Sidney Leoni

(FR)

Hertz

Mousonturm Saal

Performance/Choreography/Concert

Hertz, the new performance-concert by choreographer Sidney Leoni, is subject to obscurity, high sound pressure levels, vibrations and fog. Created together with sound artist Frédéric Alstadt, lighting designer Jan Fedinger, musicians Kjetil Brandsdal, Morten J. Olsen, Jonathan Saldanha and performers Martin Lervik and Stina Nyberg, Hertz destabilizes the convention of “watching” performances by challenging our accustomed use of our senses. While our eyes are deprived of the last bit of visible light in the theater, sounds are layered upon each other with a density and intensity that drastically delays (re)cognition, orientation and understanding. Hertz is an highly atmospheric choreography of sound, light, objects and human bodies in which any physical manifestations are temporary and unforeseeable.

“In Hertz you cannot simply lean back in your seat and take in what is happening. Circumstances such as sound masses and faint lights in the dark sharpen your senses. The tiniest of light silvers is noted and every perceivable movement or gust of wind provides clues to what is really going on the dark. Rhythmic pounding with something that sounds like pieces of wood and noisy drumming in heavy vibrating soundscapes shake the bleachers where the audience is sitting, impacting how the room is perceived. (…) In Hertz, Sidney Leoni shows how a lack of visual input heightens our ability to perceive sound. And how, with the help of sound and other clues, we try to put together an understanding of the spatial environment. Indeed, the strength of Leoni’s work lies in how it activates our imaginative and delusional powers.” (Stockholm newspaper)

Concept and Choreography: Sidney Leoni * With Kjetil Brandsdal, Martin Lervik, Sidney Leoni, Stina Nyberg, Morten J. Olsen, Jonathan Uliel Barbosa Saldanha, Kjetil Brandsdal, Morten J. Olsen, Jonathan Uliel, Barbosa Saldanha, Frédéric Alstadt * Lighting Design: Jan Fedinger * Soundcraft: Frédéric Alstadt * Production Management: Mokum (Brussels) * Co-production: Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Life Long Burning/Workspacebrussels * Supported by the Culture Programme of the European Union * In collaboration with Kunstencentrum Vooruit (Gent), Kunstencentrum STUK (Leuven), Kunstencentrum BUDA (Kortrijk), Dansens Hus (Stockholm) * Supported by the Flemish authorities, Swedish Arts Council, Konstnärsnämnden – the Swedish Arts Grants Committee, Institut Français, Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Nordic Culture Point.

Artists Talk on Fri. 24.1. after the performance