What does the abbreviation P.A.D. stand for? Does it have a concrete meaning?Well, somehow we like to keep people wonder about it and try to find out what it stands for. We can say that when we made the piece originally we were three persons working on it and each one had a specific task and role. The P.. the A.. and the D... Your piece premiered in 2007, is there any development in it? How does it evolve during years?
Time gives a natural evolution to things. In terms of formal evolution the piece is almost the same but the interesting thing is to see how it grows but it does not change. It is another type of evolution that seems to have deep roots.
For an artist the most interesting thing is to feel that the changes are coming from a deeper understanding of the proposal we made as creators, and to feel that the audience also makes an evolution of how to see a piece with the years. And to meet all together at a middle point.
These are the basics of a deeper communication for me. And this is what I feel we have to propose with P.A.D. 3. Can you describe more your creative process? You are both choreographers and performers of the piece, how do you cooperate?
We don’t cooperate we collaborate. Cooperation is helping each other and keeping some rules in order to meet a goal. Collaboration means to have mutual understanding and a common Ideal. It involves people on the level of learning from each other and feeding with creativity one and other. This is the way P.A.D. is made, and I think you can feel it: The audience members are observers of this collaborating work and therefore become part of the process of the piece. You both have danced in the Forsythe Company, how does this experience
influence you?
Working with the company and William Forsythe can teach you many things. Maybe an important one would be how to remain playful and keep an open mind, Bill somehow has the ability to remain curious all the time which allows powerful information and interesting things to come out from anywhere or any kind of field, it is just a matter of letting things emerge where you did not expect it and then recognize what is valuable in them. The performance focuses on the question of intimacy and on the borders of personal space. Have you found some interesting answers to this topic? Is there any area where you hit your personal limits?
We hit them all the time; it is part of the piece. Intimacy has many levels and different connotations in our cultural backgrounds. It is part of the learning process to find the limits of intimacy! For me, intimacy is a question of trust. I think that this is the part we discovered the more: how to trust during the piece and the process. Why did you choose to have the audience look down on the performers?
All choices for this piece are made to make the audience have a certain experience. The voyeuristic position of the audience gives us the possibility to put him/her and us in a position of re-questioning some of our basic reactions and believes. It is also a way to trick the gaze of the viewer into having his own choreographical trip through the different perspectives. All this gives the possibility of a different experience, in other words a different feeling to the subject. What are the reactions of the audience to this piece? Do people cooperate with you? Are the reactions different in different countries?
Yes, it seems to change everywhere we go, some people are cooperative and involved from the beginning, some other need more time to trust it! It is also a matter of culture and background, in some countries people tend to be very silent and concentrated and others more energetic and expressive! What is interesting with this piece is that as an audience you get to observe one another and reflect on the way they/you react with what is front of you, since you are visible you become part of the piece and the viewing game... Photo: Constance Neuenschwander
Josef Bartos
Thank you for your thoughts. One got stuck in my mind – that passion makes us different from AI. Just yesterday I read…I am a dance critic. I am a member of an endangered species