The trio formed by Meg Stuart, American dancer and choreographer based in Belgium and founder of the Damaged Goods company in 1994, Canadian dancer Benoît Lachambre and American musician Hahn Rowe, found its source in New York's East Village scene, which in the mid 1980s, influenced the paths of individual performers or groups of artists, masters all of improvisation. In 1993, with No Longer Readymade, Benoît Lachambre and Meg Stuart were spliced by Hahn Rowe's compositions. Eleven years later, the trio has reunited in a complicitous work where the only rules are those dictated by the stage floor.
Forgeries, love and other matters... The title of the piece by the Stuart-Lachambre-Rowe Trio sounds a lot like a Woody Allen film where it's a matter of all or nothing, i.e. those little nothings which change our lives. It could also be a song by Charles Aznavour, where he'd go through, little by little, everything we might want to know about lies, sex and ideals, all the facets of our friends, loves and problems. The Meg Stuart/Benoît Lachambre duo takes us sailing on the troubled and heaving waters of emotions. The stage becomes geographical and mental scenery modified by the undulating and rhythmic music of Hahn Rowe. Two physically-captivating speleologists explore beneath the surface of the Map of Tender, two geologists of the human soul slip in and out of the gaps of unsparing derision, moving borders and demarcation lines between sound and meaning. One after the other, young and old, an anonymous couple – but by no means a stereotyped pair – collect feelings like archeologists collect relics, treading carefully on private land. Lies or falsehoods are, in this performance, a metaphor for representation, a way of attaining truth through the art of negotiation with sensations. A dance piece as a conversation, a tête-à-tête or among friends, made possible by an exceptional trio, and enhanced by mutual admiration.
Distribution
created and performed by : Meg Stuart et Benoît Lachambre
compasition / live music : Hahn Rowe
dramaturg : Myriam Van Imschoot
scenography : Doris Dziersk
costumes : Tina Kloempken
lighting : Marc Dewit
Production
production : Damaged Goods, par b.l.eux
coproduction : Schauspielhaus Zurich, Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (Berlin), Centre National des Arts (Ottawa)
Meg Stuart / Damaged Goods : sont “artistes en résidence” au Schauspielhaus Zurich et bénéficient de l'aide du Gouvernement flamand et de la Commission communautaire flamande
Benoît Lachambre & par b.l.eux : remercient le Conseil des arts du Canada, le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec et le Conseil des arts de Montréal de leur appui financier
avec la participation : du ministère de la Communauté flamande