WHO WOVE MY BREATH ?

Dance for Berber carpets, group work in progress 2011- 2012

MAYYI ZTTAN OUNFOUSINOU ? Qui ma tissé le souffle ? Wat weeft in mij ?

‘MAYYI ZTTAN OUNFOUSINOU ?’ is a composition for 7 dancers and 12 Berber rugs. This abstract work connects dance with the art of weaving and the body with the carpet.

The fanciful and the erratic have become important rules of play in Pé’s work. Much more than focussing on fixed choreographic lines, Pé therefore researches the ‘life of the mind’ during the dance and seeks to combine this with a prepared body and dance qualities.

With this ‘work in progress’ Pé seeks to develop a capricious and unpredictable structure and ‘state of being’ for a group, and she s to connect this with the art of weaving, in particular the Berber art. The dancers are like different human ‘warp threads’ and colors, human striking powers, hesitant or effective, framing or opening. The dancers, as living, animated and thinking materials, are ‘prepared’ and dance in an unpredictable and elusive way a virtual carpet. This organic composition is like a sensitive human rug. An ordened clew with a very lively feeling. On a surface, not much bigger than a real carpet, seven dancers weave a virtual one. The coincidental, but always inspired, ‘danced’ warp of every dancer creates an unpredictable and teeming beauty, hopefully intriguing enough to be looked at for a long time. With this kind of human organic structures, Pé is hoping to offer something similar to what nature does or animal formations, e.g. swarms of birds, can do. As this journey and ‘formless form’ states might last endlessly and become a hypnotic pattern for the observer, from it arise different tableaux, tighter choreographies and sensitive body/object relationships with the 12 highly qualitative Berber carpets

With ‘Mayyi zttan ounfousinou ?’ we sense how strongly the Berber art of weaving possesses a contemporary relevance for Western artists and society, and we accept it gratefully as a source for this new creation. This work also exists as a video dance installation. See videodance, a ‘formless form’ and ‘abstract me’’

Choreography and concept : Pé Vermeersch

Textile art specialist : Paul Vandenbroeck

Costumes : Anita Evenepoel in collaboration with Pé Vermeersch

Music : Peter Clasen

Dance : Angela Babuin, Irénée Blin, Aleesa Shirayshi, Alexandro Pablo Russo, Rebecca Rosseel, Giovanni Scarcella, Mira Walschot

This work in progress was presented in relation to an exhibition of Berber rugs in LOKAAL 01 Breda (Holland), september 2011, and in studio Radical HeArts, Kortrijk (Belgium), autumn 2012.