From A to Z is a series of collaborative duets with dancer/choreographer/interdisciplinary artist Luis Lara Malvacías, and with music and sound by Amsterdam-based composer, and live-performer, Ivo Bol. This series of highly structured improvisational duets, combines dance, performance, sound and visual installations, and explores the many aspects of time and how the production of choreography is intertwined with process and instant performance. We use signposts and issues connected with life and aging as a framework for this exploration, and examine the question of how the agency of the dancer maker changes through time. Each duet takes its title from a different letter of the alphabet that stands for a concept related to these themes – “Age”, “Continuum” or ”Death” for instance – and has a distinct structural framework, which takes place within a specific stage/visual environment,
The project originally began as A B C D E F in 2015 with the creation of B (Becoming) and E (Events) and the pieces were performed together over the summer of 2016 at La Mama Moves Festival in New York, OT 301 in Amsterdam, Fusioni Improvisation Festival in Florence and Radial System in Berlin. In fall 2016 we worked on the creation of D (Death) and A (Age) which were again performed at the La Mama Moves Festival in New York and Radial System in Berlin over the summer of 2017. This also led us to a commission by REDCAT Theater in Los Angeles to create C (Continuum) which we performed there later in August. We also performed E and D at the Electric Lodge in Venice Beach, California in November 2017. These performances gave a momentum to the project and led us to re-imagine it as a larger one – From A to Z. We presented F (Field) and G (Ground) at Radial System in Berlin in July 2018.
For instance, in “F” (Field) the stage was offered as an open field welcoming the audience to observe the regular practice and subjects of research, time and the instant performance of thought processes, unadorned. This was in contra-position to “G” (Ground) where the regular practice is contextualized within a defined and limited space, a ground inhabited by random objects and material that serve as conduits – and sometimes obstacles – to further explore the concept of duration, or the way we perceive the space between two successive events.
In I (Imprint, In Print), which we created in 2019, through written, spoken and embodied language, we delved into memories of past present and future. Using lights, objects and projections also, we approached the stage as an open canvas to be transformed. The piece was presented as a work-in-progress at Cathy Weis’s Sundays on Broadway series in New York and later at the TicTac Arts Center in Brussels and Radial System in July, 2019.
We have just finished working on the latest iteration, originally planned for 2020, JkL (Jeremy research solo; Luis research solo; and keystone/knot bridging the two). The piece, consisting of two solos and a duet, takes place in a landscape filled with plants and various light sources and uses visuals, music and movement to invoke a utopian/dystopian world. The creative process included a two-week residency at Radial System, where we later presented the piece on July 12th, 2024
The project has been made possible with the generous support of Sasha Waltz & Guests in Berlin, and with several Tisch School of the Arts Dean’s Faculty Grants.
For more news, go to the website of 2oldmenproject: http://2oldmenproject.com/