Off Course
Meg Stuart
On the occasion of the European Cultural Capital 2010, Meg Stuart worked intensively with 12 Turkish dancers in a workshop for two weeks. She brought two dancers with her from Berlin, and she selected ten others during an audition on site. After the workshop, two presentations were shown in Garajistanbul. Forced transitions were the focus: being forced to leave a place, or being forced to stay – for example, illegal immigrants in Limbo. It was about displacement: displacement of images, displacement in the body, displacement of home – and about the physical and emotional condition of being displaced. And in practice, the forced transitions were used to produce material. As a result of their personal experiences and memories, the dancers developed individual states and material that Meg Stuart collected and joined together for the final performance. The piece develops from a series of assembled individual fragments to a series of group scenes that go through the rituals of forgetting and see collective dance as a contemporary prayer. The Finnish DJ and composer Jari Marjamäki created loops out of street music; the visual artist Valentine Kempynck added visual elements to them.
concept
Meg Stuart
live music
Jari Marjamäki
visuals
Valentine Kempynck
created with and performed by
Adam Linder, Elpida Orfanidou, Asli Bostanci, Bedirhan Dehmen, Burak Yamantürk, Gonca Gümüsayak, Günes Çaglar, Idil Kemer, Leyla Postalcioglu, Senem Gökçe Oğultekin, Melih Kiraç and Seyhan Baysoy
‘Off Course’ arose from a collaboration between Meg Stuart / Damaged Goods and Garajistanbul (Istanpoli – Istanbul 2010 ECC)