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Swept Away
They first appear on all fours, making slow, inexorable progress toward the same destination. Moving from one side of the stage to the other, they file past again and again, the same yet different each time, in an unremitting, magnetic and thrilling wave. They stand up, quicken the pace, run, fall and get back up, drawn by a mysterious magnet. There are 14 of them, but they seem to number in the thousands, humanity on the march. Running towards a fate that seems to slip through their fingers, the piece conveys in a series of dissolves the captivating story of eternal, constant renewal, a tale of how our only freedom lies in the power to love and enjoy, passionately, the fact of being alive.
Based in Switzerland where he founded the company Alias, the Brazilian choreographer GuilhermeBotelho provides in Sideways Rain a visual and physical metaphor for the brute force animating all life. Adroitly blending musicality, rhythms and graphics, he evokes the evolution of mankind and the transformations of the universe in a hypnotic, exciting panorama. Brilliant.
May 25, 8:00 pm
Tickets: $45 / $40
Under 30 / Over 65: $40 / $35
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Meet the artists after the performance on May 25Metro Place-des-Arts
Dance-Theatre and the Meaning of Life
A native of São Paulo, Guilherme Botelho fell in love with dance at age 14 after seeing a performance by Oscar Araiz. Five years later, he joined the Argentine choreographer at the Ballet du Grand Théâtre in Geneva, where he danced for 10 years before founding his own company, Alias, in 1994. His choreography touches on major aspects of the human condition such as the frantic quest for love (En manque, his first work), marital abuse, social masks and genetic manipulation (Frankenstein!). The notion of fate or destiny is an ongoing theme in his work, replete with happenstance, accident or things falling from the sky (water, paper, light, plaster plates). His set designs are often impressive, such as the cabin floating on an immobile wave in Vaguement derrière, now part of the repertoire of the Tanztheater Bielfield. While his most recent piece, Iyouhesheitweyouthey, follows along the lines of Sideways Rain in its more abstract theatrical dynamic, the principle of repetition both adhere to was already apparent in Approcher la poussière and Le poids des éponges. Some twenty of his Alias works have been presented on four continents, and he is a much sought-after choreographer. He created a Roméo et Juliette for the 25th anniversary of the Ballet junior in Geneva, and worked with that company from 2008 to 2010.
Press Quote(s)
“It’s a vision of life on a Möbius strip, infinity embodied. Whirling, hypnotic, dizzy, meditative, halting, leaning forward into movement, each change is deeply felt. Rolling fast across the stage like something organic, something electric; life at the microscopic level, teeming with movement. Something cosmic. […] Allusive, evocative, Sideways Raingenerates moment after moment of images, thoughts and associations: moments of beauty, shimmering vibrating strings, the music of the spheres.”
Avelet Dekel, Midnigh East, 6 octobre 2011
« Et puis soudain, Botelho créa Sideways Rain. Et plus rien ne fut comme avant. Le chorégraphe des sentiments, de l’exclusion, de la psychologie humaine est devenu le magicien d’un mouvement simplissime, sans décor et avec une musique très sobre. […] Les danseurs ont chacun leur manière d’être corps dans des mouvements si simples que le public les imite en sortant, dansant sous la pluie… On a mille fois le temps de contempler l’expressivité brute et incontrôlée d’une démarche, le changement de sens impliqué par un regard tout juste tourné vers le ciel. En sculpteur de rythme et d’espace, Botelho signe un spectacle d’une grande finesse sans perdre son extraordinaire lisibilité pour le grand public. »
Marie Parvex, Valais mag, 1er octobre 2010
« Face à Sideways Rain, la nausée menace et le coeur chavire. Avec cette dernière pièce, Guilherme Botelho célèbre une danse des sens qui relève de la transe. Hypnotique. Saisissant. Oppressant. Fascinant. »
Marie-Pierre Genecand, Le Temps, 7 septembre 2010
« Guilherme Botelho, lui, décompose le mouvement pour mieux nous faire éprouver sa dynamique inexorable. Le chorégraphe suisse travaille à la manière des anciens maîtres du proto-cinéma. »
Smaranda Olcèse-Trifan, Paris-art, 31 mai 2011
« Un spectacle à la fois complexe et simple, léger et compliqué mais, par-dessus tout, créé sans aucun des effets à la mode; uniquement avec du pur mouvement. »
Kulturpolis.lt (Lituanie)
Credits
PRODUCED BY Alias
CHOREOGRAPHY Guilherme Botelho
ASSISTANT CHOREOGRAPHER Madeleine Piguet Raykov
PERFORMED BY Stéphanie Bayle + Fabio Bergamaschi + Joachim Ciocca + Adriano Coletta + Johannes Lind + Philia Maillardet + Ismaël Oiartzabal + Madeleine Piguet Raykov + Amaury Réot + Claire-Marie Ricarte + Adrian Rusmali + Candide Sauvaux + Nefeli Skarmea + Christos Strinopoulos
SET DESIGN Guilherme Botelho + Gilles Lambert + Stefanie Liniger
COSTUME DESIGN Marion Schmid INSPIRED FROM Julia Hansen
MUSIC Murcof + Pablo Beltrán Ruiz
LIGHTING DESIGN Jean-Philippe Roy
ARTISTIC ADVISOR Gilles Lambert
COPRODUCTION La Bâtie - Festival de Genève + Théâtre du Crochetan + Théâtre Forum Meyrin
WITH THE SUPPORT OF City of Geneva + State of Geneva + Pro Helvetia - Swiss Art Council + City of Meyrin + Fondation meyrinoise pour la promotion culturelle, sportive et sociale + Foundation Corymbo + Foundation Leenaards AND THE SPECIAL SUPPORT OF Corodis
WRITTEN BY Fabienne Cabado
TRANSLATED BY Neil Kroetsch
Premiered at Festival La Bâtie , Geneva, September 3, 2010
514 844 3822 / 1 866 984 3822
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED / FESTIVAL TRANSAMÉRIQUES