Ekskursion

(Excursion)

Dance performance for 4 dancers.

Premiere: 31st August 2006, InThrige Festival, Thrigehallerne, Odense.


In Excursion four dancers dressed in school uniforms are caught in a ritual game with shadows, reflections and signs, surrender and dominance. The piece is performed to orchestral music by György Ligeti.

In the summer of 2006, Anders Christiansen was invited by the dance company Mancopy to create a piece for the dancers of the company, as part of the triple programme Stringens (Cogency). The two other works in the programme were choreographed by Mancopy’s artistic director Jens Bjerregaard and the Spanish choreographers Olga Cobos and Peter Mika.

Concept & Direction: Anders Christiansen
Choreography: Anders Christiansen and the dancers
Dancers: Eve Garnier, Kristina Veit, Iker Arrue-Mauleon, Jens Bjerregaard
Music: György Ligeti - Konzert für Violoncello und Orchester and Konzert für Violine und Orchester
Set design: Kim Glud og Jens Bjerregaard
Costume design: Anders Christiansen and the dancers
Lighting design: Kim Glud
Production: Mancopy

Duration: 24 minutes

Press quotes:

Strange visions in disused factory building.
Condensed dance in the old Thrige factory in Odense.
"With Anders Christiansen we are on a weird school trip in Ekskursion. Four pupils in school uniforms explore the lurking power games and rituals of sexuality, but behind the twisted and entangled bodies that shadow and mirror one another, a sense of being lost lies in wait. Ligeti's ominous music suits this slightly decadent school ride perfectly."
Henrik Lyding (Jyllands-Posten, 2nd September 2006)


Electric central part.
"Anders Christiansen rarely fails, and in Ekskursion we encounter, yet again, a choreographer with a supreme eye for the scenic possibilities of the large factory hall. There are four dancers on stage, now that Jens Bjerregaard himself has joined the group. Four dancers, one in each corner. And like in a relay race, they begin to switch on the power in each other. But we have not yet seen half of the volt that Anders Christiansen is able to bring to the stage in this choreography which is the peak of the evening.

Christiansen's choreographic language rests on a fundamental existential-mythical basis, and the movements therefore become almost symbolical. But we soon discover that decoding is impossible - the bodies only accidentally refer to anything outside the choreography. It is safe to say that Christiansen has a completely unique approach to dance, and the result is a physical awakening in the audience, as if Christiansen with his work is massaging the collective amygdala itself."
Janus Kodal (Politiken, 3rd September 2006)

”Anders Christiansen, who is known as the choreographer of both minimalism and performance art, has created an extremely successful quartet with the title Ekskursion for the new company Mancopy.

Here the three skilled dancers, Eve Garnier, Kristina Veit and Iker Arrue-Mauleon from (the prior piece) Embody are accompanied by Jens Bjerregaard. And dressed in identical shirts, ties, shorts and knee stockings the four dancers resemble a group of uniformed English school children, who completely live up to the programme title, Stringens (Cogency).

Ligeti’s magical violin and cello concert rings both mysterious and uncanny to Anders Christiansen’s choreography, where shifting power relations among the four youths are signalled by the groupings of the dancers and their horizontal and vertical positions in space. Playfully they measure their strength against each other and take turns surrendering in backwards arches of the torso, until they fall to the ground as dead bodies. A strong dance about dominance and rituals on an excursion to life’s tough playground.”
Vibeke Wern (Berlingske Tidende, 10th October 2006)


”An asset to the company is the opportunity for the guest choreographers to contribute different input. Thus Anders Christiansen has dug deep in his bag of old favourite themes and has, with Excursion, created a sombre boarding school chamber play for the four dancers of the piece, who act each other’s shadow/sides to György Ligeti’s weird violin music, and who hypnotize with their undertones of perverted emotional coldness and bullying in the choreographer’s characteristic signal-minimalism.”
Majbrit Hjelmsbo (Weekendavisen, 13th October 2006)

Venues:

Archauz, Århus, 12-16 February 2008 (4 performances).
Lyngby Kulturhus, Lyngby, 7 February 2008.
The Opera, Takkelloftet, Copenhagen, 6-11 October 2006 (5 performances).
Musik og Teaterhøjskolen, Toftlund, 15 September 2006.
InThrige festival, Thrigehallerne, Odense, 31 August - 9 September 2006 (8 performances).


Stringens was produced with support from The Danish Arts Council, Fyns Amt, Augustinus Fonden, Danmarks Nationalbanks Jubilæumsfond af 1968, Thomas B. Thriges Fond, Funch Fonden, Oticon Fonden.



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Photographs: Kirstine Mengel
1 Eve Garnier, Kristina Veit, Iker-Arrue Mauleon
2 Eve Garnier, Jens Bjerregaard, Iker-Arrue Mauleon, Kristina Veit
3 Iker-Arrue Mauleon, Jens Bjerregaard, Eve Garnier, Kristina Veit
4 Eve Garnier, Kristina Veit
5 Eve Garnier, Jens Bjerregaard, Kristina Veit, Iker-Arrue Mauleon
6 Eve Garnier, Iker-Arrue Mauleon, Kristina Veit, Jens Bjerregaard