From A to Z is a series of collaborative duets with dancer/choreographer/interdisciplinary artist Luis Lara Malvacías, and with music and sound by Amsterdam-based composer, and live-performer, Ivo Bol. This series of highly structured improvisational duets, combines dance, performance, sound and visual installations, and explores the many aspects of time and how the production of choreography is intertwined with process and instant performance. We use signposts and issues connected with life and aging as a framework for this exploration, and examine the question of how the agency of the dancer maker changes through time. Each duet takes its title from a different letter of the alphabet that stands for a concept related to these themes – “Age”, “Continuum” or ”Death” for instance – and has a distinct structural framework, which takes place within a specific stage/visual environment,
The project originally began as A B C D E F in 2015 with the creation of “B” (Becoming) and “E” (Events) and the pieces were performed together over the summer of 2016 at La Mama Moves Festival in New York, OT 301 in Amsterdam, Fusioni Improvisation Festival in Florence and Radial System in Berlin. In fall 2016 we worked on the creation of “D” (Death) and “A” (Age) which were again performed at the La Mama Moves Festival in New York and Radial System in Berlin over the summer of 2017. This also led us to a commission by REDCAT Theater in Los Angeles to create “C” (Continuum) which we performed there later in August. We also performed “E” and “D” at the Electric Lodge in Venice Beach, California in November 2017. These performances gave a momentum to the project and led us to re-imagine it as a larger one – From A to Z – and we have just finished working on the latest iterations, “F” and “G”, which were premiered at Radial System in Berlin in July 2018.
In “F” (Field) the stage is offered as an open field welcoming the audience to observe the regular practice and subjects of research, time and the instant performance of thought processes, unadorned. This is in contra-position to “G” (Ground) where the regular practice is contextualized within a defined and limited space, a ground inhabited by random objects and material that serve as conduits – and sometimes obstacles – to further explore the concept of duration, or the way we perceive the space between two successive events.
The project has been made possible with the generous support of Sasha Waltz & Guests in Berlin, and with several Tisch School of the Arts Dean’s Faculty Grants.
For more news, go to the website of 2oldmenproject: http://2oldmenproject.com/