THINK BIG!: The dance festival for children and youth that the Czech Republic is missing

Haptic Hide - Beat By Bits. Photo: Laurent Philippe.

Author Lucie Štádlerová

Energetic charge in the centre of the historic city

The arrival of the performers of Beat by Bits, an outdoor adaptation of the original theatrical performance 16BIT (2022) by Paula Rosolen and the group Haptic Hide, predicted a rather sporty experience, but soon these fears of the spectator expecting dance or at least movement performance dissolved. Nine dancers in red and blue leotards with pantyhose entered the public space in front of Munich's City Hall on Marienplatz very quietly by climbing over each other. The peaceful atmosphere lasted for a short time and with the onset of the techno music, the whole production transformed into unceasing energetic and even passionately charged movement sequences. At first glance, it was clear that the audience was facing technically well-equipped dancers with tremendous energy in their bodies and each with a different appealing esprit. They guide the viewer's eyes through the space and communicate through their entire bodies. The catchy techno style music production gets the audience moving. I glance left and right to watch the audience smile and wave. The whole performance is based on rhythm and repetitive percussive movement variations. The dancers perform them in different places, in different sized groups and in different spins, sometimes as a solo in a battle. We are looking at a striking display of dance, urban dance performed by dancers with a wide range of movement. They are also admirable at keeping the tension and energy up, constantly moving and supporting each other, not afraid of the elements of breakdancing, various flips and spins on the heated limbered up square. Whichever dancer the viewer's eyes choose, they get a big adrenaline rush that makes them want to dance more and more. It's as if the immense physical fluidity of each dancer is a powerful magician and casts a spell on everyone watching. Beat by Bits uses its power to try to include everyone who is watching. Its attractiveness motivates movement. It demonstrates the power of the collective's hypnotic influence on society. Waking up from this production is very disappointing. Although it was very hot in the square, this dance piece was definitely refreshing. 


Whimsical summer by the sea

A performance called Hush by the Dutch creative group De Dansers brought the audience into a completely different energy state. First in unison and then in canon, the door opens to the summer love stories of several couples. The romance takes place by a large pier somewhere on the coast. The a cappella singing quickly turns into a full concert, with a full drum kit, two keyboards and an electric guitar standing against the wall on one side. The subtitle of this production - a dance concert - has not been chosen for nothing. At first glance, it's pretty clear which of the actors has what artistic history - we see four dancers and two musicians, but in many scenes they switch roles and toy with a new challenge. The musicians, however, stand up better in the dancing position. They handle the movements assigned to them in the choreography solidly, in contrast some of the dancers have impure tones coming out of their mouths, but yes, their position is harder. Not everyone can manage to sing after a difficult dance performance. In a neat double role of dancer and musician is a man in a blue flowing shirt who dances but also plays the electric guitar well. The dancers' movement skills, however, are excellent. The physically demanding choreography works brilliantly according to the theme, as do relationships in real life, with support, fall, capture, and therefore trust, the performers' bodies intertwining and pressing together, only to be pushed apart moments later. At times, it feels less like a summer romance than a love crisis. Arguments and reconciliations, a sense of strength and power, are replaced by tenderness and submissiveness over and over again. 


What is fascinating is the complete synchronisation of movement and music. It's as if they are playing an orchestra together, only the role of the one who sets the rhythm and tempo is completely obscured. Sometimes it's the musician and sometimes it's the dancer. They are incredibly in sync, breathing and feeling the rhythm as if they were one being. Despite all the qualities that are evident in this piece (perfectly spoken movement, well-chosen and matched music, theme and message), from the moment the catwalk breaks into several pieces, which probably symbolizes the scars in the relationships, everything becomes repetitive and drawn out until the viewer is completely exhausted. Hush's choreography would certainly benefit from a shorter and clearer ending format, as well as a clear decision, given the teenage audience, whether or not to engage with the theme of nudity. Transparent flesh-coloured bras often do more harm than good. The teenagers who came to the performance giggled at this attempt. Moreover, I'm not sure they could even understand such a sprawlingly abstract take on a summer love story. 

A strong theme in a declining momentum 

The performance Esther by the Israeli artist Reut Shemesh, now living and working in Germany, promised an interesting probe into the life of a teenage girl among uniforms. During the course of the hour-long movement piece, we reminisce with Esther about her childhood and adolescence. Uniforms are not a life phenomenon for most Europeans, but they are for those born in Israel, for example, which is why this production raised great expectations and the benefit of a certain point of view. Reut Shemesh's work is globally recognized, researching the roots and heritage of Jewish women's culture and scholarship, most often using multimedia dance performance as a form of communication. This is also the case with Esther. The resulting stage rendition was preceded by the collection of photographs of people in uniform, which became the basis for the dramaturgy of the performance and the creation of the costumes. In the course of the production, it is the projection of the collected photographs on two white screens stretched at the back of the stage that is worked on. Completely identical suits then appear on the five performers.
The entire narrative is wrapped in rhythmically repetitive sequences in the same order: introducing the uniform, undressing, folding the uniform and putting on another. Each represents a different stage of life. Thus, we go through a period of Catholicism with Esther (the altar cloth), we experience with her her involvement in a sports club (the sports jersey with shorts and the cheerleader), we witness the wearing of the school uniform, life with the scouts (the scout costumes are gradually donned by all the actors), of adolescent defining oneself and sympathizing with K-pop (the manga-style outfit), meeting official positions (the suit), seeking friends unbound by uniform (the commonly worn comfortable shorts and a faded T-shirt), to the complete break from putting on uniforms and turning to the civilian wearing of jeans and a sweater. Thus, there is constant confusion on stage, with someone always undressing and dressing, meanwhile dancing, jumping, running or playing the flute or violin. Some of the movements seem almost slightly aggressive, this evokes mainly choking, kicking, lascivious movements of a narcissistic man and occasionally some shouting. The unexpected action is then the staged reliving of the first intimate experience. This is depicted somewhat inauthentically by the man's embrace from behind, copulative movements and a body leotard on a girl with nipples and pubic hair drawn on.
Thus, the production aimed at 14+ youth gives a very chaotic impression, the pacing and dramaturgy lags and the main and most important message to teenagers seems to have been left hidden. Esther may have wanted to take the audience through her journey from early childhood to puberty with her, while telling the story of the unfreedom of children in uniform, their pigeonholing and labelling and the difficult journey of stepping out of a certain role. All of this is probably guessed by an adult, experienced viewer who already knows something about the world, but will this key idea reach the target audience of 14+ through this chosen form? I would guess not. 


Prototype of a successful children's show

Children need to be captivated, given authentic attention or start playing the way they play. Perhaps build a huge climbing frame in the middle of the stage to play the main role of the whole production. This is the clever approach of the concept designer and choreographer Jasper Džuki Jelen together with Mojra Vogelnik Škerlj, who prepared Out of the Box for the Dutch ensemble The100Hands. The audience sits in two to three rows around a yellow cube made of metal sprues, acting as an oversized children's playpen. With the first note of the bland and almost inconsequential music, the first woman appears, at first mapping the terrain, then after a while she climbs in, not intending to leave her haven, or even let anyone in. She takes advantage of the possibility of hanging onto an object, throwing mid somersaults, jumping from corner to corner, spinning around the inner perimeter of the cube. The atmosphere changes when a man appears on the horizon, then another, and they want to get in. The first occupant of this poofy home, of course, refuses to let them in. A hilarious and funny struggle for their own place in life begins. The work with tension and the moment of surprise is wonderful, the individual actions escalate and the audience is kept in a constant state of unease. Suddenly, a fourth character, a tiny girl who has been hiding under this large prop until now, creeps into the story and pops out from behind it very briskly. The moment of relief is a good one. Then the four of them come to an agreement and begin their shared stories inside. You can see that they are feeling each other out, teasing each other in different ways, testing what they can afford to do to each other, how far they can go, how detailed they can play with each other. You can see the joy in the eyes of those present (not just the children, many of whom came to this production), a smile on everyone's lips. 

Out of the Box is absolutely brilliant with the rhythmization of the piece, saving more and more trumps for later. At first, the four cat and mouse like wild beasts, and after various peripeties, they conspire against each other and part ways. The next wave of astonishment is the leaping of the most subtle dancer through the bars, until now the nature of the movement seemed to make this option of escape from the box impossible. And possible it is, and it becomes a form of escape for others. The dancers are also expressively very interesting, they are connected to each other and send out a positive vibe. Their eyes shine as if they were children themselves. They also invite the children into their retreat at the end of the production. Individually, they invite them to dance and, still in the same movement style, they seat them in the middle of the yellow object. They don't hesitate to challenge and invite some parents in as well. They then crawl over their heads from side to side, not afraid to even stand on the individual top edges and look down on their "catch" completely from above. 

The show is designed for young preschool audiences, but adults will enjoy it as well. It's playful and cute and plays right on the children's heartstrings, keeping their attention throughout. I couldn't have asked for a better ending to the THINK BIG! festival.

Here I realized that THINK BIG! should inspire Czech dance community. We have festivals of dance, movement, new circus, street theatre, ballet... and yes, there's a piece for kids here and there, but we don't have a festival of dance and movement for kids per se! I've only seen a smattering, but during this edition, the children and teenagers of Munich had the opportunity to see many interesting performances that may have inspired them to move, express themselves through dance, and at the same time may have helped them to identify with and deal with many themes through their own and the performer's physicality. After all, this is terribly important for this target group. Czech children deserve that too. What do Czech dance and movement artists for children and youth have to say about this? Isn't it time to get inspired and do something about it?
 

Written from the THINK BIG! festival in Munich, 11-13 July 2024. 

Beat by Bits
Idea, choreography, direction by Paula Rosolen
Concept: Paula Rosolen, J.M. Fiebelkorn
Daniel Conant, Felipe Faria, Steven Fast, Kyle Patrick, Capucine Schattleitner, Steph Quinci
Dancing: Daniel Conant, Felipe Faria, Steven Fast, Kyle Patrick, Capucine Schattleitner, Alizée Duvernois, Amie Jammeh, Anima Henn, Eléonore Bovet, Kino Luque
Music: Nicolas Fehr and Mauro Zannoli
Costumes by J.M. Fiebelkorn
Sound design by Mauro Zannoli 
Production by Michael "Beli" Hennig 
Distribution by Otto Productions

Esther
Concept and choreography by Reut Shemesh 
Dance and choreography by Juliana Oliveira, Kelvin Kilonzo, Mihyun Ko, Brit Rodemund, Enis Turan
Lighting design by Ronni Shendar
Costume Design: Marie Siekmann
Music: Micha Kaplan
Choreographic assistance: Katja Pire
Photo: Jonas Zeidler 

Hush
Concept: Guy Corneille, Josephine van Rheenen
Choreography: Josephine van Rheenen with the ensemble
Live music and dance: Ruben van Asselt, Guy Corneille, Yoko Haveman, Marie Khatib-Shahidi, Wannes De Porre, Hans Vermunt
Set and lighting design by Timme Afschrift 
Costume design by Carlijn Petermeijer
Chieljan van der Hoek / Jorn Kortooms / Mees van Oosterhout
Dramaturgy: Moniek Merkx Production 

Out of the Box
Concept: Jasper Džuki Jelen and Mojra Vogelnik Škerlj 
Choreography by Jasper Džuki Jelen
Dances: Bryan Atmopawiro, Alison Duarte, Myrthe Marchal, Nathalie Schmidt 
Music: ArthurMusic 
Dramaturgy: Moos van den Broek, Mikaêl Orozco 
Box design: Menno Boerdam 
Creator of the box: Jitze Wils
Kostýmy: Esther Sloots
Foto: William van der Voort