Utopien

Resistance of inner space is not always forced into violent action. The repressible curiosity of two dancers, alternately noble and classically naïve, often also aberrant and terse: a duo of solitude, of individuality. Two dancers that by touching reflect themselves to each other in the space in which they move, believe they have a handhold, but after each removal, get stuck in a hunt, unable to escape. Stagnation is impossible, escape from the physical or the internal a vain motivation.

Utopien is Sonja Augart’s seventh choreography, is a performance about exploring limits, a marathon, a powerful and poetical exploration, with masterly craftsmanship by dancers Sonia Si Ahmed and Eva Kamala Rodenburg.

Sonja Augart’s work is characterised by its strong individuality and is incomparable to any other. It is always pure, honest and inquiring. Dance language liberated of its narrative meaning is convincing only if imagination is not imposed beforehand, and if awareness of form is not forced but intrinsically persuasive. The viewer is always part of the performance, is never anonymously passive. The questions “What is choreography?”, “What is theatre?” are just under the skin.

Utopien is in a certain sense romantic, longing is central. The work is of a high technical standard, although technique is not essential. The whole is more than a sum of its parts. Penetrating, mutual tensions turn out to be defining, an image is inscribed onto the retina.

Performance:
Sonja Augart

Dancers:
Sonia Si Ahmed
Eva Kamala Rodenburg

Music:
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Antonio Vivaldi

Scenography:
WOVER

Production:
Productiehuis Brabant

Photography:
Gemma van Linden

Design:
MOH diseño

Press:

'Zwei Frauen, tanzen zusammen, kein Pas de deux, sondern eher eine Folie deux, eine Verrücktheit.' NRZ 29.11.2001

Reaction from the audience:

'... on one hand the work is emotional, on the other it's conceptual.'

'... an exciting personal kinetic language, one wonders where it comes from.'