Shadows Memory
(Mémoire de l’Ombre)
Genève – 2014
Argument
Choreography produced by le Grand Ballet de Genève as a tribute to Gustav Mahler
Ken Ossola’s choice of Gustav Mahler’s hymn of love to life and the world for this performance seems obvious, given his dance’s propensity for the sacred and the way he places human beings in the eternal whirlwind of forces at play in the universe.
Ken Ossola invents movement to heighten and deepen his dancers’ awareness. He captures the secret magic of a body language that joins the innermost energy of individual being with a substance both divine and immaterial.
Approx. duration : 1h10 (without intermission)
Production Crew
Chorégraphie : Ken Ossola
Musique : Gustav Malher
Arrangement musical : Julien Tarride
Scénographie & costumes : Nicolas Musin
Lumières : Harrys Picot
Directeur du Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève
Philippe Cohen.
Assistant to the director of ballet
Vitorio Casarin
Administrative Coordinator
Emilie Schaffter
Ballet Master
Grant Aris
Grégory Deltenre
Pianist
Serafima Demianova
Technical director
Philippe Duvauchelle
Lighting Assistant
Alexandre Bryand
Stage Management
Jérôme Glorieux
Sound and video
Alexandre Averty
Machinery
Alexandre Auer, Fernando De Miguel
Bruno Giannini, Olivier Sidore
Andrea Valvini
Lighting
William Ballerio, Arnaud Viala
Scene Electricity
Renato Campora, Lionel Rocher, Louis Riondel, Romain Toppano
Photographer
Grégory Batardon
Female Dancers
Céline Allain, Fernanda Barbosa, Louise Bille, Ornella Capece, Andie Masazza, Virginie Nopper, Yu Otagaki, Angela Rebelo, Sara Shigenari, Sarawanee Tanatanit, Daniela Zaghini
Male Dancers
Joseph Aitken, Loris Bonani, Natan Bouzy, Aurélien Dougé, Paul Girard, Armando Gonzalez, Vladimir Ippolitov, Xavier Juvcn, Nathanaël Marie, Geoffrey Van Dyck, Nahuel Vega
Ken Ossola and the production crew would like to thank their partner
Soundtrack
Symphonie N°5 4. Adagietto. Sehr langsam
(Arrangement musical et mixage: Julien Tarride, violon: Christine Massetti)
Symphonie N°2 «Résurrection» 1. Allegro maestoso
Symphonie N°6 «Tragique» 3. Andante moderato (EXTRAIT)
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen 2. « Ging heut’ morgen über Feld
(Chants d’un compagnon errant)
Symphonie n°9 «Tragique»” 4. Adagio, Sehr langsam und no ch zurückhaltend (EXTRAIT)
Transition based on
Symphonie N°1 1. Langsam. Schleppend. Wie ein Naturlaut.
Symphonie N°5 4. Adagietto. Sehr langsam
(Musical arrangement and mixing : Julien Tarride, violon: Christine Massetti)
Das Lied von der Erde (Le Chant de la Terre) 6. «Der Abschied. (L’Adieu) (EXTRAIT)
Symphonie N°2 «Résurrection» 5. « Aufersteh’n» (Résurrection). Langsam. Misterioso (EXTRAIT)
Media
Reviews
« His dance mixes broken, shattered and altered, which reflect his inclination for the contradictory, his taste for letting go. »
Bertrand Tappolet, Le Courrier
« Shadow’s Memories is a choreography full of mystery and secrets, with the sumptuous music of Mahler as the only narrative. On the theme of the shadow, the choreographer knows how to emerge from the Abyss, a dance filled with darkness and beauty. All the dancers of the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, slide into this emotive and sensitive choreography, playing with technical virtuosity, necessarily hidden by an apparent fluidity »
Agnès Izrine, Danser Canal Historique.
«The Swiss choreographer Ken Ossola plays with light and shadow in his works. What he does in “Mémoire de l’Ombre”, is more like calligraphy than choreography.
With harmonious movements, the performers dance through a shadow play on the stage. Their bodies appear fragile and distinctive, much like the curved, thin calligraphic symbols, which are mostly in contrasting black and white.
For Ossola, it is quite natural to convey in dance the hymn of love for the world, and for life, that is expressed in Gustav Mahler’s music. His dance has something inherently sacred about it, and it positions the human being in relation to the eternal cycle, much like the inner mechanics that hold the universe together»
Migros dance Festival Steps 2014.