As a performer, Ivo Dimchev is so fast and ferocious in his shifts between blunt bravado, childish fun, erotic impertinence and cutting loneliness that as a spectator, you normally can't get between them. Once Dimchev has his audience in his clutches, they can only follow him in bewilderment. "I-on" is again a seemingly loose collection of actions. Everything takes place around a...
Experts in particular were upset with the official opening performance of Springdance 2012. "The Rodin Project" by Russel Maliphant was special for that reason alone. Rarely has there been so much talk about an opening performance, especially since it is also Springdance's last opening performance. The 30-year-old festival of innovative dance and performance is ceasing to exist. Partly due to pressure from subsidy cuts from...
The festival opens disappointingly with 'The Rodin Project'. The sculptor Rodin may be a challenging choice, but unfortunately choreographer Russell Maliphant is limited to imitating atmosphere and external pictures. Rodin worked from a distinct idea about matter. He was looking for how forms and movements detach themselves from matter. With his human figures and their gestures, he showed...
It may be a crisis and the cultural winds may also be blowing from the wrong right corner, but that doesn't stop The Dodo from flying. The festival day newspaper we launched two years ago as a new commercial product is ready for another 10 days of Springdance. We're going to review a lot of performances, and compare even more. And we're going to make a journal. It...
"What the fuck should I do with this?" was choreographer and performance artist Ivo Dimchev's (1976) first thought when confronted with the artworks of Austrian artist Franz West. After Dimchev's solo performance Some Faves (2010) in Vienna, West, a multi-awarded creator of bizarre sculptures and objects, sought contact with the choreographer. He asked him to make an improvised video based on his...
She has been busy. Highly pregnant, Yasmeen Godder (Jerusalem, 1973) worked on her first choreography for Batsheva Dance Company. In a month, she stomped out her new performance The Toxic Exotic Disappearance Act under the wings of Batsheva, and in between gave birth to a healthy daughter. scenefoto For the third time, Israeli choreographer Yasmeen Godder is presenting her...
This year, Springdance will be held for the last time. After almost 30 years, it was time for something new, if only because the wind in The Hague is suddenly coming from the right and that is bad for business. At least if you want to show innovative art. That is why Springdance is merging with the other Utrecht-based...
In Amsterdam, Holland Festival, Theaterfestival, Toneelgroep Amsterdam and a few more clubs will 'work closely together'. In The Hague, this applies to Het Nationale Toneel and youth theatre house Stella Den Haag, while in Rotterdam
That frightens us quite a bit ourselves. We knew that the Cultural Press Agency was doing pretty well, but we didn't really think a reach of more than 100,000 people was possible. After all, we had done nothing in the way of marketing. Just posting content and not giving away free tickets. And only once something with a bare female breast in it. Enfin....
Europe in Motion (EIM) is an international exchange project, which supports the development of emerging choreographers, travelling through three Springdance partner organisations in 2011 and 2012. Last February it visited Nottdance in Nottingham and in April EIM touched down in Utrecht. During SPRINGDANCE 2011, nine choreography talents from the UK, Austria, Turkey and the Netherlands interacted privately with...
Holland Festival, Julidans, IT's, Over 't IJ. End-of-season theatre is always strewn across Amsterdam. Between April and September, international performance offerings migrate from Utrecht (Springdance and Festival aan de Werf) via Amsterdam to Rotterdam (Internationale Keuze). If you want to experience something of contemporary, international dance, Springdance, HF and Julidans are the places to be. [For...
This week the Holland Festival erupts and we are there. We are producing a Dodo Festival Day newspaper with a sizeable team of professional journalists, as we did before for Springdance and The International Choice of the Rotterdam Schouwburg, for example. We follow the festival closely to bring news as it happens. We go to see performances where others...
Admittedly, our method of reviewing (see our contributions on Springdance and De Internationale Keuze) is new to the Netherlands, but in the States a few were already doing it. For example, the two yummy guys Andrew and Andrew are doing well with their iPhones, doing the same as the Dodo with the Kodak Zi8 (no shares, though we would love to be sponsored...
Once again, we are using a new web service. Just to see how it works. Feel free to let us know (in the comments) if you find us too geeky. We'll do something about it. [View the story "Springdance 2011" on Storify]... You can log in now to continue reading! Welcome to the Culture Press archive! As a member, you have...
Springdance Utrecht has ended. Boris Charmatz gave the last performance of the Utrecht dance festival last night with "Levée des conflits". Critics Fransien van der Putt and Daniël Bertina already show their opinions in the film below. They also have a conversation with Boris Charmatz. Read more about this performance.... You can now log in to continue reading! Welcome to the archive of...
The Springdance Festival in Utrecht is coming to an end. Today, the last performances take place. Three reviewers from the Cultureel Persbureau look back on the festival, in an interview with Jeroen Stout. Reviewer Fransien van der Putt does get spring fever from Springdance, she says in the interview: 'This festival exceeded my expectations.' Daniël Bertina (also a critic) also found it a particularly...
Had we completely forgotten about the goat from sheer terror. Anyway. That goat, or at least its completely skinned carcass according to Dutch law, plays a role in the finale of Ishmael Houston-Jones' show Them. We saw the audience come out rather affected afterwards. ... You can log in now to continue...
When music sounds, almost everyone tends to move with it. Music leads to dance. That link is crystal clear. But in modern dance, that obviousness is broken. Watching 'Silent Ballet' by Emanuel Gat Dance, this becomes poignantly clear. Without a single sound being sent into the auditorium, the eight dancers swarm across the stage....
Clara García Fraile represents England in the international programme Europe in Motion. Young choreographers interacted during the festival and will present their own work at the end of this edition. Clara has nothing to show, she says, but that is also because, as a video artist, she is working on other things than dance. And those other things are...
It could be a circus number, but the stillness in this technical dance installation ensures that it rises above the level of a pretty trick. Hanging from pulleys supported by counterweights, Sylvain floats in the Academy Theatre. Here, he briefly explains how it works. Spoiler alert. And in French. ... You can now log in to continue reading! Welcome...
The performance 'Ast im auge' is an extremely hushed show that focuses on the viewing of viewing, the feeling of feeling, the experiencing of experiencing. Anyone who recognises the thinking of philosopher Immanuel Kant in this is right. Yet the result is also - unintentionally - sensual. This is evident from the conversation with choreographer Jana Unmussig....
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