Wednesday evening kicked off the three-day online dance festival around the company Voetvolk by dancer-choreographer Lisbeth Gruwez and composer/musician Maarten van Cauwenberghe. Three whirling evenings with six performances. Alongside 'Piano Works Debussy, which Gruwez brings together with pianist Claire Chevallier for two evenings, there are also numerous sidekicks on the bill, talented dancers with whom Voetvolk collaborated before. Klassiek Centraal picked out the solo by Lisbeth Gruwez.
Lisbeth Gruwez
This unique dancer has already built an impressive track record. A woman with artistic relevance and panache. After her classical ballet training, she found freedom in contemporary dance. She studied at P.A.R.T.S., but independently, she went her own way after just one year. She found her artistic direction more with Ultima Vez, the company of Wim Vandekeybus.
In 1999 she chooses Jan Fabre. She becomes his muse. The two inspire each other for the performances 'As long as the world needs a warrior's soul', 'Je suis sang' and the acclaimed solo 'Quando l'uomo principale è una donna', in which she rolls naked in olive oil and transforms her androgynous body into a gleaming sculpture that slithers, spins and twirls across the stage. Thus she became one of Fabre's famous 'warriors of beauty'.
But being someone's muse can also become tiresome. A woman of her qualities wants to chart her own course. Lisbeth Gruwez emerged as an autonomous dancer/choreographer. Together with sound artist Maarten Van Cauwenberghe, with whom she had already collaborated at Fabre, she founded her own dance company Voetvolk in 2007. Initially she danced herself, later they created among others: 'It's going to get worse and worse, my friend', 'Lisbeth Gruwez dances Bob Dylan'… In 2018 she proved herself a strong choreographer in 'The Sea Within' which premiered at TAZ with a select group of dancers from various continents with different artistic backgrounds.
The work of Gruwez and Van Cauwenberghe always relies on the dialogue between dance and sound design, always performed live. For the first time in her career, Gruwez now opts for classical music, specifically the piano music of Claude Debussy. The piano was a musical palette for the Frenchman. Music makes Lisbeth Gruwez think spatially. 'Piano Works Debussy' is in this respect a special dialogue between classical and a contemporary framework. The Franco-Belgian pianist Claire Chevallier is very active as a soloist and for performances with chamber music ensembles or orchestras.
'Piano Works Debussy'
'Piano Works Debussy' is for a dancer a composition full of creative space, challenges and surprises and results in a physical duet between dancer/choreographer Lisbeth Gruwez and pianist Claire Chevallier. Lisbeth Gruwez's explosive body knows no stillness. On stage she can express her sensual and poetic energy. Compartmentalized thinking is the silent assassin of aesthetics. It's about evoking tensions. Showing something of the man/woman in a state of longing for love, space, rest, for liberation. Music is abstract. It's a wonder that music makes such an appeal to the heart. A choreography is a victory, transcending doubt and creating clarity.
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nona
The performance platform of art center nona with decorated balconies on both sides with curls and flowers versus the stark and minimalist decor, with only a beautiful brown grand piano and in the back a golden panel that shifts almost imperceptibly like time which we have no control over, connects two worlds: retro versus modernity. Pianist and dancer are soberly dressed and both wear dark trousers with a white shirt.
Lisbeth Gruwez takes a position at the front right. She searches for her place in the space. In contrast to the richness of sound, her movements are initially minimal, refined, even fragile. She explores the space primarily through a diagonal interplay of lines. Sometimes her posture shimmers with something of the proud bearing of Spanish flamenco dancers. She explores the space before her, but also backwards and in side lines. In less than a moment you feel at home in this magnificent spectacle. Her gestures display the stylized precision of a classically trained dancer and a natural, effortless grace. The suppleness in every movement, light-footed and gracious. The elegance of the gestures, in short a captivating aura. She is aware of every fiber of her body. She sits down calmly on the ground, then lies down.
The pianist and the music receive all the attention. In the composition, sometimes oriental sounds shimmer through. After some time Gruwez springs up, legs raised forty-five degrees, arms in the air. A floating posture she maintains for a while. It looks easy but requires muscles of steel. She stands upright and draws imaginary lines on the floor. The music becomes staccato, which translates into convulsions. In complicity she sits down on the piano stool. Her hands move restlessly over her knees, her face. A woman who collapses and finds support in the other. Their heads lean toward each other in an intimate and tender moment. One sharp note catapults her back to the center of the stage.
The pianist breaks away from her instrument. Relaxes her arms, fingers. Together they rotate the piano a quarter turn so the pianist sits with her back to the audience. Gruwez disappears behind the angled golden screen. The pianist receives all attention for a difficult fast-fingered passage. When Gruwez reappears she wears a golden apron with a dark shirt. Dancer and pianist exchange places. Gruwez ventures some key strokes, the pianist carefully tries a few dance steps. Both return to their original positions.
The dance narrative continues: sometimes cautiously exploring the movements, then exuberant according to the shifts in rhythm and timbre of the music. Meanwhile the golden screen has been moved centrally to the middle. When Gruwez dances in front of the panel with her bun high on her head the whole evokes a stylized Japanese print. Shortly after there is the reminiscence with the dance of a crane. She meets the audience with an open gaze while the light dims…. End of story. 'Piano works Debussy' described briefly and concisely? Beauty that moves.
- WHAT: 3-day dance festival Buitenkant Voetvolk 'Piano works Debussy'- Voetvolk/ Lisbeth Gruwez & Claire Chevallier
- WHO: dance: Lisbeth Gruwez, piano: Claire Chevallier, technical support Maarten Van Cauwenberghe
- WHERE & WHEN: Kunstencentrum nona online – 24, 25 and 26 February 2021
- PHOTOS: © Danny Willems