DATING YOUR ENEMY

ABOUT THE PIECE

// In co-production with Fabrik Heeder and Theater im Ballsaal

// Premiere: 18th November, 2007, Fabrik Heeder within the Festival fused – TanzKunst in Krefeld

// Powered by: Fonds Darstellende Künste e.V. // Bundesstadt Bonn // Ministerpräsident des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen within „scene: österreich in nrw"

"Don’t worry your heads about the motives for the fight, concentrate on the stakes. Judge impartially the technique of the contenders, and keep your eyes fixed on the finish."

Thus, a young Bertolt Brecht commented on his drama "The Jungle of Cities/Im Dickicht der Städte" that inspired COCOONDANCE to develop a duel for two dancers. A fight using all means available, without any rules, outside all ethical considerations.

This is an exhibition fight that needs the public, the arena, the street, just like a sports event. Thus, this duel was not only rehearsed in the theatre, but in public spaces, on streets and places, in a school yard, the public library and in the exhibition rooms of the Kunst- and Ausstellungshalle der BRD (the arts and exhibition hall of the Federal Republic of Germany). For its première, this project returns to the intimate space, within the warmth and security of privacy – but in keeping with the dialectics of the outer and the inner space.

BY AND WITH

Joris Camelin, Martin Inthamoussú /// Choreography and Direction: Rafaële Giovanola /// Video: Ralph Goertz /// Lighting Design: Marc Brodeur /// Concept and Direction: Rainald Endraß

PRESS REVIEWS

"During the première at the Fabrik Heeder in Krefeld, the stage becomes an arena for an emotional test of endurance. Brecht’s early drama "The Jungle of Cities" inspired Rafaële Giovanola (cho¬reography/production) and Rainald En¬draß (concept/dramaturgy) to develop a quiet but tense analysis with the topics loneliness and – once more – search for identity. The monologue of talking at cross-purposes of the isolated protagonists has been put into an unusually physical dance performance by Giovanola, the secret of which cannot be explained solely by employing Brecht. (...) Rafaële Giovanola starts with Brecht, breathes a bit of Camus and Kafka into his figures and finally arrives at Chuck Palahniuk‘s "Fight Club" and the schizophrenic protagonist Tyler. Camelin and Inthamoussú give form to all these facets in an impressively concentrated manner. Starting with a distanced distrust they heighten their performance to an intensive hate-love with sometimes confiding, sometimes brutish layers. Their duel develops into a perspirating pas-de-deux of bodies. And the winner is the performance, becoming complete with an aria by Handel."
(Bettina Trouwborst, General-Anzeiger, Bonn, 21.11.2007)

"At times it seems as mirrored the contenders each other, sometimes one could think they were two embodiments of one and the same person, the inner conflict of whom is being put on stage. Thus, it only seems logical that the fight shows no winner. (...) Giovanola and Goertz have achieved the most intensive production and première [within the festival FUSED] despite a certain superflousness of co-operation that can even be observed here."
(Klaus M. Schmidt, Westdeutsche Zeitung, 20.11.2007)

"Love me or fight me": The one is wooing, the other warding off. Soon, however, it appears that they cannot let the other be, that they need one another in this fight. If one stepped back, the attacker would fall with him. (...) Rafaele Giovanola does not show a winner, Camelin and Inthamoussu, two powerful dancers, are both on top at one time, and below. The choreography dictates that they round the stage with great strides. They take turns in chasing each other, reflecting each other’s movements like a shadow. If one tried categorization, Camelin would be Garga, Inthamoussu Shlink, if one took the characters that they impressively portray. (...) The well deserved applause at the end was enhanced by the impressive use of lighting from the sides."
(Heinz-Dieter Terschüren, Bonner Rundschau, 12-04-2008).

"French dancer Joris Camelin and Uruguayan dancer Martin Inthamoussu show a very complex and always surprising vocabulary of movements during the phases of their fight. It is an archaic ritual between men, a struggle for power and recognizability. (...) It is the crash of two energetically charged bodies that fuse together in a dance explosion, only to separate again in a tender pas de deux. To the heavenly tunes of a Handel aria, the exhausted bodies relax. There is no winner in this brilliantly danced exhibition fight. The dance itself triumphs. There are very good reasons to watch "Dating your Enemy".
(Elisabeth Einecke-Klövekorn, General-Anzeiger, Bonn, 12-04-2008).