The Solo Contest began in 2002 with national and international proposals competing for the Jury, Audience and Acorán Awards, after a selection made by a committee of professionals.
SOLO CONTEST PROGRAMME 2024
THE PÉREZ GALDÓS THEATRE
16, 17 & 18 OCT / 20:00 h
WEDNESDAY OCT 16
BANG! AND OTHER DETAILS (11’17”)
Created by > Shuhuan Wang
Performed by > Pengfan Wu
Music > Mica Levi “Love”
“In the 21st century, standing on the shoulders of Plato, we see people, the wilderness, the human poetry, and other details. Plato’s Cave: a philosophical parable—prisoners are bound, only able to see the shadows cast on the wall by the firelight, which they take for reality. The Wilderness: a place one can reach by simply closing one’s eyes. In our view, Plato’s Cave represents a predicament. This limitation and distortion in the perception of reality is a cognitive barrier we cannot surpass. Therefore, we do not intend to flip out of the cave but to close our eyes to reach the wilderness and perceive those people hidden beneath the clamor, the poems written by humans. Just as a certain absent poet once said, ‘When a social event occurs, journalists will interview lawyers, psychologists, relevant departments, but does anyone care about the poet’s opinion?’ We create theater to provide a poet’s perspective”.
PANOPTICON (12’09”)
Anixi Attik, Greece
Created & Performed by > Vasiliki Papapostolou aka Tarantism
Original Music > Christopher Nas
“In the eighteenth century, Jeremy Bentham invented an architectural structure for social control, a prison called Panopticon in which the cells are always visible. Foucault suggested that this Panopticon idea is how everyday life functions in modern societies since this external gaze becomes internalised inducing individuals to surveil themselves. In the piece Panopticon, the handsrule the restof the bodyand they are constantly watching, surveilling, and policing its actions, while the rest of the body represents the human spirit, the constant fight to preserve the human instinct and individual mind in a society where humans become increasingly mechanical and interested in controlled outcomes and statistical rules. The movement language is a hybrid of physical theatre, contemporary dance and breaking and incorporates the concepts of threading, tracing and isolation”.
HOW NOISY IS TOO NOISY (12’)
Stuttgart, Germany
Created & Performed by > Paco Ladrón de Guevara
Music > Thomas Köner “Substrate (Binaural)”, Raül Refree “Que te vayas”
“Taking Federico García Lorca’s play ‘El público’ as one of the main references, this solo tries to explore and decode the importance of the external eye in constructing our own identity. The external gaze collides with the body to become a sticky substance, like warm beer that spreads over the entire surface. Disgusting but comforting, sticky but brilliant. This work navigates the contradiction between discomfort, pleasure and the euphoria of having the public’s eyes on oneself. This piece emerges through the prism of a generation full of contradictions and dependent on aesthetics, the same that we use to express ourselves and differentiate ourselves from the rest, manifesting and exposing information constantly before thousands of eyes. I want you to look, I need you to notice. The only thing that matters is to shine, even if that means becoming the reflection of the shine of others”.
THURSDAT 17 OCT
PINK LADY (10’)
Munich, Germany
Created & Performed by > Rosalie Wanka
Music > Eduardo Rovira “A Don Alfredo Gobb”, Nancy Sinatra “Bang Bang”
“I’ve never felt committed to being XX just because I am XX. Social? Cultural? Gender? Identity? Borders and concepts dissolve the more we keep on changing our perspective. What is there, behind our socially requested avatar that bears our name? Who is actually willing to have a look? To all that pathetic, funny, absurd, random and useless human states? Rosalie Wanka plays with elements of socio-cultural provenience and gender identity, with irony and humor creating a dance that doesn’t care to define itself. I always wanted to do a solo dressed up as a tango lady and dancing all the fancy contemporary floor stuff, so here it is. My movement fluctuates between tango sensuality and the concreteness of semi acrobatic contemporary floor work. I feel – and actually have always felt – trapped, between an expectation of femininity I even like to play with, sometimes, and the possibilities of moving I have thanks to my body, which get severely restricted by gender normative conventions (i.e. having to wear high heels)”.
(TITRE PROVISOIRE) (12’10”)
Montrouge, France
Created & Performed by> Johana Malédon
Music > Alessandro Cortini “Finire”, Golpesar Khaneh “Egodystone”, Les Bushinengue “Susa”
“ ‘(Titre provisoire)’ is a solo on the run from identity. On the run from definition. On the run from words. This creation features a body as it was originally constituted, and a surtitling screen. What do you see? In our society, the human condition pushes us to ‘put into words’ and ‘define (ourselves)’. Is this a fear of the unknown, or a reflex behaviour that allows us to link the world to our reality? Words, more words. We learn them, think about them, pronounce them, and they settle and accumulate. First on the surface.Then they pass through our pores, to dissolve deeply. Erase and blend in. Pushing certain limits to the point of distorting itself. Confuse us. Originally from and raised in French Guiana, Johana moved to Paris 10 years ago. It was during these moments that she became aware of the darkness of her skin, unconsciously trying to erase everything that could accentuate the difference. Despite all these efforts, this envelope continues to catch up with Johana, and continues to define her in the eyes of the Other, by assigning functions and expectations to it. ‘(titre provisoire)’ offers the spectator the opportunity to explore an in-between space, mobile and nuanced, in which images and common references come and go in a subliminal impetus. The movement seeks itself with persistence, assumes itself with density and evaporates in an instant”.
THIS WOMAN (11’45”)
Wenzhou City, China
Created & Performed by > Shuchang Chen
Music > Alva Noto “Un Día”, Guo Sida “So gentle and crazy”
“East Asian women carry discipline throughout their lives, and when you look, you see endless exploitation and restraint. But when life weighs you down and you can’t breathe, you will find an outlet on your own to accept yourself and carry yourself”.
FRIDAY OCT 18
FAN-MADE (10’30”)
Seoul, South Korea
Created by > Min Kim
Performed by > Jongwoo Kim
Music > Gustavo Santaolalla “Longing”
“In the Chosun Dynasty, a fan was a symbol for upper class people. In the last period of Chosun, there was no longer a caste system but the nobles still tried to maintain their power and dignity. These so called ‘Yangban’ (nobleman) even carried fans in the winter and were described as ostentatious. The piece ‘Fan-made’ tries to interpret this phenomenon in relation to our lives. Sometimes we try to hold on to things that we should let go. Sometimes we try to have things that we actually don’t need”.
…DE DONDE VENGO (10’14”)
Burgos, Spain
Created by > Indalecio Séura
Performed by > Yuan Tao
Original Music > Indalecio Séura
“Why do I go back if I know where I come from? Maybe I have a vague hope that something has changed… although the real question is whether I am really stopping living the same thing all the time”.
TENGO QUE (10’)
Mitry-Mory, France
Created & Performed by > Clémence Juglet
Music > Leon Afterbeat “ Tuesday”, “Wednesday”
“Time is no longer just an instrument of evaluation, the measure of excellence. It obsesses us, terrifies us, makes us feel guilty and provokes a sense of urgency. There is only one objective: to make the most of this time, always and still, until we obtain satisfaction, and then, hungry for the best, we repeat this scheme indefinitely. We are trapped in a race against the clock, in which we exhaust ourselves by supplying more and more energy. We give body and soul to work. We keep wanting to master time, to control it, but this is only illusory. We have to maintain an idealised self-image, to the point of ignoring our own value and wealth in favour of work”.