Hundreds of carnations on stage for LG Arts Middle’s twenty fifth anniversary
When a choreographer dies, their artwork lingers within the recollections of those that moved with them, within the steps and actions handed down by generations of dancers, and turns into a part of the corporate’s repertoire.
Proper now, few embody that course of as vividly as Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, an organization that continues to hold the legacy of its founder, the late German choreographer Pina Bausch, greater than a decade after her loss of life — this time with a brand new technology of dancers who’ve by no means labored together with her in individual.
This week, the corporate returns to Seoul to restage one among Bausch’s most iconic works, “Nelken (Carnations),” on the LG Arts Middle from Thursday to Sunday, adopted by performances on the Sejong Artwork Middle in Sejong Metropolis on Nov. 14-15. The manufacturing marks a homecoming of kinds: “Nelken” (1982) was first launched to Korean audiences in 2000 as a part of the LG Arts Middle’s inaugural season. Now, 25 years later, it hopes to bloom once more on the identical stage with a brand new technology of dancers and audiences.
At a press convention in Seoul on Tuesday, the corporate’s creative and government director, Daniel Siekhaus, acknowledged each the problem and the privilege of reviving a piece so deeply tied to its creator’s spirit, particularly one whose course of was constructed on dialogue between the choreographer and her dancers.
“Fairly often within the inventive course of with (Pina) Bausch, she would ask inquiries to the dancers and, so, how the scenes had been created typically has to do with what occurred between on this very particular group of individuals, how they’re responding,” stated Siekhaus.
“I believe the human facet is a very powerful. Transmission goes from an artist to an artist,” he added. “So I believe it is important to have dancers with a wealth of expertise who come into the rehearsal room and who recreate the items with a younger and new technology of dancers.”
Premiered in 1982, “Nelken” unfolds on a stage blanketed with hundreds of carnations (on this model, some 9,000 flowers). The dreamlike panorama turns into a battleground as dancers march, fall and rise once more, blurring the road between magnificence and brutality. The piece, typically described as a meditation on humanity’s contradictions, stays one of many defining works of Bausch’s pioneering Tanztheater type, a up to date dance style that fuses motion, spoken phrase and theatrical components.
On this model of “Nelken,” 17 of the 19 dancers who take the stage are younger newcomers who deliver their very own method and understanding to the piece, whereas the 2 long-time firm members carry out particular roles.
Becoming a member of the piece with new titles and tasks are Eddie Martinez, who has been with Tanztheater Wuppertal for 3 a long time and now serves as one among two rehearsal administrators, and Kim Na-young, who joined the corporate in 1996 and danced within the 2000 Korean premiere. Kim returns this season as a rehearsal assistant.
“It was powerful at first,” Martinez admitted. “The load of what we had been making an attempt to attain for the corporate and for ourselves as new rehearsal administrators was fairly an enormous activity.”
Kim additionally mirrored on what it means to cross down Bausch’s work to a brand new technology.
“Every of us had a unique relationship with Pina. We discuss collectively, share our recollections and experiences from working together with her, and cross them on to the youthful dancers. Pina at all times informed us, ‘Dance, dance, in any other case we’re misplaced.’ I imagine persevering with her work means permitting a brand new technology to grasp it in their very own method and to make it their very own. That’s how her spirit continues into the longer term and that was one thing she cared about deeply.”
The corporate’s lengthy relationship with Korea can also be woven into this return. When the LG Arts Middle first opened its doorways in Yeoksam-dong in southern Seoul in 2000, it was Bausch herself who prompt “Nelken” for the venue opening, saying the piece would “deliver hope” to the fledgling stage. Over the next years, the corporate carried out eight of her works there, together with “The Ceremony of Spring” and “Masurca Fogo.” In 2005, Bausch created “Tough Reduce,” a piece commissioned by the LG Arts Middle and impressed by Seoul.
LG Arts Middle relocated to Magok-dong in southwestern Seoul in October 2022, and “Nelken” is Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch’s first efficiency on the new vanue.
LG Arts Middle CEO Lee Hyun-jung stated bringing Nelken again felt each inevitable and well timed.
“This was the primary work Bausch really useful to us 25 years in the past,” Lee stated. “It speaks about humanity, our hope, ache and resilience. Right this moment’s audiences, particularly the youthful generations, have been asking to see it once more. Watching how a brand new technology of dancers interprets her imaginative and prescient for a brand new technology of audiences might be deeply significant.”
hwangdh@heraldcorp.com
