Annex 1

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Ultima Vez (Belgium)
R(A)
PROFILE OF ULTIMAVEZ
The first performance by Ultima Vez, What the Body Does Not Remember, premiered in 1987 and was soon shown on stages around the world. Since then, the company has grown into a thriving and internationally recognised company based in Brussels. The name Ultima Vez derives directly from this piece which had many Spanish-speaking dancers. Ultima Vez means “the last time” in Spanish and the words were often uttered during rehearsals in reference to the risky and physically exhausting brick-throwing scenes.

What the Body Does Not Remember earned Wim Vandekeybus the Bessie Award in New York in 1988. In 1990 he received the Bessie Award for a second time for his creation Les porteuses de mauvaises nouvelles. The 1990s marked a period of ever increasing success for Ultima Vez. The early pieces were strongly body-centred, but gradually Vandekeybus would develop more thematic performances, exploring themes such as man vs woman, seeing versus not-seeing, hallucination and insanity, the unconscious.

At the same time he started to insert theatrical, textual, and filmic elements into his work. He would mix actors among his dancers, create videos for several performances, and ask Flemish author Peter Verhelst to write texts for Scratching the Inner Fields (2001), Blush (2002) and Sonic Boom (2003). These insertions from other disciplines created more intimacy and tenderness that counterbalanced the aggressive dynamism that characterise the choreographer.

ARTISTIC VIEWPOINT
Ultima Vez is characterized by its radically physical, energetic and exuberant dance style, which is fueled by Wim Vandekeybus’ boundless imagination and laced with the themes of life, death, nature, the subconscious and instinct. The company’s work was quickly labeled as ‘savage’ as bodies were thrown wildly on the floor, and performances contained high-risk moves that left the dancers exhausted. Intrigued as he is by the force of instinct in extreme circumstances, Vandekeybus’ work abounds with risk and conflict situations. Vandekeybus increasingly introduces theatrical and anecdotal elements into his work, which lead to extreme and often poetic moments. More intimacy and tenderness is gradually nestling between the violent and rough scenes.
The creative process usually starts with a good title: “It’s as if it puts everything into motion. I invariably choose a title that is not closed, like a circle that remains open that allows things to enter.” (Vandekeybus in De Standaard, 22 April 2000). A performance is usually partly choreographed by Vandekeybus, partly formed through improvisations by the dancers. He makes a point of creating strong images that linger long after the performance is over: a frozen shirt that slowly thaws out, dancers throwing eggs, bricks or bags at each other, a shower of giant feathers.

“For me the energy is important, and also how people can surprise us with their texts. Dancers often recite a text in a monotonous way, but when they do it while dancing, the text suddenly becomes much more expressive. Some actors are able to make their text come to life, but they don’t feel it anymore when they start to move about. A text needs to be choreographed, instead of plainly recited. I like the fact that a dancer speaks, because he receives a totally new meaning and he has to transform himself. I believe dance should always have a theatrical starting point, a theatrical argument, to be able to exist.”

- Wim Vandekeybus on the relationship between dance and theatre in “Inasmuch as Life is borrowed…”, quoted in Tijd Cultuur, 26 April 2000.

REMARKABLE PRODUCTIONSUltima Vez has assembled a series of successful performances that toured internationally. What follows is but a small selection.

  • What the Body Does Not Remember (1987), a dynamic, risky piece with music by Thierry De Mey & Peter Vermeersch, was an instant success. The dancers threw bricks in the air, only to be caught just in time by a 'chance' passer-by. Though seemingly nonchalant or random, all movements were precisely timed. In 2002 Ultima Vezrevived Wim Vandekeybus' debut performance for the KlapstukFestival in Leuven.
  • Immer das Selbe gelogen (1991). Vandekeybus’ unexpected encounter with the German artist Carlo Verano formed the basis for this performance. Immer das Selbe gelogen is a sensitive portrait of the 89-year-old artist and Vandekeybus’ friendship with the man. From this production onwards, performances became more theatrical, with an increase in the use of text, literary and mythological references, film and video images. Carlo’s presence in Immer das Selbe gelogen is never physical, but he is captured in the film images that interact with the performance. Immer das Selbe gelogen was performed more than a hundred times in Europe as well as in Canada and the U.S.A.. The performance also brought Ultima Vez to Japan and Mexico for the first time.
  • Mountains Made of Barking (1994) is the second performance for which Vandekeybus worked with blind performers. The encounter, in 1992, with the blind Moroccan Saïd Gharbi had an important influence on the artistic development of Vandekeybus. Through Saïd’s perception of reality, attention for the inner workings of the body and the mind, is introduced into Vandekeybus’ performances. Influenced by PaulBowlesCircularValley and several encounters with the author in Morocco, Mountains Made of Barking depicts a world beyond our rationally controlled, unmagical reality. Film images, shot in Saïd’s home region, reinforce the impression that the performance takes place inside his head.
  • In Spite of Wishing and Wanting (1999), a piece for 10 male dancers, explored our deepest, ineffable desires and the way in which we deal with the subconscious. It was partly based on two surrealist short-stories by Julio Cortázar, in which a man sells words, sighs and cries in the street. The stories were turned into the short film The Last Words, directed by Vandekeybus, and which also served as a source of inspiration for David Byrne who created the original music score. The short film has won several international awards.
  • Blush (2002) features a mixed group of 10 performers, including Wim Vandekeybus himself. The performance premièred in September 2002 at the Royal Flemish Theatre/De Bottelarij in Brussels. Once again, Vandekeybus fuses intensely physical dance, theatre, film, text and music. Love in all its states – lust, temptation, exhilaration and shame - is the subject of the performance. Vandekeybus’ use of film blurs the definition between stage and screen as dancers dive into the screen and seamlessly reappear on film, swimming under water. The soundtrack by David Eugene Edwards and text by the Flemish author Peter Verhelst form the background to this avalanche of images.
  • Sonic Boom (2003) attempted to bridge the gap between gut emotion and imagination, the physical and verbal, images and stories, dance and theater. Ivo Van Hove, director of Toneelgroep Amsterdam, invited Vandekeybus as guest director. Sonic Boom is based around a simple event that is worked out in various possible scenarios. Vandekeybus cast three actors from Toneelgroep Amsterdam next to his own dancers.

Annex 2

PUUR (PURE)

Ultima Vez (Belgium)

R(A)

PROFILE OF WIM VANDEKEYBUS

Director/Choreographer

After studying psychology and photography, Wim Vandekeybus came into contact with theatre through a workshop. He started out as an actor with controversial Flemish theatre maker Jan Fabre. After working with Fabre for two years, Vandekeybus went on to form Ultima Vez in 1987.

A self-made man, Vandekeybus, would soon develop into an artistic jack-of-all-trades, as director, choreographer and video maker.

Central to Vandekeybus’ work is the instinctive body; the restless, unpredictable, powerful yet fragile body; the body of reflexes.

Since the first production of the award winning, What the Body Does Not Remember, music has always been a very important and inherent part of Vandekeybus’ performances. Vandekeybus rarely uses existing music for his performances; most often he invites a composer to create a music score or a soundscape to suit the performance. Vandekeybus has had music written by, among others, Peter Vermeersch, Thierry De Mey, David Byrne, Marc Ribot and Eavesdropper.

Film and video are also part of the willful way Vandekeybus gives shape to his creativity. Through the integration of film images in his performances, complex relationships often form between film and stage.

PROFILE OF PERFORMERS

Laura Arís

Laura Arís received her dance and choreography training at the Institut del Teatre in Barcelona. Between 1996 and 1999 she was part of the Lanonima Imperial dance company (Barcelona) for the creation and performances of Identificación de un Paisaje (1996) and Cuerpo de Sombra y Luz(1998). In Barcelona, she was also associated with the General Eléctrica arts centre, where she collaborated on various productions by Tomas Aragay. Laura Arís has been a part of Ultima Vez since 1999. She was involved in the creation and touring of “Inasmuch as Life is borrowed…”,Scratching the Inner Fields, Blush and Sonic Boom and danced in the reprisal of What the Body Does Not Remember during the KLAPSTUK festival in January 2002. She also regularly leads Ultima Vez workshops.

Tone Brulin

Tone Brulin studied scenography at La Cambre (1943-1946) in Brussels. The director of the Institute at the time, Flemish writer Herman Teirlinck - became Brulin’s mentor. From 1946 to 1948 he studied at the Studio of the National Theatre in Antwerp.Brulin co-founded the avant-garde literary magazines Tijd en Mens (1948) with Hugo Claus and Louis-Paul Boon and Gard Sivik (1952) with Hugues Pernath and Paul Snoek.In 1953 he co-founded the Nederlands Kamertoneel in Antwerp and directed its first small experimental theatre play.

Brulin gained recognition as a playwright after having won the Prize of the Boekenweek (Week of Books) in Amsterdam in 1953. He was also awarded the Cultural Youth Passport Prize, the Hegenscheidt Prize of Sabam, the Hustinckx Prize, the National State Prize for Playwrights and the Medallion of Honor of the Township of Brussels.Continuously looking for further self-development, Brulin traveled the world, working in Congo, South-Africa, the United States and Malaysia.In 1975, Brulin established TIE 3, the Theatre of the Third World, the first company in Belgium to assimilate the work of third world artists. The company developed an engaged multicultural repertory of African and Asian pieces which toured to festivals around the world.

Elena Fokina

Elena Fokina received her dance training at the University for Culture and the RussianAcademy for Theatrical Arts in Moscow. From 1997 to 2001 she danced with the Russian Chamber Ballet Moscow. After an audition in Moscow in October 2001 she began working with Ultima Vez for the creation and tour of Blush. In January 2002 Elena Fokina also danced in the reprisal of What the Body Does Not Remember. She also participated in the creation and touring of Sonic Boom (2003).

Robert M. Hayden

Robert Hayden began his studies in movement and theatre at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque in 1991. Between 1995 and 1996 he was invited to work with the Mexican company UTOPIA Danza-Teatro. Hayden continued his training throughout these years with a multitude of divergent disciplines, workshops and forms (yoga, aidkido, contact improvisation, capoeira, crisis negotiation, massage therapy etc). He also worked with various companies and independent choreographers including Bill Evans (Albuquerque,) Keshet Dance Company (Albuquerque), Zack Fuller and Company (New York), Trajal Harrell (New York) and Q-staff under the artistic leadership of Richard Van Schouwen (Albuquerque). Prior creations with Ultima Vez include Blush (2002) and Sonic Boom (2003).

Krijn Hermans

Krijn Hermans studied theatre at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten (School for the Arts) in Utrecht and at the theatre department Dora van der Groen of the Conservatory in Antwerp. He has been involved in several projects as an actor/performer for De macabere moord op 15 toneelstukken – Monk (2001) Sentimenti – ZT Hollandia (2003) and as a text writer for Los (2003), Een krijger valt uit een struik (2004) while developing his own work.

Milan Herich

Milan Herich studied dance at J.L. Bellu Dance Conservatory, the Academy of Performing Arts in Slovakia and at P.A.R.T.S in Brussels. During his studies he has been involved in several projects with Zuzana Haijkova, choreographer of Slovakian Company Dance Studio and in choreographies by Peter Jasko, David Zambrano and Anton Lachky.

Germán Jauregui Allue

From 1995 to 1998 Germán Jauregui Allue received theatre training in Bilbao. He participated in A menudo en el bosque by Loïc Touze (Bilbao). At the same time he was active for two years with Jóvenes Coreografos Vascos, a grant programme for young Bask choreographers. In 1998 Germán Jauregui Allue began working for Ultima Vez after an audition. He performed in In Spite of Wishing and Wanting (1999), “Inasmuch as Life is borrowed…”(2000), Blush(2002) and Sonic Boom (2003), and was the movement assistant during the creation of Scratching the Inner Fields (2001). Germán Jauregui Allue also danced in the revival of What the Body Does Not Remember during the KLAPSTUK festival 2002. In that same year he collaborated with his brother Jorge Jauregui and Idoia Zabaleta in the performance El Rato de José.

Jorge Jauregui Allue

Jorge Jauregui Allue started dancing in 1997. He worked with the collectives Moare and Ikutu in Vitoria, Basque Country. In 2001 he moved to Barcelona, where he participated in several productions by Damian Muñoz Danza includingLas mantiras del entusiasmo, Ansia, 79 pasos(2001) Lecciones de tinieblas, Tres tristes stripteases(2002) 34 negro (2003). Together with Idoia Zabaleta and Germán Jauregui Allue, he created the trio El rato de José in 2002. In the summer of 2003, Jorge Jauregui Allue moved to Brussels to work with Jordi Galí for the project The song of silence and you. He joined Ultima Vez in 2004 for the revival - in collaboration with the Portuguese Companhia Instável - of Wim Vandekeybus’ second piece Les porteuses de mauvaises nouvelles. In 2004 he also participated in the creation of Mujer, a performance by Giovanni Scarcella and Lisa Da Boit/Giolisu.

Linda Kapetanea

Linda Kapetanea received her BA in dance from the State School of Dance in Athens in 1993. As a recipient of the State Scholarship Foundation of Greece (1996-1998), she moved to New York to pursue further studies at the Merce Cunningham Studio, Movement Research and Dance Space.

Upon graduating she has worked extensively with numerous dance companies in Greece, most notably with Sine qua non and Horeftes dance companies, performing throughout Europe. In New York, she worked with the Swedish choreographer Irene Hultman (1998).

Linda Kapetanea joined Ultima Vez in 2002 and participated in the creation and touring of both Blush and Sonic Boom. In the last couple of years she has been invited regularly to teach as a guest artist at the State School of Dance in Athens.

Thi-Mai Nguyen

From 1995 to 1999 Thi-Mai Nguyen studied contemporary dance at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris. During and after her studies she participated in numerous projects and performances by various choreographers and companies in France. In June 2000 she participated in a project by Nadia Bekani in Instanbul. She was accepted at P.A.R.T.S. in September 2000. Shiver, a duo by Johan Thelander and Thi-Mai Nguyen, was performed during the Festival d’Automne in Paris in October 2001. Thi-Mai Nguyen joined Ultima Vez in 2002 for the creation and touring of Blush.

Manuel Ronda

Manuel Ronda studied Industrial Design at the University of Architecture in Genova and modern theatre and dance at the Theaterschool in Amsterdam. From 1994 to 1998 he was an actor for the children’s theatre Teatro del Piccione in Genova. In 1998 he collaborated with Lindsay Kemp and David Haughton for the opera The Magic Flute. He performed solo in CYP 17, choreographed by Canadian born Andre Gingas, at several venues throughout Europe, in India and Canada. In 2004 he collaborated again with Andre Gingras for The Lindenmayer System. From 2001 until 2003 he worked for Charleroi/Danses Plan-K. More recently he was involved in the creation and touring of Zero Point by Angélique Wilkie and Andre Gingras.

Helder Seabra

Helder Seabra studied dance at the GinasianoDanceSchool in Portugal and at P.A.R.T.S in Brussels. Apart from his formal education, he has attended several workshops, mainly in Belgium and Portugal. While studying at GinasianoDanceSchool, he performed in various projects amongst them those initiated by Marcelo José, Ana Figueira, Cristina Moura. Between 2000 and 2003 he was involved in projects with Pedro Carvalho (As Aventuras), Ronit Ziv/Companhia Instável (Undress) and Javier de Frutos/Companhia Instável (Wade in the water). Helder Seabra joined Ultima Vez in 2004 for the revival of Wim Vandekeybus’ second creation Les porteuses de mauvaises nouvelles.

Won-Myeong Won

Won-Myeong Won studied dance at the Seoul University of Arts and the Korean National University of Arts. He has worked with the Korean Sung-sooAhnPickUpGroup and the Paris based dance company of Carolyn Carlson before joining Ultima Vez.

Annex 3

PUUR (PURE)

Ultima Vez (Belgium)

R(A)

PRODUCTION CREDITS

THE PERFORMANCE

Direction, choreography, scenographyWim Vandekeybus

MusicDavid Eugene Edwards, Fausto Romitelli

Text P.F. Thomése & Ultima Vez

Created with and performed by Laura Arís, Tone Brulin, Elena Fokina, Robert M. Hayden, Krijn Hermans, Milan Herich, Germán Jauregui Allue, Jorge Jauregui Allue, Linda Kapetanea, Thi-Mai Nguyen, Manuel Ronda, Helder Seabra, Won-Myeong Won

Dramaturgy Titus Muizelaar

Assistant to the director Greet Van Poeck

Movement assistantIñaki Azpillaga

Light designRalf Nonn, Wim Vandekeybus

Sound designBenjamin Dandoy, Josh Martin

Stage managerDaniel Huard

StylingIsabelle Lhoas, assisted by Frédéric Denis

2nd assistant styling Heidi Ehrhart