Practice presentations + contemplative concert: BamBam Frost, Liz Kinoshita + Eli Keszler
The evening started off with two practice presentations, 40 minutes each, followed by a 30 minute break before Eli Keszler finished the evening with a drum-concert.
First out was Kinoshita. She never stopped moving, talked and moved at the same time. She accentuated the importance of being safe. For Kinoshita, this means doing a practice in long lasting (professional) relations with her teams, choreographers, dancing partners and companies. She gave us a glimpse of her wide range of material: from the more common musical tap dancing to an avant-garde feeling of an audio-performance and to the more classical expression of dancing too, while following the audio of an instrumental orchestra. Her practice shows not only a wide range of dance expressions, but also how dance suddenly touches other art forms, that the art forms are not separated, but melts into one another. Kinoshita sang in various ways; the names of Islandic volcanos, a mash up of beatboxing and singing. Being all the instruments needed, she sang lyrics in a classical way, and made sound of emotions in a more abstract way. She told us about her practice while still moving, and the telling, the moving, the singing and the dancing melted in to one.
Frost, just as Kinoshita, gives her friends and teams importance, and agency, as a part of her practice. In fact, they were highly present in the room, and in Frost’s line of thoughts during her practice. They exist through fiction, and imaginary skills, which is essential in her practice. Frost explained the practice of rocking – a practice of change, where a movement gradually changes through repetition. The new movements appearing through change was given meaning through associations and fiction. In this way a fictional fantasy world was highly present during the performance presentation. Through American pop cultural references, a show girl kept appearing on stage. Frost kept seeking and embracing pleasure, and let her be, giving the audience the pleasure of entertainment.
The concert with Eli Keszler was a solo-drum-concert, that lasted for approximately 1 hour. There were no words exchanged, and the music played non-stop. The drum set was placed in the middle of the much larger stage room of MDT, and the lightning made a clear shadow of Keszler playing on the walls. Behind him: projections of short videos and photos from everyday life. The music gave life and an atmosphere to reading these pictures: depending on the music the same photos could be melancholic, humoristic or appreciative; almost as a tribute to life. Sitting in silence, surrounded by the ongoing drums, the concert gave space for imagination, relaxation and reflection.
Vår Maria Granados-Langeland