Sporen USA tour big success!
Leine & Roebana performed Sporen in Albany, Washington D.C, Monterey, New York, Boston and Cleveland. In each city “the surprising and unpredictable choreography kept viewers on the edge of their seats” (The Washington Post).
The performances were greeted with enthusiasm, terrific reviews and great appreciation for the juxtaposition of contrasting types of music in dialogue with their own specific style of movement. Andrea Leine and Harijono Roebana, from their part, were particularly thrilled with the quality of engagement and insightful questions from the audience during the post-performance discussions.
Sporen is a dance performance combining seven dancers with music for strings, piano and voice from Baroque and Contemporary composers like Dowland, Byrd, Purcell and Boulez. It also features several commissioned compositions by Kyriakides, Padding and SoundPalette.
Structured like the music of Pierre Boulez: capricious, formal, rich in texture, emotional and idiosyncratic, Sporen confronts different approaches to movement. Switching between complex physical counterpoint, aggressive attack and ambiguous simplicity, the movement style is as demanding as it is natural.
The choreographic ideas that underlie the different sections of the choreography are as diverse as the moods they represent. Yet they spring from one single line of thought: how do we relate to our bodies in a technologically mediated society, and what does that imply for the dancer and the art of dancing? How can this be expressed kinaesthetically? Our bodies are dissected into their constituent parts and put back together like with Frankenstein's monster. Afterwards, dancing does not seem quite the same.
Choreography: Andrea Leine and Harijono Roebana
Dance: Alba Barral Fernandez, Uri Eugenio, Tim Persent, Lia Poole, Heather Ware, Marlene Wolfsberger, Ederson Rodrigues Xavier
Compositions: K.F. Abel, Prelude in d. / P. Boulez, NotationsW. Byrd, 1st Pavane, Galliard / J. Dowland, Sorrow Stay / Y. Kyriakides, (Cantus Firmus, 2000) / M. Padding (Sulphur, 2001) / Palinckx, Is that all there is / H. Purcell, O Solitude / C. Simpson, Divisions in a. / Soundpalette, Han Otten and Wiebe de Boer (If we could only even if we could, 1995) / J. Zorn, Hammerhead, Cairo Chop Shop
Costumes: AZIZ, Emmy Schouten, Annemiek Soeters, Marjon Leek
Theatre design: Leine & Roebana, Anne Karin ten Bosch (image from the production s/he)
Première: November 2003, Holland Dance Festival, Theater aan het Spui, The Hague, The Netherlands
'The result was a unified ensemble devoted to specific movements, executing each phrase with detached conviction.' Metro, 2008 (USA)
'Dutch troupe’s Sporen challenges, confounds, intrigues at Egg show.'
'Andrea Leine and Harijono Roebana, create a world in which every action builds on what came before and informs what goes next. And it all culminates to shape the final, bustling outcome.' Daily Gazette, 2008 (USA)
'What makes it endlessly interesting are the unrelenting rhythms of the choreography, its pulsing life force, which eventually possesses not only the dancers but those watching them as well.' Times Union, 2008 (USA)
'An evening in which the surprising and unpredictable choreography kept viewers on the edge of their seats.'
'Whether through a spastic convulsion that somehow spiraled into a controlled pirouette or a delicate graze of the pinky finger against the body, the dancers were convincing and engaging.' The Washington Post, 2008 (USA)
'They left the audience shocked by their extreme coordination and ability to move the body in so many different ways.' Kari Nicolls, April 24, 2008 (USA)
'The sheer range of movement invention – now harsh or dislocated, now sinuous or floppy - holds the attention, reinforced by music that swerves from honeyed Dowland to spiky Boulez.' The New Yorker, 2008 (USA)
'Friday night something magical happened…'
'Their blank, attractive faces remained diligently at odds with the lines of energy that seemed to be pulling their limbs in opposite directions.' The New York Times, 2008 (USA)
'The work quickly builds to an impressively relentless physicality as the dancers jaggedly boomerang against the floor or slice and jab their limbs through space.'
'The piece ends, wonderfully, hopefully, as she runs, leaps, and hurls herself on one of the others.' Boston Globe, 2008 (USA)
'Who knew that Pierre Boulez's spiky piano ‘Notations’ could be so danceable?'
'The Dutch guests and the audience Saturday were relieved -- and satisfied. Smiles and mutual applause ensued.' The Plain Dealer, 2008 (USA)
'…70 minutes of blisteringly good dancing. Sporen (Traces) choreographed by Andrea Leine and Harijono Roebana had the audience on the edge of our seats.' Susan Miller, 2008 (USA)
'Leine & Roebana has a unique style that defies a traditional description. … It is purely a company which interprets music through bodily movement.'
'Capsule judgement: bravo!' Roy Berko, 2008 (USA)
'The roots of emotional life' Bietigheimer Zeitung (Germany)
'Sporen is a statement about dance and music' (Dutch Dance Days)
'A strong example of contemporary dance' Danzahoy (Spain)
'Une création à la danse précise, contrastée, très douce et très colorée' Le bien public (France)
'Höchste Augenlust' Stuttgarter Nachrichten (Germany)
'Dance duo strikes gold with the old.' De Volkskrant, 2004 (the Netherlands)
' The nature of the choreography is best compared to a living organism, where one part cannot exist without another; a fluid and capricious whole.'
'Sporen' is still refreshing in its pure aesthetics, whether for the dance, the music or the costumes Haagsche Courant, 2003 (the Netherlands)