Description
Fallen
Description
Fallen
fallen
The moment of falling is a moment of transformation, from the mundane fall of an egg in the kitchen, to falling in love, to the cataclysmic fall of a civilization. In this moment of release there can be sublime peace as the forces of nature equalize themselves, or incredible destruction if that which falls is not able to contain the energy released.
Five performers and a cellist meet to play with gravity in a visual poem of weight in space. Through the languages of dance, theater, aerial acrobatics and music they lose themselves in the moment of the fall, exposing the gravity of human relationship, surrender and resistance, love and death.
tombé
L’instant de la chute est un instant de transformation. Qu’il s’agisse de l’œuf qui tombe dans la cuisine, de celui qui tombe amoureux ou d’une civilisation qui tombe irrémédiablement en ruine. De cet instant de relâchement peut naître une sublime paix, si les forces naturelles s’égalisent entre elles, ou une incroyable destruction, si ce qui tombe n’est pas capable de contenir l’énergie libérée.
Cinq performeurs et un violoncelliste se réunissent pour jouer avec la force de gravité, dans un poème visuel sur la pesanteur dans l’espace.
À travers le langage de la danse, du théâtre, de l’acrobatie aérienne et de la musique, ils se perdent à l’instant de la chute, dévoilant la „gravité" des relations humaines, de la soumission et de la résistance, de l’amour et de la mort.
fallen
Physikalisch betrachtet ist das Fallen ein Moment des Ungleichgewichts, in dem sich Kräfte sammeln, um zur Ruhe zu kommen oder sich in einem Akt der Zerstörung zu entladen.
Die Sehnsucht nach Kontrollverlust und Grenzüberschreitung, die Gier nach dem Moment vor und nach dem Fallen treibt an und bewegt. Das Spielen mit der zwischenmenschlichen Schwerkraft birgt die Macht der Zerstörung und der Selbstzerstörung. Am eigenen Leib die Geschwindigkeit und Beschleunigung erfahren, den Aufprall ahnen, sich wiederfinden nach dem Fall.
Zwischen energiegeladener Bewegung und stiller Theatralik bewegen sich Szenen, die das Fallen als Ausgangspunkt haben. Melancholisch und manchmal morbide entwickelt sich eine Dramatik, die ein Ei mit einem gebrochenen Herzen verbindet, um gemeinsam aus dem Rahmen zu fallen.
October 29-30, 2004
Fabrik, Potsdam, Germany
Final Potsdam Performances
November 17, 2004
Frankfurt Oder, Germany
November 19-30, 2004
Festival Isle de Danse (Isle de France)
November 19 Choisy le Roi
Novemver 23, Colombes
November 25, Cachan
November 30, St. Herblain
May, 2005
San Francisco International Arts Festival
performances
Produced by Artblau in collaboration with Gravity Physical Entertainment, Fabrik Potsdam, and ODC Theater
fallen was created with generous support from: The National Endowment for the Arts, the San Francisco Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, California Dancemakers 2001, the San Francisco Art Commission Individual Artist Commissions, Land Niedersachsen, Stadt Braunschweig, Land Brandenburg, Stadt Potsdam and the Nationales Performance Netz (Germany).
Video
Video
Videos
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Full length (57:25)
Promo video (15 min)
Collaborators
Collaborators
Collaborators
Collaborators
A collaboration of Jess Curtis/Gravity and fabrikCompanie
Conceived and Directed by Jess Curtis
Performers/Collaborators: Sabine Chwalisz, Wolfgang Hoffmann, Anise Smith, Sven Till, Jess Curtis
Music: Matthias Herrmann
Text: Jess Curtis
Costumes: Christophe Linéré
Technical Director: Marco Wehrspann
fabrikCompanie was formed in 1990 a few months after the fall of Berlin Wall by East German dancers Sven Till and Wolfgang Hoffmann. Joined by Sabine Chwaliszin 1992, Sven Till and Wolfgang Hoffmann created many performances in collaboration with guest artists from Germany, Russia, Hungary, Spain, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Ireland, Switzerland or the USA and toured frequently in Eastern Europe, Germany, Ireland , England and France. In most of these productions the focus of the artistic approach is very energetic and physical, combining movement and form in a simple and direct way. It has led to the development of a movement language that is improvisational and diverse in it's expression.
Anise Smith is a dancer who grew up in the United States and Germany. After graduating from the Dance Centre Iwanson in Munich, she studied on scholarship at Steps in New York and Studio F in Los Angeles. She has worked with Tina Gerstler´s Danceworks (USA), Déjà Donné (I/CZ), Jess Curtis (USA/D), Stina K. Bollmann (D), the Bavarian State Opera, and has performed in several Television, Film and independent dance projects.
Sabine Chwalisz trained as a dancer in Berlin where she worked as an independant dancer and choreographer, creating her own pieces and collaborating with other artists. Since 1992, she has been a member of the artists' collective fabrik Potsdam where she works as a dancer, choreographer, teacher and co-organiser of the "Potsdamer Tanztage" (Potsdam International Contemporary Dance Festival).
Sven Till is co-founder of fabrik Potsdam where he has been a member of the crew of artistic directors since 1990. Dancing since 1989, he trained in contact-improvisation, new dance, modern dance at Tanzfabrik Berlin and in different workshop projects. As a dancer and a choreographer with the fabrikCompanie, he has participated and toured with many of its shows, including the award-winning "Hopeless Games".
Wolfgang Hoffmann is co-founder of fabrik Potsdam. Dancing since 1989 he has trained in contact-improvisation and composition with numerous teachers. For the past ten years, he has been dancer and director of fabrikCompanie, and created and participated in more than 11 dance-theatre works, with which he has toured world-wide.
Matthias Herrmann is a cellist, composer, sound-engineer, producer and coureer. He studied cello with Rudolf Mandalka at the Robert Schumann Highschool, Düsseldorf, Germany. In 1995 he met Howard Katz with whom he collaborated on various performances, concerts and CDs, including the piece KATA (Berlin, Seoul) and the CD "The Trouble With Being Born" (coming out soon). Followed other artistic collaborations with Stephanie Maher, Jess Curtis, Paul Beiersdorf, Christa Cocciole and other musicians.
Christophe Linéré defines himself as a "fabric-designer". He trained as a costume designer and worked with numerous couturiers in Paris. He moved to Berlin in 1995 where he worked at the German Opera as an assistant. Working as a free-lance designer for the past two years he has created, the costumes for (among others): "Acqua con Corps" by Angelika Ächter, "Patch of grass" by Marguerite Donlon, "Canaille" by Brigitta Ernst.
Marco Wehrspann studied theatre technical management in Berlin. Working as a freelance since 1995 he collaborated with Helge Musial, Dieter Heitkamp, Marguerite Donlon, Ratzan´kor, Wee Dance and GayleTufts. He was technical manager for the international arts exhibition Dokumenta X, the Universal Exhibition 2000 in Hanover, for the Berlin Festival and Tanzfabrik Berlin.
Press
Press
Press
Press
"Sublime…Fallen is bursting at the seams with innovative movement ideas, gorgeous visual design, and existential musings. What stands out is enormous physical and metaphysical risk expressed through some of the simplest means with the lightest touch....Fallen is that rare sort of movement miracle that heals as it stings."
– SF Bay Guardian
"An absolute must see."
– Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten
"...an amazingly aesthetic picture of resistance and devotion, love and death."
– Berliner Morgenpost
"An altogether satisfying work that seamlessly combined modern dance and the European tradition of dance theater..."
– San Francisco Chronicle
"... the choreography is carefully calibrated, stunning in it’s ever-shifting, tightly controlled dynamism. And the performers are bold, borderline bitchy, first -rate."
– San Francisco Examiner
"Il y' a des représentations après lesquelles on souhaiterait qu'il n'y eût pas d'applaudissements. Non pas que la pièce n'ait pas plu. Au contraire. L'émotion fut si grande que l'âme réclame un délai supplémentaire afin de jouir de son écho. (...) C'est ce que je ressenti lors de la première de "fallen". (...) Le seul résumé possible est: à voir absolument!"
– Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten
"S'il existait une palme d'or pour l'art chorégraphique, c'est "fallen" de Jess Curtis à qui j'attriburais ma voix cette année."
– Criticaldance.com
"...une pièce de danse-théâtre des superlatifs ".
– Markische Allgemeine Zeitung
"Es gibt Aufführungen, nach denen wünscht man sich, es würde nicht geklatscht. Und das nicht etwa, weil es einem wieder einmal nicht gefallen hat. Im Gegenteil. Da hat uns etwas berührt und der Resonanzraum Seele verlangt danach, dieses Etwas in sich nachklingen lassen zu dürfen .(...) So erging es mir zur Uraufführung des Tanztheaters "fallen". (...) Bleibt zum Schluss nur das Resümee: Unbedingt ansehen!"
– Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten
"Mit minimalen Details aus Schauspiel, Zirkus und Tanz schafften Curtis und seine Darsteller ein wundersam ästhetisches Tableau aus Widerstand und Hingabe, Liebe und Tod. Definitiv eine Bereicherung für Berlin."
– Berliner Morgenpost
"Die Konzentration auf das Gleichgewicht und die Schwerkraft stehen im Mittelpunkt dieser durchaus spannenden Performance."
– Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung
"Eine wahre Poesie eröffnete sich dem Betrachter. Wie einen Spieluhr zurückgedreht wurde er in eine andere Welt geführt, der man sich kaum entziehen konnte"
– Die Welt