Gareth K Vile: Death and Burlesque
(Mon 15 Mar 2010, http://www.theskinny.co.uk/article/98830-death-and-burlesque)
The twin muses of Experimental Performance and Burlesque battle for the soul of the theatre critic. What will happen?
Given her almost nihilistic approach to both life and art, it is unsurprising that La Ribot’s death, as represented by Via Negativa, is a naked body in a welter of blood. While a tape-recording of Ribot’s thoughts on life crackles on the side of the stage, she lies there, ribs, breasts and bright red wig, slowly fading away, an installation to mortality. Once she is gone, the wig and her shoes are gathered up in a shoe box, her remains packed away with less ceremony than a pet buried in the back garden. Her words deny meaning, deny magic: not just a Godless world, but one devoid of purpose and coherence. In this imagined death, the human body is a mere object, bereft of soul or erotic intent.
Twenty four hours later, at Va Va Voom in Edinburgh, I am watching Cat Aclysmic’s Powder Puff routine. Once a fairly simple bump and grind addition to her repertoire, she has powered it up through close study of classic American burlesque and a cheeky British humour. It’s playful, and sexier for it: the body is tattooed with meaning, the focus of attention, and desire. Where La Ribot’s body is exposed and explicit, it is mere flesh. Cat Aclysmic’s body teases and implies, becoming word.
If Via Negativa perform Four Deaths – the symbolic murders of four artists – Va Va Voom, through Cat Aclysmic and Cherryfox, create Four Lives: sensual routines of assertion and energy. Both Via Negativa and Va Va Voom use humour – as the cast of Four Deaths announce, “theatre is fun.” But where Via Negativa gradually shift to melancholy – Marina Abramovitch’s departure is a slowly dissolving fall of bubbles that uses an obvious metaphor in a moving finale – burlesque leaves the audience dancing.
Ian Smith, MC of the National Review and head honcho of Mischief La Bas, has commented that humour allows serious artists to comfort the audience before leading them into darker territory. Via Negativa, with a tinny rendition of Mozart and a wry self-depreciation, relax the crowd before focussing on death. La Ribot’s terse material notwithstanding, Four Deaths is a spiritual journey, like a Buddhist meditation on impermanence. It also offers concise summaries of four artistic greats’ aesthetic, describing Tim Etchells from Forced Entertainment’s dangerous relationship between health and performing and Abramovitch’s notorious study of the body. It is intelligent, thoughtful, drawing a connection between the stage and life: the friendly, natural personae on stage add to the blurring of boundaries. It’s as if the audience is being invited to conspire in the company’s own fantasies.
I left the CCA calm and moved: despite the blood and scattered body parts, death is recognised as part of a natural cycle, possessing its own resonance and beauty. Even the pitiful dissolution of Pina Bausch into a final smoking cigarette becomes a symbol of her life and achievements. Yet Va Va Voom left me agitated, dispersed. The erotic thrill transforms into a terse questioning, the celebration of life compromised by the impolite desires swirling around my thoughts. My erudite contemplations on Cat Aclysmic’s use of tradition and narrative, dressed up in formal language, are driven by an undercurrent of raw physical desire. If burlesque is a meditation on life, life is confused, the mind and body locked into a conflict only resolved by tiny deaths.
Pascal Bély: Na festivalu Komm’n'act štirje mrtvi in eno navdušenje
Med svežino in odprtostjo slovenskega umetniškega kolektiva ter našo, značilno francosko težavo pri ustvarjanju kreativne vezi, smo bili priča predstavi, na katero bi bil ta festival lahko ponosen. (www.festivalier.net, maj 2009)
Rok Vevar: Ali ljubezen obstaja brez travme?
»Predstava Štiri smrti (uprizarja “zavist” kot enega od sedmih smrtnih grehov) je zgodba o gledalcu in njegovi želji, prizadevanju po “videnju izza”, s tem pa hkrati postavlja vprašanje, ki je v svojem temelju kleč intersubjektivnosti: kaj ima drugi (npr. Pina Bausch), kar meni konstitutivno manjka; s tem ko poskušam to skrivnost izpolniti z neko vsebino, imenom, definicijo, refleksijo, ubijem tisto, kar naj bi bila skrivnost, saj jo poimenujem (npr. “Ljubim te, ker pa v tebi tisto, kar je nepojasnljivo, ljubim bolj kot tebe samega, te pohabim”). Gre za proces refleksije, simbolizacije, poimenovanja, ki je vselej smrt neizrekljivega, resnice, Realnega, skrivnosti.« (Večer Maribor, 23. november 2007)
Jacopo Lanteri: Via Negativa vs. Tim Etchells
»Izbor [v zadnji akciji] pade na zgodovinski performans Marine Abramović z Ulayem, v katerem se ponavljajoče klofutata, z eno samo razliko: tukaj je performerka sama, gola, v središču scene. V tej akciji, slečeni konteksta in vsakega odnosa s sezono body arta, se plastijo mnogoteri pomeni in možnosti branja: od uboja učitelja preko mehanizma rekonstrukcije in remakea, pa tudi, obratno, ekstremen tribut njegovemu delu; in še volja in želja samo-bičanja zaradi izvršenega pregreška. Sindrom Salieria, pripeljan do skrajnih posledic. Vreden konec predstave, ki dokazuje dovršenost dela in pomembno umetniško rast slovenske skupine.« (Exibart, 27. november 2007)
Francesca Giuliani: L’altro volto dell’invidia
»Umetniki, nepopolne kopije, se gibljejo v kočljivem ravnotežju, ujeti med realnost in fikcijo. In občinstvu vseskozi ploskajo. Ni določene estetske raziskave. Je pa popolna odstranitev vseh elementov, ki niso bistveni za jasnost sporočila. Strategija, ki jo štirje Slovenci uporabijo, da bi pokazali na zavist, je jasna: ponoviti akcije svojih mojstrov, ki v trenutku, ko gredo skozi njihova telesa, fizičnost, postanejo groteskni in nesmiselni.« (Gazzetta di Modena 17. oktober 2007)
Zala Dobovšek: Občinstvo – božji razsodnik
»Občinstvo skozi evolucijo vse bolj kraljuje ob statusu božjega razsodnika. Performerji, igralci in plesalci, ki so se pripravljeni za svoj ugled konkretno spogledati tudi s Smrtjo, pa poleg vzbujanja umetniškega vtisa vse bolj prodirajo v dimenzije realnosti. Je ta v umetnosti ostala edina rešitevza zmago v »abel-kajnovskem« boju?« (Radio Študent Ljubljana, 6. oktober 2007)
Primož Jesenko: V točki nevidnosti
“Uprizoritelji se lotevajo posrednega »ubijanja« lastnega »tekmeca« sistematično: ob vstopu na oder vsak poda klinično pronicljiv dramaturški razrez logike izbranega postdramskega opusa in ga nato evocira še z živo repliko enega od kanoniziranih performativnih aktov: Katarina Stegnar uprizori graciozno umiranje v dimu zadnje cigarete á la Pina Bausch, ki se »pietajevsko« namesti poleg naključnih statistov iz publike; Zorc preveri smrtno dimenzijo nastopov Tima Etchellsa, ko v razpotegnjeni maniri razbija polžasto zaporedje v doze privitih žarnic; Barbara Kukovec, virtualna La Ribot, gola leže v razlito vedro rdeče barve, nato pozicionira kote gledalčevega zrenja; Petra Zanki, virtualna Marina Abramovič, se gola intenzivno klofuta.” (Delo Ljubljana, 3.11.2007)