DRY - den ultimative regndans
(DRY – the Ultimate Rain Dance)
Duet.
Premiere: 17th January 1996, Dansescenen, Copenhagen.
Drought area. An abandoned house devoured by the desert. The rainmaker and his assistant have been summoned. Together they must lift the curse of the drought. A ceremony for anyone suffering under a drought.
”This is a dance that will either anger people, or make their tears fall like rain.”
Janus Kodal (Ekstra Bladet, 19th January 1996)
Concept and choreography: Anders Christiansen
Dancers: Anders Christiansen, Ole Håndsbæk Christensen
Piano and accordeon: Ole Håndsbæk Christensen
Live piano music: Gabriel Fauré - Nocturne No.4 op.36
Taped music: French musette waltz, Russian Easter Mass, collage.
Set design: Christian Q. Clausen
Costume design: Lise Klitten
Lighting design: Brian Njie
Sound design: Michael W. Laursen and Anders Christiansen
Producer / PR: Gerd Shottländer
Production: (stillleben)
Duration:70 minutes
Press quotes:
Finally the rain came.
Double-programme with dream-levels opens the Culture Year on the dance scene.
”If, as a spectator, one stubbornly holds on to this long minimalistic monotony, one is forced along into a trance while thunder approaches, and the rain, at last, pours down over the earth, and a russian easter mass lifts one toward heaven.”
Erik Aschengreen (Berlingske Tidende, 19th January 1996)
”When thunder finally came rolling and the rain broke out and splashed in a thin stream down upon Håndsbæk, the relief was total on both sides of the stage. But when Christiansen takes hold he seldom lets go before it hurts. Like an indefatigable witch who never gives up, he forced his victim all the way to the edge of the stage, where he let him stare directly into the sharp spotlight - and out on us - with blinking eyes.
This is what AC's twisted and repetitive minimalism can do. He forces us to see what is beneath the buried surface of existence. It is quite brilliant.”
Maibrit Hjelmsbo (Teater Et, April 1996)
La Sylphide in a new outfit.
“Who would have imagined that Mr. Strange Guy no. 1 in Danish dance would make his breakthrough with a version of Bournonville’s ‘La Sylphide’? Presumably Arnhem-educated Anders Christiansen would never totally agree that this is what he is doing in DRY – den ultimative regndans. The performance, featuring a shaman and his accordion-playing assistant, works on more levels than one. Definitely the whole thing is impregnated with Beckett’s ‘Endgame’ atmosphere, but once you have noticed the peculiar resemblance between the legendary sylphide and Anders Christiansen, standing on one leg, flapping his arms with a birdlike screech, you are caught up in a powerful replay of the romantic ballet. Christiansen’s shaman is both sylphide and witch, an obscure forlorn creature yet endowed with the power of magic. …No doubt Anders Christiansen is the most extraordinary – but also the most extreme - creature to cross the Danish stage for a long time.”
Monna Dithmer (Ballet International, no. 1, 1997)
Venues:
Black Box Teater, Oslo, 11-12 February 1998.
Romaeuropa - Festival Nordico della Danza / Rome, 10-11 November 1997.
Aurora Borealis - Nordic solo programme touring the Baltic States / Geguzés, Vilnius, 8-9 May; Jaunais Rigas Teatris, Riga, 12-13 May; Vene Draamateatris, Tallin, 15 May 1997 (extract).
Copenhagen Culture City 96 / Dansescenen, Copenhagen, 5-7 August 1996.
Dansescenen, Copenhagen, 17-27 January 1996 (double programme with Living Creatures).
DRY - den ultimative regndans was produced with support from The Danish Arts Council, The State Arts Foundation, Statens Musikråd.
Photographs: Nanna Arnfred
1 Anders Christiansen, Ole Håndsbæk Christensen
2 Anders Christiansen, Ole Håndsbæk Christensen
3 Anders Christiansen
4 Ole Håndsbæk Christensen, Anders Christiansen
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