Nixe + Obtus

Cie Greffe /

Geneva

#FTA_LONO

Ode to the Body and to Life
The human body – complex, essential, inescapable – is both an object of study and a passion for Cindy Van Acker. In the four solo pieces Lanx, obvie, nixe and obtus she exposes the performer’s body to shadow and light, with the body at times visible and at other times invisible, subject to speed and slowness. In these pieces she manages to extract the very essence of time, movement and life. In Lanx, Van Acker herself fuses her body to the ground, which becomes her veritable partner in an organic, hypnotic duet. obvie combines that graphic horizontality with an ethereal fluidity. In nixe the neon lighting and the sound accompaniment by Mika Vainio create a sort of weightlessness and an unreal, haunting atmosphere, while the impression created in obtus is angular, translucent movement. Four distinct solo pieces, and all the result of visceral, magnificent research.

Cindy Van Acker

Rising Star
Born and raised in Flanders and now living in Switzerland, Cindy Van Acker moved away from classical dance in the 1990s (Royal Ballet of Flanders, Ballet du Grand Théâtre in Geneva) to concentrate on contemporary dance. She choreographed Divine Comedy and the opera Persifal for the renowned Italian director Romeo Castellucci, and worked with him again on Inferno, presented in the Courtyard of Honour at the Pope’s Palace during the 2008 Avignon Festival. However, it is with her company Greffe that Cindy Van Acker explores cherished themes through choreography that is concise, graphic and eloquent.

Representing Switzerland at the Venice Biennale in 2005, Cindy Van Acker worked with Mika Vainio, a Finnish electronic music composer who will also participle to the MUTEK festival on June 1^st. That artistic collaboration led to Lanx, the first in a series of six solo pieces (the others being Obvie, Antre, Nodal, Nixe and Obtus) developed over a three-year period. Four of those magnificent works will be unveiled in a North American premiere at the FTA.

Creative Collaborations
The unique style of Greffe first made a big splash with the solo Corps 00 : 00, presented at several festivals starting in 2002, notably the Venice Biennale in 2005. The 2007 piece Kernel was also an important milestone for the company, not the least because it was the first time Cindy Van Acker worked with Mika Vainio, of the Finnish group Pan Sonic. That artistic collaboration later led to Lanx, the first in a series of six solo pieces (the others being Obvie, Antre, Nodal, Nixe and Obtus) developed over a three-year period.

Press Quote(s)

« Le travail de Cindy Van Acker est à la fois brillant, simple, impeccable. Il fait du corps une matière plastique à sans fin remettre sur l'établi. »

L'Humanité (France) - 16 juillet 2010

« Au sol toujours, le corps de Marthe Krummenacher se prête à des figures géométriques qui ne reculent pas devant la complexité. Debout, le corps finit par disparaître derrière un trait de lumière, happé par une obscurité (…) resurgissant par bribes avant engloutissement définitif. »

Libération (France) – 16 juillet 2010

« Cindy Van Acker taille dans la nuit deux solos, Obtus et Nixe, dansés respectivement par Marthe Krummenacher et Perrine Valli. Ces deux faufilent leur jeunesse entre ombres et tubes de néon, se moquent des lois de l’équilibre, délient jambes et bras en tentacules, silhouettes d’autant plus poignantes qu’elles sont menacées à tout moment d’être effacées. »

Alexandre Demidoff, Le Temps (Suisse) - 28 août 2009

« Il faut voir la chorégraphe, tête en appui sur le plateau, renverser la perspective pour comprendre la portée de son propos : chez Cindy Van Acker, l’horizontal prime dans un effet de tension permanente. »

Philippe Noisette, Les Inrockuptibles (France) - juin 2009

Credits

PRODUCED BY COMPAGNIE GREFFE

LANX / OBVIE CHOREOGRAPHY CINDY VAN ACKER PERFORMED BY CINDY VAN ACKER (LANX) + TAMARA BACCI (OBVIE) SOUND DESIGN MIKA VAINIO (LANX) + DENIS ROLLET (OBVIE) LIGHTING DESIGN LUC GENDROZ (LANX) + DENIS ROLLET (OBVIE) SET DESIGN (LANX) LINE FONTANA + CINDY VAN ACKER SET CONSTRUCTION VICTOR ROY COSTUME DESIGN ALINE COURVOISIER NIXE / OBTUS CHOREOGRAPHY CINDY VAN ACKER PERFORMED BY MARTHE KRUMMENACHER - REPLACED BY TAMARA BACCI (OBTUS) + PERRINE VALLI (NIXE) SOUND DESIGN MIKA VAINIO LIGHTING AND SET DESIGN LUC GENDROZ + VICTOR ROY + CINDY VAN ACKER COSTUME DESIGN ALINE COURVOISIER

COPRODUCTION FESTIVAL ELECTRON (LANX) + ASSOCIATION CIRCONSTANCES + ADC GENÈVE (OBVIE) + LA BÂTIE-FESTIVAL DE GENÈVE (NIXE ET OBTUS) WITH THE SUPPORT OF VILLE DE GENÈVE + CANTON DE GENÈVE + PRO HELVETIA + LOTERIE ROMANDE PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH AGORA DE LA DANSE

LANX WAS PREMIERED AT FESTIVAL ELECTRON, GENEVA, MARCH 2008

OBVIE WAS PREMIERED AT THE ADC (ASSOCIATION POUR LA DANSE CONTEMPORAINE), GENEVA, MARCH 2008

NIXE AND OBTUS WERE PREMIERED AT LA BÂTIE, GENEVA FESTIVAL, AUGUST 2009

WRITTEN BY SOPHIE POULIOT TRANSLATED BY NEIL KROETSCH