At first glance, the work presents itself as a performance based on language, an itinerary in which the spectator-visitor comes across three dancers who play with words, in the stripped-down space of the Église des Célestins. William Forsythe connects this poetic gesture to his preferred domain: choreography. Unwort (which could be translated in English as "unword") belongs in fact to the series of "choreographic objects" that he has been creating for over 10 years. The artist likes to apply to choreography that phrase that Magritte published in 1927 in Les Mots et les Images (Words and Images): "An object really clings to its name because another one that suits it better cannot be found for it." And he adds: "Today, I make works without dance and without dancers that are nevertheless choreography. The choreographic ought to be under permanent investigation, as a natural product of it's practices." For the artist, this idea covers an enormous field that is complicated to define, that finds its privileged expression in dance, but is not limited to it. If you ask William Forsythe what the principle at work in his new creation Unwort is, he mischievously answers: "Mental agility". This shows in the skilfulness of the interpreters in creating neologisms, "imaginary words" that are linked to each other metonymically. Unwort unfolds like silent music, which eludes the traditional categories of language. Before this verbal juggling, the spectator gets caught up in the game, trying to anticipate the lexical interventions, colouring them with an imaginary and unstable meaning. A poetic space opens below words (Unwort). Meaning thus constantly slips away and shows through in an underground manner, in a permanent and intoxicating instability. MF
Distribution
choregraphy William Forsythe
text editing Philip Bußmann
technical coordination Niels Lanz
with Samuel Forsythe, David Kern, Roberta Mosca
Production
production The Forsythe Company
coproduction Festival d'Avignon
The Forsythe Company est subventionnée par la Ville de Dresde et l'État de Saxe, de même que par la ville de Francfort et de l'État de Hesse.
The Forsythe Company est en résidence à la fois à Hellerau - Centre européen des Arts à Dresde et au Bockenheimer Depot à Francfort
remerciements à Susanne Klatten pour son soutien