RASTER permutation I-VIII
To deconstruct choreography within geometric and numeric codes following the outlines of specific spatial frameworks is the working scheme for “Raster”. The matrix combines cinematcal, physiological, sonerical and ethnologic agendas and puts them into a discourse beyond stage parameters. Eventually a choreographic narrative concludes the project series.
Balances vary – thoughts on Sebastian Prantl’s choreography RASTER VIII. Dancers, lighting, lines on the stage – a style that is based on a very simple original idea that couldn’t even be put in many words. In the middle of it all, one feels as if life sank in a sea of silence, forlornness and deep quiet – and yet this doesn’t seem extraordinary. The elementary lighting crystallizes all elements of beauty, all traces of vitality in one point – the effect itself doesn’t have a form. Uniting the vitality with this pulse, one can reach an enormous force in which time and space don’t hold any limits. […] In the beginning, the dancers stand in the space quietly like sculptures. Markings on the floor and lines of the body are coupled with wild and diverse emotional ups and downs, sometimes sweeping space away like a whirlwind. Nothing is too much, nothing is too little, compared to Chinese Tai-Chi (the perfection), which makes resistance and fight dissolve in silence, giving birth to enormous forces that in turn move the audience. […]
The performance differs in many ways from that of many other contemporary dancing ensembles, whose expression and body language seems cold and lacks emotion. The ensemble takes care to maintain a dialogue with the audience. […]
The piece is prolonged or cut short, depending on the artists’ search for time and space during the performance. This daring approach of performing arts allows the artists on the one hand to balance their own emotional state at all times and on the other hand to continuously renew and move the feelings of the audience.[…]”
[CPAA Beijing, „What’s on“, June/July 2002]
choreography/dance: Sebastian Prantl
music dramaturgy/piano: Cecilia Li
dancer: Othello Johns, Michikazu Matsune, Tomoko Nishino, Hana Pauknerová, Sebastian Prantl, Doris Reisinger
[Raster I – Wiener Konzerthaus, New Hall, January 2001]
[Raster II – Cultural Centre near the Minoriten Culture Centre, Graz, April 2001]
[Raster III – Abbey St. Lambrecht, May 2001]
[Raster at Christmas time – Tanz Atelier Wien, Studio, December 2001]
[Raster opening – Tanz Atelier Wien, Studio, January 2002]
[Raster solo, duo, trio – Hall 1030, Vienna, February/March 2002]
[Raster solo, duo, trio – imagetanz 02, dietheater Künstlerhaus, March 2002]
[Raster China – Beijing/China, May 2002]
[Raster – impulstanz 02, Vienna, July/August 2002]
[Raster permutation – September 2003]