Concave

In Krisztina de Châtel’s work there is often an aspect of limiting the space in both the literal and the figurative sense of the word. This also holds true for Concave, a choreography from 1993, for which the visual artist Peter Vermeulen designed the setting.

In Concave, three male dancers are caught in two large metal balls and the three female dancers are free to explore the surrounding space. While the men seem to wander aimlessly in the metal balls, the women move through space. But they too are not ‘free’ either. Their arms are almost constantly linked and their presence in space is dominated by the strict formations they perform as a trio. After some time the men are released from the metal balls only to be subjected to the same physical constraints as the women.

De Châtel is one of those artists. Every fibre of the dancers’ bodies vibrates, emanates life. (NRC Handelsblad)

I have not felt such an acute tension in years and that is unforgettable. (Utrechts Nieuwsblad)

Concave is a flawless and captivating piece, beautifully executed, tight and intensely charged. (de Volkskrant)

She replaces it by a hallucinating trial of strength and liberating restraint: the climax of fifteen years of choreography. Go see it. (Trouw)

premiere 23 April 1993 Toneelschuur, Haarlem
choreography Krisztina de Châtel
dance Pieter-Paul Blok, Ann Van den Broek, Cathy Dekker, Oerm Matern, Michael Strecker, Paula Vasconcelos
music collage of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares and Japanese percussion
stagedesign Peter Vermeulen
light Peter Romkema
costumes Rien Bekkers
photography Ben van Duin