For Marc Goossens
Dance Programmatic / ccBe
Driekoningenstraat 126
2600 Berchem
Antwerp, October 14, 2007
Dear Marc,
Below is the information regarding the new creation 'an angry boy,' which we can present during the Amperdans festival in January 2008.
Best regards,
Chantal Yzermans
‘An angry boy/act two’
Chantal Yzermans / Radical Low in collaboration with Jan Fabre / Troubleyn
An angry boy/act two unfolds from the conversation between a choreographer, a young fashion designer, and a classical musician. Chantal Yzermans invites Andrea Cammarosano and Adriaan Jacobs for a new artistic collaboration during her residency at Troubleyn/Laboratorium. Driven by the theme of 'obscurity,' the three artists work towards a confrontation with their own uniqueness, 'the fact that we will eventually have to part with our individuality.' Raw sounds and movement images are confirmed by a coexistence of tenderness and violence. An angry boy/act two is a contemporary swan song created by three artists inspired by Beethoven's Sonata Op. 106, ‘Hammerklavier.'
We will present the first phase of the research for An angry boy/act two at ccBe for the Amperdans Festival 2008. The premiere of An angry boy/act two is scheduled for the fall of 2008 at ccBe.
Concept and Dance: Chantal Yzermans/Costume Design: Andrea Cammarosano/ Piano: Adriaan Jacobs
P.S.: The enclosed drawing for illustration is by Andrea Cammarosano
‘Begrijpen is beknotten’
Interview Chantal Yzermans/Adriaan Jacobs for Zone 3 Antwerpen, September 2008
Some things can really make you angry. For instance, going deaf as a composer. But is the title of Radical Low’s dance-piano-fashion performance An Angry Boy/act two based on Beethoven?
Chantal Yzermans: “I consider this piece poetry. And with poetry, you don’t have to explain.”
What does a classical pianist have that a dancer can use?
Yzermans: “Classical music doesn’t disappoint you. I have worked with electronic music several times in my life. It has to be very good to compare to the works of the great masters, like Beethoven in the case of An Angry Boy. It’s performed live, which makes the music even more ephemeral in my opinion. Music isn’t tangible, just like dance doesn’t leave tangible traces.”
The costumes by designer Andrea Cammarosano are tangible...
Yzermans: “That’s true. You could say that Andrea, who currently has an exhibition at the Fashion Museum, provides the visuals, the tangible aspect. Together with Nono Pessoa, we will be wearing Andrea’s creation. Nono Pessoa’s is the performer that appears in this work as ‘a living form’. She will be eating plants during the whole duration of the Hammerklavier.
A living form?
Yzermans: “Yes... Look, I find the piece very poetic, so trying to understand everything would take away too much of the mystique. Understanding is limiting. I could also tell you that Andrea’s costumes in a way represent a transformation, but then you’d start asking more questions about that. And I don’t want to overanalyze my pieces. What I can tell you is that the Hammerklavier Sonata was the trigger for the performance.”
Why that particular sonata?
Jacobs: “It’s a very stubborn piece, full of counterpoints. It almost constantly wrong-foots you.”
A dream for a dancer?
Yzermans: “Yes, or a nightmare.”
Jacobs: “It’s not Beethoven’s last sonata. He wrote it when he was already deaf. Despite that handicap, the piece is colossal, sometimes with symphonic grandeur. Beethoven was in a crisis period. He felt that he was at a time that was waving goodbye to classicism. For example, he ends the piece with a fugue, a typically Baroque genre. He’s actually going back in time, just as the romantics would soon do. For Beethoven, that transition isn’t clear yet. He doesn’t know what’s coming, neither in art nor in his private life. He’s fighting that uncertainty. You can hear that in the sonata. That fugue is considered one of the most difficult pieces to play. It’s gigantically long and complex; Beethoven stuffed it with formulas. Glenn Gould once said that the Hammerklavier Sonata was an attempt ‘to break through the contrapuntal sound barrier’.”
You recently played Gaspard de la Nuit by Ravel, which is considered the most difficult piece. Why take such risks at a young age?
Jacobs: “Because I might not dare to start them in ten years. I had already played Gaspard de la Nuit once in St. Mark's Church in New York, during the performance of a duet that Chantal created for this musical work.”
You know each other from New York?
Yzermans: “No, we’ve known each other for much longer. I went to New York six years ago to study with Merce Cunningham, an icon in the dance world. It was an enormously enriching experience. I also founded Radical Low there, my own company where I constantly work with different people. But after a while, busy New York becomes too much. I also returned because there are more opportunities for dance in Belgium.”
More opportunities than in New York?
Yzermans: “So far, I’m still positive, yes. You can find more subsidies and rehearsal spaces here, which allow you to work on a performance longer and delve deeper into it. I am currently in residence at Troubleyn/Laboratorium, and the premiere of An Angry Boy/act two is in co-production with Monty arts center. Life in New York is more fleeting. My performances there were often improvisations. That fleetingness and haste are typical of New York. No one stops there for a red light.”
Adriaan, you said Beethoven was struggling with his last sonata. Is that why the title An Angry Boy, Part Two?
Jacobs: “Ask Chantal.”
Yzermans: “Maybe. I found the title fitting, but don’t ask me why. Actually, act one is a piece I performed last year in CC Berchem, titled ‘ONR-I, allegory of night’’. ‘An Angry Boy’ is the blueprint.”
I suggest we don’t delve deeper into that.
September 2008, Antwerpen
‘An Angry Boy’ at CAKE! at Chez Bushwick : an Equinox Celebration hosted by Jerome Pique and Johan Bokaer, July 2009 @ Bushwick , New York, USA © L.Holzer
