If Only

Inventiveness, exuberance, rigour and reinvention: the dance of Thomas Hauert has developed with his company ZOO seems to have no limit other than imagination and the moment. His latest creation is articulated along two main sources of inspiration.

First the company’s film archives, in which
the choreographer and the dancers are
to immerse themselves “to re-appropriate these experimentations and intuitions for themselves” with experience and distance. And second the soundtrack based on Thirteen Harmonies (1985) by John Cage, itself a re-transcription of a larger work, Apartment House 1776, composed during celebrations of the bicentenary of American independence and based on 44 choral pieces by a group of colonial composers.

However, “far from the naive optimism and unwavering faith (in God, in oneself and in the conquest of American soil) that emanate from the original hymns, the sounds of Thirteen Harmonies become both recognisable and strange, haunted by mysterious silences, and evoking hesitation, doubt, vulnerability and regret.”

Concept & direction : Thomas Hauert // Creation & performance :Thomas Hauert, Liz Kinoshita, Sarah Ludi, Federica Porello, Samantha Van Wissen,
Mat Voorter // substitute dancer : Gabriel Schenker // Music : Thirteen Harmonies (1985), John Cage et other musics to be confirmed // Light : Bert Van Dijck // Sound : Bart Celis // Costumes : Chevalier-Masson // Stage direction: Bert Van Dijck, Chevalier-Masson, ZOO

Production : ZOO/Thomas Hauert, DC&J Création // Coproduction : Charleroi danse, Les Tanneurs, La Bâtie – Festival de Genève (en cours) // With the support of : Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles – Service de la danse, Pro Helvetia, Ein Kulturengagement des Lotterie- Fonds des Kantons Solothurn, Wallonie-Bruxelles International, Tax Shelter du Gouvernement Fédéral Belge