Sonatinas 4 Feet | co-production with Fractal Collective
Magical foam sculptures and acrobatic urban dance blend together in ‘Sonatinas 4 Feet’. A performance by Duda Paiva Company and Fractal Collective, inspired by the work of the Brazilian photographer Alair Gomes.
Armed with his telephoto lens, Alair Gomes created pictures of the perfect male body in Brazil in the 1970s. Desire and curiosity were the breeding ground for these ‘stolen’ images. Raw, unaffected, sometimes unintentionally aggressive. In 1992 he was murdered as a result of his photographs.
Gomes did not believe in the unique image. With series of consecutive shots he created a rhythm, a movement, or as he called it ‘Sonatinas’. His work remained unknown for a long time. Only recently Gomes was discovered by leading art institutions such as MoMA in New York and Maisonnette Cartier in Paris.
Paiva and two dancers from Fractal Collective pick up the analogue poetry of Gomes’ sonatinas. Camera and telephoto lens are exchanged for dancing bodies and foam sculptures. Their breeding ground? Borders, security, vulnerability and hope. A quest for the perspective and rhythm of today’s world.
CREDITS
Concept: Duda Paiva and Fractal Collective
Direction: Duda Paiva
Choreography: Zino Ainsley Schat
Dance: Zino Ainsley Schat and Conni Trommlitz
Dramaturgy: Kim Kooiman
Light: Mark Verhoef
Music: Wilco Alkema and Zino Ainsley Schat
Puppets: Duda Paiva Atelier
Decor: Ascon de Nijs
Costumes: Atty Kingma
Direction assistent: Josje Eijkenboom
Repetitor: Ilija Surla
Technical production: Daniel Patijn
Advising photography curator: Eder Chiodetto
‘Sonatinas 4 Feet’ was made possible in part by the Performing Arts Fund NL, Amersfoort Municipality and Fonds21. With special thanks to Ateliê Fotô, Paul Struijk, Robert Villedieu, CaDance Festival and De Lieve Vrouw!
In the media
Duda Paiva in een interview met Dans Magazine
"The b-boys from Fractal challenge the limits of their own abilities. It seems like they want to pierce the floor, or launch themselves into the air. It's very refreshing how they interact with their bodies and defy the laws of gravity. I want to take the open mindedness of the dancers to the next level, of confrontation and fantasy."
Movement Exposed
“The puppets are magnificent, and lovingly made.”
de Volkskrant
"On stage, Fractal dancers Zino Schat and Conni Trommlitz breathed life into three puppet versions of the bespectacled Gomes: a hurt and wrinkled old man, the photographing voyeur, and a fantasy version, emerging from his dark rooms. Both break dancers transformed themselves from puppeteers into muscular models, playing virile with furniture and torsos."
Duda Paiva in an interview with Het Parool
“These urban dancers are free spirits. They also celebrate their body in space and have a special awareness of their body. Not only are they beautiful in body - that's just an added plus - but also in their mind. They have an open mind and are - very importantly - curious, eager for dialogue. That is inspiring. This kind of openness can create real diversity.”
NRC
“A younger foam Gomes clicks the camera from a column while flexible dancer bodies measure themselves against the stiff dimensions of a table top and frame, but also with each other's extremely malleable breaking (break dancing?) skills: whirling backspins, legs waving around like windmills, fantastic shoulder positions."
Scene photos
