On 27 August 2008 at the Zeeland Nazomerfestival we premiered the performance Wave, coproduced by Station Zuid and Sylvain Émard Danse, with additional financing from the Grand Théâtre de Lorient (France) and Usine C (Canada).
‘Wave’ is a choreography for five female dance virtuosos and forms the closing part of the triptych Climatology of Bodies that started with Pluie (2004) and was followed by Temps de Chien (2005). This piece does not reject the current climatological circumstances or the future expectations for them, but instead explores our ability and desire to melt together with and become part of an ever-growing multi-dimensional environment. A world that seems to be gathering speed at a furious pace.
During the summer of 2007, Station Zuid presented the site-specific performance Seven by 2 at theatre festival Boulevard, Cultura Nova and the Zeeland Nazomerfestival. For this show, Sylvain Émard and Andre Gringras each created a choreography. The co-production of Wave offered us the opportunity to continue our successful collaboration with one of them. Not a large-scale summer production, but a mainstage show created mainly in Canada, with a final montage and premiere in Zeeland. Marc Vlemmix was involved in the conceptual preparations for this performance in the year leading up to the premiere.
One of our aims in playing the summer festivals is to profit from the opportunities they offer for reaching out to new audiences. And so, Seven by 2’s great success with audiences was part of the reason for inviting Sylvain back to our summer festivals. The collaboration also fits in with the growing trend of co-producing in an international context: continuing a fruitful collaboration, financing an interesting production and guaranteeing international exposure, an international tour and an international character.
Because of the fact that this production was played on the main stage within the theatre instead of at an out-of-the-ordinary location, it fell slightly outside the profile of the Zeeland festival, which led to disappointing attendance numbers. The performance itself, created as it was outside the Netherlands, did not sufficiently exude the character of Station Zuid. Wave is a very precisely constructed performance, highly refined in its lighting and visuals, but lacking in body where energy and involvement are concerned. It is an aesthetically exquisite performance, but rather like a picture that passes before your eyes without piercing your consciousness.
“The audience sees five excellent female dancers in almost surreal surroundings, appearing and disappearing between three square screens that magically display light and video images. Their movements alternate between graceful and blunt, fluctuating between fusion and separation, attraction and rejection. The process receives impulses from the elusive chain of music and sounds composed by Michel F. Côté, of which the silence halfway through is the most compelling moment. With his splendid unity of image, light, sound and dance, Emard once again succeeds at enchanting us. What it means is ultimately less important. What spectators should do is let this Wave wash over them.” PZC, 28 augustus 2008
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