20th Czech Dance Platform – An Unusually Tight Contest of Talents
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The jubilee 20th edition of the Czech Dance Platform for the first time announced the awards at the closing of the festival. The names of the winners saw the light in an atmosphere of solidarity, respect for success and creation of the other, for all pieces that got on the platform's program. Let us, in this written form, explain in more detail certain aspects of the jury's discussion – its highlights and focal points in terms of quality.
The Light Design Award went to two pieces at once: the creative team of Animal Carnival for their collective work on the piece and Katarína Ďuricová for Correction. In Animal Carnival, the collective associated around Bára Látalová dared to step on an unknown soil and work with light as a mediator between the audience and, especially, children spectators. The individual input of all creative personalities who worked together, while not betraying their idiosyncratic styles – that is what makes the light design in this piece so unique. That added to a smart dramaturgy makes Animal Carnival a piece that absolutely stands out. Nevertheless, the jury could not have done otherwise than also mention the original professional approach of Katarína Ďuricová in Correction – a piece by VerTeDance and Jiří Havelka. Her original input was remarkable and in perfect synergy with the idea and the overall poetics of the piece. At the same time, more than clearly, Ďuricová has proven that she is a light designer with a memorable sense of perception for all elements of the piece. And, what's more, she is capable of building up the light design concept at the expense of her own self-promotion. The Light Design Award is presented by Light Design Institute: the Czech members of the jury (Tomáš Morávek, Daniel Tesař) invited the French light-designer Pascale Bongiovanni to join them in the decision making. In her speech Pascale remarked that Czech light-design has made incredible progress in recent years, supporting this statement with a clear proof. Eight years ago a festival in Marseille invited three Czech solos and she was asked to upgrade their light design so that the pieces could even be presented at the internationally reputed event. Today, she said, it is clear as day that Czech light design shall no more need any help of the kind anymore. The Spectators' Award goes to Animal Carnival created by Bára Látalová and collective. The award is decided upon by all spectators who purchased their tickets for the festival and the platform's international guests. They got a chance to evaluate each piece with special ballot papers. The popular interactive piece for children won with a considerable advantage of points, followed with other favourites as follows: 2. Correction – VerTeDance, directed by Jiří Havelka, 3. Whistleblowers – Farm in the Cave, directed by Viliam Dočolomanský, 4. La Loba – Lenka Vagnerová & comp., 5. ANTIWORDS – Spitfire Company, directed by Petr Boháč. The international jury of six Czech and five foreign experts, representing the Netherlands, the UK, France, Germany and Croatia, spent 4 days discussing to finally announce the Dancer of the Year and the Dance Piece of the Year prizes. The Dancer of the Year went to Andrea Opavská for her performance in La Loba. Opavská was shortlisted already last year, that time for her performance in Riders, a piece created by the same choreographer as La Loba, Lenka Vagnerová. The dancer's outstanding flexibility and precise technique, which gives total freedom to her expression, overwhelmed not only the general public but also the experts. This year the five nominees involved three men, which is an exceptional situation compared to preceding editions. This is the list according to points received: 2. Tereza Ondrová (Correction, Boys Who Like to Play with Dolls), 3. Jaro Ondruš (Correction), 4. Peter Šavel (Boys Who Like to Play with Dolls), 5. Petr Opavský (Correction).
The jury's discussion also covered a number of other outstanding names, the following names were proposed for the title: Emil Leeger, Minh Hieu Nguyen, Jun Wan Kim and Hana Varadzinová (all of them from Whistleblowers). The debate also generated the idea to award a special mention to personalities that had a major influence on selected pieces, yet are not dancers. They were: Petra Lustigová, Petr Vančura (Say Something), Clarinet Factory (Correction), Jana Vébrová (La Loba).The Dance Piece of the Year went to Correction created by the dance company VerTeDance and director Jiří Havelka. It is crucial to say, though, that the first round of the vote of the international jury ended in a tie between Correction and Boys Who Like to Play with Dolls by Tereza Ondrová and Peter Šavel. The eleven-member jury thus had to take a second round and decide between the two with an extremely tight result - 6 : 5 for Correction. This is the third time for VerTeDance to gain this award: the first time they won with Silent Talk in 2005, two years ago then with What is the Weight of Your Desire? For the second time at the platform and this year a member of the jury, Suzy Blok gave this feedback on Correction:
“This piece is made with a clear concept, it's extremely well built up, has a powerful physicality which engages the viewer and shows all the separate personalities of the strong performers. All of them interesting to watch.
The idea also plays with gravity, in a very confined space. The dancers are pinned down to the ground as if they were trees moving in the wind – sometimes a breeze, at other times a blizzard. The use of live music gives the piece an extra dimension. It's a joy to listen to the Clarinet Factory live on stage.”
The results of the remaining pieces are as follows: 3. Whistleblowers – directed by Viliam Dočolomanský, Farm in the Cave, 4. La Loba – Lenka Vagnerová & comp., 5. Antiwords – directed by Petr Boháč, Spitfire Company, 6. Say Something – directed by Jiří Adáme
k, Boca loca lab, 7. Animal Carnival – Barbora Látalová and collective.
Let us expand on what aspects of the awarded and shortlisted pieces were most in the focal point of the jury. The following reports were noted down by Yvona Kreuzmannová with the help of Markéta Perroud's notes:Correction has already been commented above by Suzy Blok. We would also like to add a very poignant point from one of the members of the jury who says Correction is an original “story of movement”. The debate got very intense on the symbols of freedom seen by some in certain props, such as loose shoes or bananas (the lack of which was one of the attributes of the former regime in our country)... Correction wasn't an exception in that it provoked a discussion on what the proper end should be like. There is no doubt that this piece will get on the line-up of many international festivals. Boys Who Like to Play with Dolls was seen by some of the foreign guests at the Aerowaves projection and, apparently, they contributed to the fact that the duet was shortlisted among the “Aerowaves TOP20 priority companies“. Meanwhile, they were waiting how this work on the gender theme would develop. Together with the rest of us they could eventually say that the final result is a great surprise. The piece is “mysteriously emotional”, resonating on the personal and human level, playing a subtle game on stereotypes. Some minor reproaches included those on the structure and maybe a wish for the authors to better work with music. The artistic tandem will get their chance to work on the progress within an artistic residency in Bassano del Grappa and the next version will be presented at Spring Forward in the Swedish Capital of Culture Umea. The absolutely outstanding performances of the two dancers need not be stressed out anymore, both of them were shortlisted for the Dancer of the Year award. Whistleblowers were the freshest piece presented at the Platform: the premiere was held only two days before the opening of the festival. Farm in the Cave is an unwavering phenomenon on the Czech theatre-dance scene: their performers are always great and they never cease to work hard and develop their creation. Following this logic, the piece is expected to undergo further amendments, yet it was most clear in the jury's discussions that it is a production to be presented at the 20th edition of the platform. Those who hadn't heard of Farm in the Cave before, were literally appalled with the never dying energy and passion of everyone involved in the piece. On the other hand, those who have already seen Viliam Dočolomanský's work focused more on the overall dramaturgy of the piece, reproaching it excessively concrete theme and texts, all of that with genuine respect for all individual qualities of performers, the team's synergy and a number of outstanding scenes. La Loba was yet another piece to open the discussion on the theme. More than that, however, it inspired a flattering reflection on the performance of both women on stage. This was confirmed later on when Andrea Opavská was announced to become the Dancer of the Year. As for Jana Vébrová, the exceptional colour of her voice and her perfectly synchronized presence on stage raised voices demanding a special mention or special award to be dedicated. Next time we promise to establish such category at the Platform. Antiwords are among this year's items to provoke a heated discussion on what is what is not dance anymore. In this case, the debate was most enriching, especially in terms of challenging the issue whether a production of this kind can be exported abroad or not. There are countries that want it right now. And there are other that seem not to get along with the form. One thing is for sure, though – most of the members of the jury expressed their “chapeau” to both performers, especially appraising their ironic light touch. Say Something is another production without words (an yet one to explore voices), based on a striking contrast and synergy of dancers and performers. A number of members of the jury were intrigued by Petra Lustigová, a very mature actor, and Petr Vančura. Had the jury had more time, it would have probably agreed upon announcing a special mention for both. In the hustle and bustle of the platform schedule, this time there was no leeway for establishing a new category. Animal Carnival has proved that young audience production should be presented at the Platform. It was a demanding task for the authors to play with the spectators – children in front of an auditorium full of experts. Nevertheless, they have reached unexpected level of concentration on the part of both the young and adult audience. The discussion reflected upon the length of the piece, the comeback to dance scenes that seem somehow extra and inappropriate at the end, and the work with darkness. Despite all that, the piece has immediately been invited to a number of festivals in Europe and Asia.
Thus our brief commentary to the pieces that gained points from the jury: there were seven of them out of the total of nine presented in the main program. May this be a proof of the exceptional quality and diversity of the Czech dance-movement scene of the present day. At least one half of the presented pieces were invited abroad on the spot. Our congratulations!!! This is a major success, proving that this year's Platform's motto was most poignant. Festival Jury: Foreign members Suzy Blok (NL/ARG) – director of Dansmakers Amsterdam Morag Deyes (UK) – artistic director of Dance Base Edinburgh Edvin Liverić (HR) – actor, director, dancer and producer Carmen Mehnert (DE) – program director of performing arts at Hellerau Dresden Jarmo Juha Pentilla (FR) – counsellor for artistic program at Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris Czech members Petra Hauerová – choreographer, dancer and teacher, deputy of director at Duncan Centre Conservatory Yvona Kreuzmannová – president of Tanec Praha civic association Ivanka Kubicová – choreographer and teacher Jana Návratová – dance critic Markéta Perroud – co-director of TANEC PRAHA festival Nina Vangeli – dance critic