(© Raymond Mallentjer)
The Kunst/Werk dance organisation, run by the choreographers Marc Vanrunxt and Salva Sanchis, was given carte blanche this week at the Kaaistudio’s, where, under the header “Kunst/Werk Week”, they have been presenting a series of productions intended to illustrate the versatility of their operations. Vanrunxt, who is from Antwerp, and the Brussels-based German Arco Renz bring the week to a close on Friday with Discografie. The work is tailor-made for Rob Fordeyn, a classically trained dancer who has performed with, among others, the Royal Ballet of Flanders and the Forsythe Company. Says Vanrunxt: “After the short show I did with Fordeyn for Monty in March 2012, we felt we wanted to do more. We wanted to go more deeply into the shared material, and for longer. Plus I wanted to engage in a confrontation with Renz, whose work I didn’t know that well, to exchange ideas and investigate each other’s working methods. I really appreciate his faith in the human body and his confidence in energy, dynamism, and the colour of movement. Our performances focus more on emotion than on narration. A traditional production has a pyramidal hierarchy, with the choreographer at the top. We did away with that by working together and, in addition, we involved Fordeyn in the decisions. He is no run-of-the-mill contemporary dancer – you can see and feel his classical training in everything he does.”
Discografie: cosmopolitan choreography
(© Raymond Mallentjer)
Discografie doesn’t really have a storyline. The aim is for Fordeyn to shine on the stage. As Vanrunxt explains, “Without quotations, there is actually a short history of 20th-century dance in there. So there were a lot of ghosts passing through the studio, from Forsythe and Béjart to the expressionist dance of Mary Wigman. Renz’s love of Eastern dance, Fordeyn’s ballet background, and my punk period in the 1980s constantly show through in Discografie too. I would venture to say that we came up with a cosmopolitan production.” The androgynous nature of Fordeyn’s body is emphasised, not just in the dancing, but also in the costumes by Rick Owens. The black dresses and closely fitting ensembles come from Vanrunxt’s own collection. The term Discografie refers, obviously, to music. The emphasis is on easy-listening pop, particularly from the 1980s. Vanrunxt explains: “The title is typical Pet Shop Boys: one key word and that’s it. While inspired by their 1988 album Introspective, we didn’t want to end up with a structure of just playing one pop song after another. Daniel Vanverre designed a soundtrack with elements of synth-pop and disco. The whole sound of the Eighties, Moroder in particular and so on, flashes by. But there is big-band music, too, and long-drawn-out drones: when the pop dies down, you can hear, for example, the rumble of the New York subway. So you get a changing landscape full of loops, with a good beat when appropriate.”
MARC VANRUNXT & ARCO RENZ: DISCOGRAFIE 20/12, 20.30, €8/12/16, Kaaistudio's, Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Vaakstraat 81 rue Notre-Dame du Sommeil, Brussel/Bruxelles, 02-201.59.59, www.kaaitheater.be
Discografie doesn’t really have a storyline. The aim is for Fordeyn to shine on the stage. As Vanrunxt explains, “Without quotations, there is actually a short history of 20th-century dance in there. So there were a lot of ghosts passing through the studio, from Forsythe and Béjart to the expressionist dance of Mary Wigman. Renz’s love of Eastern dance, Fordeyn’s ballet background, and my punk period in the 1980s constantly show through in Discografie too. I would venture to say that we came up with a cosmopolitan production.” The androgynous nature of Fordeyn’s body is emphasised, not just in the dancing, but also in the costumes by Rick Owens. The black dresses and closely fitting ensembles come from Vanrunxt’s own collection. The term Discografie refers, obviously, to music. The emphasis is on easy-listening pop, particularly from the 1980s. Vanrunxt explains: “The title is typical Pet Shop Boys: one key word and that’s it. While inspired by their 1988 album Introspective, we didn’t want to end up with a structure of just playing one pop song after another. Daniel Vanverre designed a soundtrack with elements of synth-pop and disco. The whole sound of the Eighties, Moroder in particular and so on, flashes by. But there is big-band music, too, and long-drawn-out drones: when the pop dies down, you can hear, for example, the rumble of the New York subway. So you get a changing landscape full of loops, with a good beat when appropriate.”
MARC VANRUNXT & ARCO RENZ: DISCOGRAFIE 20/12, 20.30, €8/12/16, Kaaistudio's, Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Vaakstraat 81 rue Notre-Dame du Sommeil, Brussel/Bruxelles, 02-201.59.59, www.kaaitheater.be
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