary Dance took place in September in Sarajevo… That’s great news for young people willing to expand their experiences in the field of contemporary dance, but also for society and the city of Sarajevo in general… How do you see the future of the scene that will certainly emerge from it in ten, twenty years from now?J: Who could know how the scene will look like tomorrow, not to say in ten or twenty years! (laughs).I only hope that something has finally been moved. This first edition convinced us of the great need for this kind of events in the contemporary societies; so we can’t give up. Dance makes you free and gives you a chance for interaction. There are no limits and that is what we really need.In any case, it won’t be easy, but it never is in Bosnia and Herzegovina! ‘Nice and easy’ approach. And maybe the standing tomb-stones will revive through our bodies; they’ll become off petrified and therefore even nicer and stronger.Jasmina, thanks!p.s. Bosnia and Herzegovina is well known for archaeological sites of medieval tomb-stones.(This blog post was originally posted on Personal Cyber Botanica at www.lomodeedee.com)
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