Since 1996, creators and performers have been competing for the Jury Prize, the Audience Prize and the Acorán Award, after a selection made by a committee of professionals.
In this section we present the programme of the XXVII Edition of the Choreography Contest, which will be held from 18 to 21 October 2023 at the Pérez Galdós Theatre in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
The application period will ran from 15 February to 30 April 2022.
CHOREOGRAPHY CONTEST 2023
WEDNESDAY OCT 18 / THE PÉREZ GALDÓS THEATRE / 20,00 h
RAUM (11’40’’)
Rumelange, Luxembourg
Created by > WILLIAM CARDOSO
Performed by > William Cardoso & Cheyenne Vallejo
Original Music > Guillaume Jullien.
«’Raum’ was born during the first lockdown, it is an encounter with our closest demons; fear, anxiety and forgiveness. We live in a modern society where depression takes over people. ‘Raum’ highlights the fact that we can find light even on days when we feel the world has turned its back on us. You don’t have to be morally well all the time, to be 100% functional, to contribute to a system that never stops. A fall, or a drop in morale, is not welcome. Various drugs/treatments/antidepressants have been introduced to cover up our unhappiness, to manipulate the human brain and make it swallow lies. The human being has to function properly all the time. This is not true. Overwhelmed by the media and the information we receive on a daily basis, we can no longer see clearly. Suffocated by the lies and strategies put in place by the men of power, the human being forgets the primary need, that of living life fully. The human being must be free and have his or her own opinion, explore his or her person and affirm it without judgment and without punishment or consequences.
A large majority of the population is dominated by fears and anxieties due to the education that has been imposed on us, we no longer have a choice. Our choice is dictated to us. We have the right to feel bad, we have the right to have darker thoughts then others, we have the right not to feel like it anymore. We have the right to be sick, to take time to accept the departure of a loved one, we have the right to need rest. We are free to feel these emotions, we are just a consequence of the world and the society we live in. ‘Raum’ is a place of struggle to achieve inner freedom and peace. ‘Raum’ is a journey full of life in a colourless space».
POLITICAL SPAGHETTI (10’)
Kanagawa-Ken, Japan
Created by > AYAKO TAKAHASHI
Performed by > Akane Koizumi & Nono Oue
Music > Felix Mendelssohn “Wedding March”; Tool “Disgustipated”; Irish Folk Song “Londonderry Air”.
«’Political Spaghetti’ aims to highlight how we process touches mentally and somatically. As the work progresses, the performers share touch, space, and energy to show how these connections can influence others to share their own vulnerability. By challenging hegemonic perceptions of identity and bodies in motion, this work reveals inner landscapes and amplifies the need for vulnerability to develop deeper empathetic capacities across diverse communities. The piece will start with two dancers kissing, then extruding one red strings from their mouths».
NON-ORDINARY SERVICES (11’24”)
Taipei, Taiwan
Created by > CHUANG PO-HSIANG
Performed by > Shi-Hao Huang & Ong Kuan Ying
Music > Trevor Morris “Hvitserk’s choice”, Son Lux “Clair de Lune” (Pied au Piano), Machinefabriekk “III” (with Peter Broderick), Suso Saiz “The Ten Heads of Someone”.
«Service refers to a paid or unpaid activity in which one fulfills obligations and helps others, benefiting them in the process. Service is intangible and ephemeral, and its production and consumption happen simultaneously.
The body and soul (consciousness) serve as the medium for recording, storing, and transmitting consciousness, allowing consciousness to be expressed in the material world. The brain of the body does not create consciousness, but it creates an expression of some kind of consciousness, because anything that appears in the material world must have a corresponding object. The body serves the soul like a canvas, film, or tape, recording all the tracks of one’s life.
Last year, my grandfather passed away, and he was a Buddhist monk. In Buddhism, death is called «rebirth,» which means that there is a future after death and not nothingness. Buddhists usually vow to be reborn in the Pure Land of Buddha, so when facing death, Buddhists should not fear, but instead look forward to it with joy. This meaning is very profound and has a great power of stability. I can understand this truth, but it is also difficult to hide my sadness and joy. In Buddhism, it is often said that taking refuge in the Buddha can sever the seven emotions and six desires and jump out of the mundane world to focus on Buddha. During the funeral process, it was the first time I saw the body of the deceased, which looked peaceful as if sleeping. I saw many wrinkles on my grandfather’s body. Although my grandfather gave me the impression that he had severed his desires and emotions during his lifetime, to me, it was like a track drawn by the soul on his body, full of emotions and all life experiences. Now, his body has only temporarily stopped serving his soul and entered the next dimension or life. Perhaps your body is the footprint of your life, a non-ordinary service relationship».
THURSDAY OCT 19 / THE PÉREZ GALDÓS THEATRE / 20,00 h
FARISA (14’40’’)
Athens, Greece
Created and Performed by > DANAE & DIONYSIOS
Original Music > Constantine Skourlis.
«Sitting on the horse’s back, sleep enveloped me, and the mountains laughed. It has been an eternity since the first day, yet we walk carrying the weight of memories left by our ancestors. Kings and queens, beggars and thieves, are masks we wear to survive the dream. Does the sun burn my face? Or is it just a cold breeze cleansing my destiny of relentless sin? Now that the nightmares have gone, listening to David’s song, I can rest in peace. I swear by the bird, and I swear by the tree, I will not cease walking until I find the sea.
«‘Fárisa’ is a duet which was created in the context of the Pilgrims actions. The work follows two characters’ need for connection and contact as they remain constantly in close intimacy. It is inspired by the notion of pilgrimage as a simulation of a journey through life, animals, and natural landscapes. How can two separate trajectories meet and travel together? How can relationships interact and support each other? How can the hierarchy of humans and animals be broken?».
A BIENTÔT (15’)
Montrouge, France
Created by > JOHANA MALÉDON
Performed by > Elise Bruyère, Sarah Mendoza, Chloé Moynet, Natacha Gourvil & Johana Malédon
Music > Django Reinhart & Dicky Wells “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea”; Cliff Martínez “Messenger Walks Amoung Us”.
«‘À Bientôt’ is a women’s quintet, developed from the solo ‘Bifneem Sheli’ (My inner self), created by Johana Malédon in 2018 after a journey in Israel. Through this creation, the body is at the core of my reflection. Stuck between armor function and carnal envelope, its representation is, nowadays, still strongly the subject of stereotypes. Even though it remains our way to express ourselves, the body has different facets and is constantly transforming. Soul and mind, our body finds the answers to our questions through a certain instinctive brutality. A day, a beginning. Our body is just a vessel, from one point to another. It is, at the same time, the conclusion and the journey itself within space and time…dismantled. A culture landscapes, a language. Our atypical feelings and memories, as well as complementaries, arise from our bodies. They exist only through acceptance of what we are and we are capable of understanding where we come from. The introspection process seems to be the beginning of a journey back in ourselves during which one the music bewitching, surprising and plenty of memories, flavors. It awakes all senses. It allows us to access the beauty of the present moment».
BREEZE THROUGH THE SOUL (12’50’’)
Tel Aviv, Israel
Created by > LAL’EL PILLORA
Performed by > Gilly Geva & Lal’el Pillora
«Unconsciously, we go through our breathing activity blindly. It streams naturally through us in all aspects of our life like when we speak, walk, eat, sleep, etc. Now, what will happen if we become fully aware of it? To be really conscious of the breathing activity at every moment and fully focused in the streaming of our breath? As performers, we can harness the feelings & sensations that the breath permeates into our being, and observe the wonders of what it can do to us when we instill it in our movements or even just in maintaining tranquility throughout any activity that we engage ourselves in».
FRIDAY 20 OCT / THE PÉREZ GALDÓS THEATRE / 20,00 h
I’VE SEEN THAT FACE BEFORE (10’30’’)
Vittoria, Italy
Created by > GIOVANNI INSAUDO
Performed by > Sandra Salietti Aguilera & Helias Tur-Dorvault
Music > Woodkid “Seen that face before”, “Minus Sixty One”.
«’I’ve Seen That Face Before’ describes the thoughts, feelings and sensations that arise for the performer in the moment between the last seconds of the performance and the first bow. The extreme contrast between the physical exertion offered in the show and the humble acceptance of applause and admiration that follows. An attempt to process an entire spectrum of emotion in the blink of an eye. Is there actually space for this, or are the bows a performance in themselves? Does the performer have the opportunity to disconnect from the performance, or is the very act of being observed a prolongation of the act?».
FLASHBULB MEMORY (11’52’’)
Beijing, China
Created & Performed by > HUANG YANLIN & SUN MENGYAO
Original Music > Li Zhiqi “Doom or Survival”.
«Some special memories store all the details that I remember and are related to them, just like the range of light in the darkness is clearly exposed. It lurks, when I am pulled into it, disorderly, jumping, bound, sinking, yet incredibly real».
OXYMORE (14’)
Toulon, France
Created by > MAXIME COZIC
Performed by > Maxime Cozic & Sylvain Lepoivre
Original Music > Arsène Magnard
«The creation of this duet is inspired by the situation of a nightclub outing and the state of drunkenness that regularly accompanies it, making possible the overflow of individuals. The friction between the bodies that emerges from the access of violence, and from the state of euphoria or excitement allowed by drunkenness, I am interested particularly in the excesses that it reveals between individuals. So, this creation talks about the balance of power, between two characters in this context of drunkenness».
SATURDAY 21 OCT / THE PÉREZ GALDÓS THEATRE / 20,00 h
AWARDS CEREMONY AND WINNERS’ GALA