Conspiracy Ceremony-HYPERSONIC STATES

Synopsis & credits

A symphony of pathologies, sentiments, and physical states originating in the personal emotional body are on display in this latest work by Icelandic choreographer Margrét Sara Gudjónsdóttir. Emotions rush through these bodies without filters. The viewer experiences extreme and at times painfully private states. Portraying the anonymous multitude, the five dancers are ceremonially surrendered to, and moved by, invisible forces, both political and energetic in nature, that are far greater than all of us. The Hyperstates form a corporeal language that serves as a doorway into the subconscious. This language is marked by an infinite presence that reveals and provokes in the same moment. It transfers itself into the bodies of the audience as they meet the performers with full intensity. Together, they explore and confront the inner landscape of the de-bordered body, offering up an alternative reality of physical pleasure and pain that comes with surrendering to the Hyperstates.

In Conspiracy Ceremony– Hypersonic States, Margrét Sara Guðjónsdóttir and her long-term artistic associates continue their in-depth research into a methodology that accesses physiological and emotional sub-worlds. Over a series of works (including the Blind Spotting Performance Series), she has developed a new genre of performative body language, and an original working method that directly informs her creative outcomes.

Concept, choreography, direction,costumes: Margrét Sara Guðjónsdóttir/ Choreography/Performance: Johanna Chemnitz, Catherine Jodoin, Laura Siegmund, Marie Topp, Suet-Wan Tsang/ Music: Peter Rehberg/ Light design: Martin Beeretz / Dramaturgical advice: Zeina Hanna/ Production management: Elena Krüskemper/ Photos: Jeanette Ginslov/. Funding and coproduction: Senate Department for Culture and Europe, SOPHIENSÆLE, LÓKAL theater festival Iceland, Rannís – National funds for Performing Arts Iceland, Nordic Culture Fund.

Reviews

Internal emergencies

And it is true that something incredible happens in this “conspiratorial ceremony” in which Gudjónsdóttir involves five dancers, most often separately. Little movement, no interaction or claim of communication with the space or the public. The hyper-state is an internal affair. And yet …No one, probably, has ever been so successful in rhyming with a state of choreographic urgency. Many contemporary choreographers have, however, got down to work. Without much result. Feeling what is going on within the body or mind of an interpreter usually requires the viewer to have an acute divining ability.
The Conspiracy Ceremony changes the game. With her research on myofascial release and her personal approach to somatic practices, Margrét Sara Guðjónsdóttir has opened doors to the invisible and buried body memory. The performers manage, with a minimum of gestures, to create energetic fields that link their bodily presence to very powerful and almost palpable mental ones.

Date: 22/05/2018 Thomas Hahn dansercanalhistorique.fr
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