Young choreographic talent gets chance at Conny Janssen Danst

Young, promising talent among choreographers deserves protection in these times of austerity. Dance group Conny Janssen Danst is committed to this with the programme 'Rotterdam Spring'. Besides work by Conny Janssen herself, the programme features choreographies by Dario Tortorelli and Loïc Perela.

Art has to be socially relevant. Otherwise we have no use for it. This is the norm in these austere times. The danger is that social relevance is interpreted in a straightforward way: social current affairs must be recognisable in a play. If it stopped there, art would become nothing more than a picture of reality.

Tortorelli's and Perela's work is certainly socially relevant, but along the diversions of imagination, eye-opening experience and feeling life force in your body. Such an experience takes you outside the theatre and opens you up to the idea that you can also look at things differently than is common, normal and self-evident. In a society that yearns for new impulses and needs to come up with quick solutions to pressing problems, this openness of thinking is sorely needed.

[Tweet "Dario Tortorelli is more than just dance maker"]

Dario Tortorelli is more than just a dance maker. 'After Nearly Land(e)scaping' incorporates elements of dance, theatre, film and installation art. Or to stay true to the title: it is almost a dance piece, almost a theatre piece, almost film, almost an installation. It escapes one particular genre every time. Tortorelli wants to evoke an image of how one experiences immortality. This can be in religion, but also through how one views a famous person. Especially idols from film and music inspire him. ,,Elvis and Marilyn Monroe, for example, achieved a form of immortality. Such a person starts as a real person and ends up as an icon. Her style lives on."

,,For this performance, film noir inspired me in particular: the atmosphere, the dark side. I work this out very concretely, but transformed to create a kind of surrealism. Someone is walking down the street. He is being chased. What fascinates me is the space between those two people. The shadows, the shapes, the figures that linger there."

Dario Tortorelli danced in five pieces by Conny Janssen. She knew his choreographic ambitions. In 2010, she saw his first study, 'Romeo Heart'. In it, he laid the ground for the character that became the common thread for his entire oeuvre. It returns in 'After Nearly Land(e)scaping'. ,,From 'Romeo Heart', I found my own style. Although classically trained myself, I work with pre-existing, recognisable images, clichés of videos, divas, pop stars, but turn them into my own visual world."

[Tweet "How do you feel when you go out on a night off and dance in a club? "]

For Loïc Perela, the question of the connection between dance and the pure sense of life is central. When making 'Dance', he started with two questions to dancers. Question 1: how do you feel when you go out on a night off and dance in a club? Question 2: how do you feel when you are working as a professional dancer? Is there a connection between the two? Do you draw from the same source in both cases?

Perela was trained in classical ballet in Marseille, a style he calls "very rich" and which he says is also formative for modern dancers.

,,For me, it's about the goal you can achieve with physical expressions. And that differs again per choreography. So developing one specific style is not my aim."

Perela welcomes the opportunity to perform at Conny Janssen Danst. After moving to the Netherlands, he danced with Scapino Ballet Rotterdam. After four seasons, he decided to go his own way and found support at Dansateliers in Rotterdam, not only for developing his artistic identity, but also for launching his career. Thanks to collaboration between Dansateliers and Conny Janssen Danst, he can now bring 'Dance' to the stage.

On the cuts in the arts, Perela has a nuanced opinion. ,,I don't think it's good that art is being cornered like this. But on the other hand, it forces artists to ask themselves: 'Do I really want to make this work of art? Do I really want to invest so much in it? How important and urgent is it?' These questions benefit quality. I want to deal with the current situation constructively, but I want to stress that art intrinsically belongs to our society, has an important place in it and should be supported!"