silence/research
“You know those moments you have when you enter a silence that’s still and complete and peaceful? That’s the source, the place where everything comes from. In that space, you know everything is connected, that there’s ecology of everything. In that place it is possible for people to have a change of the heart, a change of thinking, a change in their way of being and living in the world.” Linda Hogan.
United Sorry wants to explore this transformative impact of silence on stage and in the gallery. It will be part of their research in Montpellier, but also robert research in Danslab/ Den Haag. And it will be the subject or lets say the entrance to go into their next theatre piece ( no title yet, but with objects of the visual artists Yvonne Dröge Wendl and Roland Seidel).
the ecology of things. we can’t make things isolated from the world that surrounds us, but how to tune in, in a way that we don’t accept the status quo of contemporary politics.
Robert Steijn’s curiosity is to explore the power and sensitivity of silence in the performing arts, the body arts and the dance. He considers silence not as an absence of sounds, but more as an opportunity to listen what already exists under the surface of loud noises. It is a listening to the details in which the body can reveal itself, when we decide not immediately to express ourselves.
During his first research at Danslab ‘Eros and Silence’ (September 2009), in which Georg Blaschke, Amy Cox and Gonnie Heggenparticipated, he searched for how to ‘ground’ the heart by examining possible connections between the pelvic floor and the heart.
Continuing onward, he now investigates the in-between-space between an outwardly silent body and a body that inwardly starts to move and visually change position.
Therefore he invited Maria Hassabi, a choreographer based in New York. Four years ago Robert saw a performance of her inImpulstanz (Vienna). He was amazed by the precision* of her physical presence. Maria adds great importance to this research with her eyes. Not only on the gaze of the dancers body, but also of the spectators. Her work is strong, visually driven and has aapparent connection towards contemporary visual arts. One of the research questions is how can they indeed establish and feed the connection between the eyes and the heart.
Three quotes that perhaps illustrate the passion of this second research phase:
“You dance inside my chest, where no one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art “ (Rumi)
“Our own body is in the world as our heart is in the organism, it keeps the visible spectacle constantly alive , it breathes life into it and sustains it inwardly and with it forms a system. ‘’ (Maurice Merleau Ponty)
“So through the eyes love attains the heart: For the eyes are the scouts of the heart, And the eyes go reconnoitering For what it would please the heart to possess. And when they are in full accord And firm, all three, in one resolve, At that time, perfect love is born From what the eyes have made welcome to the heart. For as all true lovers know, love is perfect kindness, Which is born, there is no doubtfrom the heart and eyes.”
(Guiraut de Borneilh (c. 1138-1200))