TOTEM 1942

Thursday, September 25th

ARTinternational Istanbul

Turkey

Chantal Yzermans / Radical Low has identified, brought together and plays around with mutual common- denominators held between seemingly estranged factors.
Namely, primal nature and advanced science, elitist and mass culture and entertainment, public and private experience. (Douglas Park, 2014)

concept/performance : Chantal Yzermans
based on a solo of Merce Cunningham ‘Totem Ancestor’ (1942)

musical composition by John Cage
with the support of the Flemish Ministry of Culture, Arts & Heritage, Internationale Werkverblijven 2014

For this  intervention in Istanbul, Chantal Yzermans presented the results of a 3 week intens rehearsing process , in which she has been  learning and assimilating a one minute solo work (1942 ) of the American choreographer Merce Cunningham.
Totem Ancestor is a work that Merce Cunningham made for himself in the bright spring of his talent as a soloist. A solo where the Martha Graham influence is still tangible. Composer John Cage wrote the music once the dance had been completed.

The intervention  in Istanbul, was the first of a choreographic series Chantal Yzermans  is working on, after her  residency at La Cité Internationales des Arts Paris in 2014. Continuing  a dialogue on her research on the idea of originality and artistic creation. 

The next rehearsals  ( March-September 2015) will be collaborative work with Joëlle Adrien (Director of research at  INSERM-Paris), Laetitia Bica (photographer-Brussels), MADmoizel (punk diva-Toulouse), Jean Paul Lespagnard ( fashion designer- Brussels) and SAM (neurohacker-Paris)

Together with these artists/researchers they start a  new project  in 2015 that will culminate in a multi-disciplinary  project  premiering  in Centre Pompidou Metz, October 2015.

This presentation is one of the many works in progress  that will be held during this research period.

BLACK OUT (worktitle)

a multi-disciplinary project in collaboration with

Joelle Adrien, neuro scientific of sleep & director of research at INSERM (Paris) 

MADmoizel, punk diva (Toulouse)

Laetitia Bica, photographer (Brussels)

Jean Paul Lespagnard, fashion designer (Brussels)

SAM, neuro-hacker (Paris)

Elke Verachtert, lichtdesigner (Antwerp) 

Mark Geurden, dramaturgy ( Antwerp)

in co-production/collaboration with 

Monty Kunstencentrum Antwerpen -Jan Fabre/Troubleyn Antwerpen -Vooruit Kunstencentrum Gent 

Takt/Dommelhof Limburg -Bolwerk Vzw Antwerpen -Teatro Danza Canal Madrid 

‘Performance lecture by Joelle Adrien and Chantal Yzermans’

Tuesday, December 15th, 8.30pm
Hit the Stage# 44
Monty Antwerpen

During my research project held in Paris at La Cité des Arts, earlier this year, I contacted Joelle Adrien, neuro-scientist of sleep at the Inserm/Paris.

Intrigued by the origins of our dreams and its scientifique purpose, I started a conversation with Joelle Adrien.

This new research project evolves around

the origin of dreams

(from the scientific point of view)

versus

the origin of artistic creation

(intellectual property in art, music, literature and dance)

During ARTinternational Istanbul 2014 Chantal Yzermans presented a first intervention based on  'TOTEM ANCESTOR', the solo dance by the American choreographer Merce Cunningham, made in 1942. Transforming the legal restrictions surrounding the intellectual properties of this iconic solo by Merce Cunningham, she presented a live sound installation, sharing only the breathing interpretation of this dance for a theatre audience as well as sharing by streaming it on Turkish Radio.
During HIt The Stage in Monty  we presented  a performance lecture with Joelle Adrien and Chantal Yzermans.
Joelle Adrien introduced the audience  into the Dream and the Genisis of Body Movements while Chantal Yzermans shared  her personal re-appropriation of 'COUNTDOWN', a work by Beyoncé, where she and her team appropriated the movement repertory of Anne Theresa De Keersmaeker/Rosas.
This performance lecture was   streamed live, for a broader audience on
www.ooooo.be/ruelles/
This performance lecture is one of the many works in progress that will be held during the research period, culminating into an evening lenght work ‘ BLACK OUT’ (worktitle) premiering in October 2015  

BLACK OUT (worktitle) 

a multi-disciplinary project in collaboration with

Joelle Adrien, neuro scientific of sleep & director of research of INSERM (Paris) 
MADmoizel, punk diva (Toulouse)

Laetitia Bica, photographer (Brussels)

Jean Paul Lespagnard, fashion designer (Brussels)

SAM, neuro-hacker (Paris)

Elke Verachtert, lichtdesigner (Antwerp) 
Mark Geurden, dramaturgy ( Antwerp)

in co-production/collaboration with Monty Kunstencentrum Antwerpen Jan Fabre/Troubleyn Antwerpen Vooruit Kunstencentrum Gent Takt-Dommelhof Limburg Bolwerk Vzw Antwerpen Teatro Danza Canal Madrid Centre Pompidou Metz 

'PARTNER / YOU'

a radical low production 2013

photo : Laetitia Bica

'A penetrating sacrificial ritual : fetisjism, voyeurism and rituality. The artist does not need more than one hour to establish all the parameters of theater.' (****Charlotte De Somviele, De Morgen, Belgium)

‘The voice you hear during the performance is an instant and direct interaction call from an online sex internet website. It's robotic crude vibrations emerge from the same brutal pulsions on which Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" are rooted. The costume designed by Jean-Paul Lespagnard enhances the idea of the sacrifice: the naked female adorned with paralyzing high heels and nails. From today's sexual web communication back to the archaïc ritual of procreation, there is a continuum link, the link where time and space unfurl into the dance of the universe.’
(Sylvia Zade-Routier, Por La Danza, Spain)

'For ‘Partner / You’ , Chantal Yzermans has identified, brought together and plays around with mutual common-denominators held between seemingly estranged factors. Namely, primal nature and advanced science, elitist and mass culture and entertainment, public and private experience.’ (Douglas Park, London)

concept/ performance : Chantal Yzermans - live chat : Nono Pessoa/Carlos Aires  
original music:  Substuff - music :  I. Stravinsky 

costume design : Jean-Paul Lespagnard 

advice : Marc Vanrunxt

photo : Laetitia Bica

in collaboration with Monty Kunstencentrum-Antwerpen, Teatro Danza 

Canal-Madrid, Kunstencentrum Vooruit-Gent, Jan Fabre/Troubleyn-Antwerpen

supported by the  City of Antwerpen

    

Premiere 

Madrid, Festival Escena Contemporanea 

February 8-9-10 - 2013

Antwerpen- Monty Kunstencentrum 

March 7-8-9 - 2013

London, Bruno Glint Gallery
June 1 - 2013

Antwerpen, Jan Fabre/Troubleyn
June  16 - 2013

Antwerpen, Extra City Kunsthal
June 21 - 2014

'PARTNER / YOU'

photo by  Ronald Stoops 2012

for

' P A R T N E R / Y O U '

'guns/roses'

a radical low production 2011

 

photography : Ronald Stoops 2011

concept/choreography : Chantal Yzermans

dancer : Tania Arias

musician : Hans Van Kerckhoven

costume design : Ana Locking

lightdesign : Harry Cole

‘guns/roses’ is a creation based on the sport of athletics, made for one female dancer and one male soprano.Movement is the anchor, the base of it all, in which this work is confided : in it's honesty and self-sufficiency. As for the colour of this choreography, it is inspired by the inner personality of each performer, dancer Tania Arias versus violinist and male soprano Hans Van Kerckhoven.

Spanish fashion designer, Ana Locking, took a sample of her own blood and replicated it onto fabric. What seem baroque images are but a macro photo of her red and white globules flowing through her blood. 

Festival Escena Contemporanea Madrid
Casa Encendida
Madrid/Spain
http://escenacontemporanea.com/2011/espectaculo/chantal-yzermans-radical-low.php

Rencontres Choregraphiques de Seine Saint Denis
Paris/France
http://www.rencontreschoregraphiques.com/2011/chantal_yzermans-c339 




With the support of The Flemish Community, The City of Antwerpen and Flanders House Madrid
Coproduction Festival Escena Contemporanea Madrid 2011
In collaboration with Jan Fabre/Troubleyn-Antwerpen, Teatro Danza Canal- Madrid

'an angry boy/act two'

a radical low production 2010

photo : Ronald Stoops 2011

The performance is a contemporary portrait inspired by Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonate Opus 106.
The score was created by the composer at the end of his life, on the turning point of classicism and romantic.
So it is with ‘an angry boy/act two’, unfolding into two conflictual registers. The choreographer finds herself as a creator anno 2010 into a new vacuum : on the treshold of what is established and what has to become.
Together with the dark and haunting post-punk fashiondesigner Andrea Cammarosano, they create ‘an angry boy/act two.
Premiere : Amperdans Festival 2008 Antwerpen

concept/ choreography : Chantal Yzermans

performers : Chantal Yzermans & Nono Pessoa

music : Hammerklavier Sonate Opus 106 by L. Van Beethoven

piano : Adriaan Jacobs

costume design: Andrea Cammarosano

Premiere : Amperdans 3- 2010 

With the support The City of Antwerpen and Flanders House New York,

Coproduction Monty Kunstencentrum - in collaboration with Jan Fabre/Troubleyn-Antwerpen 

drawing by Andrea Cammarosano 2010 for 'an angry boy'

arena / act three

a radical low production  2010

photo by Ronald Stoops 2010

‘arena /act three’ is an in situ creation for Jan Fabre/Troubleyn Laboratorium. It was created for two current dancers   from the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, based on the sport of wrestling. A research between movement in sports and movement in dance, which leads to a deeper look into the nature of performance, with 'movement' as being the protagonist.

The experiment to introduce a different language, that of sports, stimulates to create and sign another sensitivity in the choreographic work.

choreography & scenography : C.Yzermans

dance : Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener

Premiere : Amperdans Festival 4   

Antwerpen

Rencontres Choregraphiques de Seine Saint Denis 2010

Paris/France

Judson Memorial Church/ New York, NY 2010

With the support of The City of Antwerpen and Flanders House New York

Coproduction Jan Fabre/Troubleyn-Antwerpen

In collaboration with Jan Fabre/Troubleyn-Antwerpen, Monty Kunstencentrum-Antwerpen

photo by Ronald Stoops 2010