Humus vertebra
A piece for three dancers in artistic collaboration
with the illustrator Stefano Ricci
CONTENTS
Humus vertebra ………………………………………………………………………………… 2
Biography of Stefano Ricci ….………………………………...…………………………… 3
Biography of Karine Ponties ..………………………..…………………………………… 4
Press: Le Soir 14-15/03/2009 .……………………………………………………………… 6
Press: La Libre Belgique 14-15/03/2009 .……………………………………………… 7
Text by Patrick Bonté – “A being among beings”…………………………………… 8
Tour …....…………………………………………………………………………………………… 10
Credits .……………………….……………………………………………………………………. 11
Production ..……………………….……………………………………………………………… 11
Contact ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 11
1
HUMUS VERTEBRA
The starting point of this hallucinatory fable for three performers is the scarecrow, this
vertical being, absurd and fluttering in the winds that hold it between earth and sky. The
scarecrow also haunts this piece, but in secret, hidden. In this trio we find all the ingredients
that typify the original flavour of the work by this Belgian choreographer: a fabulous
atmosphere, a strange comic tenderness tinged with profound doubt, sculptures of men,
acrobatics, the use of objects and short films projected on stage, all expertly woven together.
Here, the graphic score by Stefano Ricci, author of the illustrated book “Humus vertebra”,
portrays hybrid characters, apparitions somewhere between man and beast. A fragile, yet
clear trace of poetry of the moment inside an illusion: the uncertainty of being.
The scarecrow
A poet of ancient times who still reigns from the corner of the field, it is difficult to describe
the scarecrow: an impostor, a bogeyman, an ogre, a phantom, a protester, a crucifix, a nothrough sign, a tower, an hourglass...
For me, a scarecrow is both a touching and contradictory figure, a lonely soldier of terror
who has never scared anyone. He belongs to the imagination. This vertical being is man’s
double, a self-portrait that does not speak its name, a no-through sign, and a protester who
opens his arms to us when he is not hanged, crucified or bound.
This is a being of abandonment, in abandonment.
Giving life to a scarecrow is to become alive again, to revive, reconstruct, and to relearn.
Trying to reach that place where the dual movement of vertical falling and elevation is
produced, a contradiction vital to a living being.
The difficult birth of a body and a word that are linked and which begin over and over
again, in perpetuity.
This project is the deconstruction and the match of the characters created on the same
theme in the solos babil, Fidèle à l'éclair and havran. Out of their initial context, they slide
into a second skin, and end up together in this performance, Humus vertebra.
Karine Ponties
2
BIOGRAPHY OF STEFANO RICCI
Born in Bologna in 1966, Stefano Ricci is an artist and draughtsman. He made his name with
Tufo, published by Amok (nominated at Angoulême for the best comic strip album in 1996),
and Anita published by Fréon (nominated for the International Prize for Comic Strips by the
City of Brussels). He also publishes cartoon drawings in the press for the likes of Libération,
Les Inrockuptibles, Télérama, l’Humanité, la Repubblica, and Glamour.
Ricci works with drawing in the theatre, dance and cinema. Since 2003, he has held the post
of Artistic Director at Biancoenero, the journal of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia
in Rome, and teaches comic strip drawing and contemporary graphics at D.A.M.S. Gorizia,
Università degli Studi di Udine and the Fakultat Medien Information und Design in
Hamburg, where he also lives.
Drawing: Stefano Ricci
Drawing: Stefano Ricci
3
BIOGRAPHY OF KARINE PONTIES
Karine Ponties was born in France in 1967. Her foray into dance
began with studies at the Juan Tena and Ramon Soler dance
schools in Barcelona, and culminated in her matriculation from
Maurice Bejart’s Mudra school in Brussels in 1986.
She has worked as a performer with several companies, notably
Frédéric Flamand, Michèle Noiret, Nicole Mossoux/ Patrick
Bonté and Pierre Droulers among others, in addition to founding
Dame de Pic / Cie Karine Ponties in 1995. In 1996 the company
premiered at Théâtre Le Public in Brussels, and shortly thereafter
Ponties was honored with the laureate of the 4th Edition of Les
Pépinières européennes for young artists.
In her 15 years of choreographing for the Company, she has created over thirty works
including commissions for the Helsinki Theater Dance Department, Lod in Ghent, the D.C.M.
Foundation in Bucharest, Montréal Danse, La Petite Fabrique in Paris, Transdance Europe
03-06. She was most recently one of seven European choreographers selected to participate
in the EU-Russian contemporary dance project, Intradance (2010) with the creation of
Mirliflor that was awarded the Golden Mask 2011 (National Russian Theatre Award) for the
best contemporary dance performance.
Ponties’ award-winning collaborations with visual artist Thierry Van Hasselt (Brutalis: 2002
Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques [SACD] choreographic prize; and
Holeulone: named 2007 best dance performance in French-speaking Belgium) highlight the
company’s commitment to interdisciplinary exploration.
Other collaborations include composer Jan Kuijken and Lod (Les Taroupes 2000, Capture
d’un caillot 2001, Brutalis 2002); composer Dominique Pauwels and Lod (Le Chant d’amour
du grand singe 2005, Mi non Sabir 2004, Desirabilis 2004, Holeulone 2006, Boreas 2007),
visual artist Lawrence Malstaf (Boreas 2007) and visual artist and illustrator Stefano Ricci
(the Scarecrow Cycle 2008-2011, gathering babil, havran, Fidèle à l’éclair, Benedetto
Pacifico and Humus vertebra).
Her newest project, Lamali Lokta, created in collaboration with the illustrator Beatrice
Alemagna will premiere in March 2012.
Known for works with a flair for the absurd, exploring intimacy and interlacing relationships,
Ponties choreographies have toured nationally and internationally, notably at the Festival de
la Cité (Lausanne), Tanec Praha (Prague), Julidans Theatre Bellevue (Amsterdam), Szene
Festival (Salzburg), Dublin Fringe Festival, Centre Culturel Wallonie-Bruxelles (Paris), Neuer
Tanz Festival (Freiburg), Dansstationen (Mälmo), City Theater Reykjavik (Iceland), Plesni
Theater (Ljubljana), Les Hivernales d’Avignon, Les Brigittines (Brussels), Agora de la danse
(Montreal), O Espaco do Tempo (Portugal), Pavillon Noir – National Choreographic Center
of Aix-en-Provence, One Yellow Rabbit Festival (Calgary), Théâtre des Salins – Scène
Nationale (Martigues), Festival de Marseille (France), International Dance Festival of
Cochabamba (Bolivia), National Theatre of Korea (Seoul), National Choreographic Center of
Orléans, Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), Mimos Festival (Périgueux), Uzès Danse, Kaaitheater
(Brussels), Dance New Amsterdam (New York), Festival de Otoño (Madrid), Dance Week
Festival (Zagreb), Vooruit (Ghent), Théâtre de la Cité (Paris).
4
Repertoire
1996
1997
1997
1998
1999
1999
2000
2000
2000
2001
2001
2002
2004
2004
2004
2005
2006
2006
2006
2006
2007
2008
2008
2008
2009
2010
2010
2010
2010
2011
2012
Planta Baja
Vecinas (with the dance department of Helsinki for the 4th Pépinières
européennes pour jeunes artistes)
Dame de Pic
Sentinelele naftalina (with the D.C.M. Foundation in Bucharest)
Negatovas
Glabelle (within the framework of Bruxelles 2000)
Glabelle Duo (within the framework of Bruxelles 2000)
Les Taroupes (within the framework of Bruxelles 2000)
Brucelles (within the framework of Bruxelles 2000)
Capture d’un caillot
Scheggia (within the framework of Dance Connect, a project by Dance City Newcastle)
Brutalis
Desirabilis (with Montréal Danse)
Fatima Gate (with Lod and Nathalie Elghoul)
Mi non sabir (within the framework of Trans Danse Europe)
Le Chant d’amour du grand singe
Phébus et Borée (project “Les Fables à la Fontaine” by La Petite Fabrique)
Nunakt (coproduction Mossoux-Bonté)
Des taureaux dans la tête
Holeulone
Boreas (with Lod)
Scarecrow Solo I – Fidèle à l’éclair
Louis et nous (within the framework of Théâtre Les Tanneurs’ neighborhood project)
Scarecrow Solo II – havran
Scarecrow Cycle – Humus vertebra
Scarecrow Solo III – babil
Absentia (within the framework of Project “Pagina Bianca” by Daniela Lucà)
Mirliflor (within the framework of European EUNIC/Intradance project)
Tuco (with Companhia Instável)
Scarecrow Solo IV – Benedetto Pacifico
Lamali Lokta (in creation)
5
PRESS – “WHEN SCARECROWS AWAKEN” BY JEAN-MARIE WYNANTS, IN: LE SOIR,
14-15 MARCH 2009
“What does a scarecrow dream about, fixed in the ground day and night? To find out, go to
the Tanneurs Theatre where choreographer Karine Ponties is presenting her new creation
Humus Vertebra. Karine Ponties brings three strange characters on stage. At first forming
one gigantic immobile sculpture, this trio and the wooden boxes they use throughout the
piece, gradually detach and become alive. From scarecrows, they turn into celestial tramps,
scruffy clowns out of a silent Chaplin film.
These men seem to have left the ground in an attempt to stand up and conquer the world.
Inevitably, one is reminded of the magnificent character from the Wizard of Oz. But with
these beings that appear from nowhere and slowly but surely transform to take on a human
form, one also discovers the history of humanity. Or the story of a life, from birth until
death, because surely from the first to the last step, man’s existence is spent trying to
remain upright.
Somewhere between acrobatics, comedy, and technical dance virtuosity, Karine Ponties
delivers a fascinating and poetic show that takes us into a world where animality and
humanity are intimately linked. Not afraid to use comedy in certain places, she delivers
astonishing scenes, such as the tango threesome, as virtuoso as it is hilarious.
Yet again, she is able to depend on three magnificent, whimsical and physically amazing
performers: Eric Domeneghetty, Claudio Stellato and Jaroslav Vinarsky. They make a
formidable trio, constantly supporting each other, playing with the wooden boxes that
serve either as building blocks, a precarious shelter, a podium, or a bench…
In the very beautiful scenography of Wilfrid Roche, one discovers the drawings and films of
Stefano Ricci, who makes strange and perpetually changing beings appear on a screen at
the back of the stage. The projection is reminiscent of old film footage by Méliès, juddering,
jolting and scratchy. Ricci’s creatures echo the scarecrow trio and they carry us into a
world from which we eventually emerge blinking and pinching our neighbour in order to
find out if all that has gone before was just an illusion or a waking dream.
Jean-Marie WYNANTS
6
PRESS – “WEIGHTS AND MEASURES”
14-15 MARCH 2009
BY
MARIE BAUDET, IN: LA LIBRE BELGIQUE,
“In her new creation Humus Vertebra, Karine Ponties conjugates fragile balance with the
indefinite. A trio of scarecrows brilliantly appear.
Once raised, the curtain (a rough sheet hung without any affectation) reveals a circular
track, another canvas and three rectangular boxes. As the canvas screen shows a projection
of drawings by Stefano Ricci – not yet animated – it is the canvas that scrolls – one
discovers a sort of living Meccano. Three silhouettes gradually extricate themselves from
the parallelepiped construction, letting go one by one of the cables that stabilize it. And it
wobbles. And, at the same time, the mechanic takes shape. Bodies and objects (box-benches
that stack, align, pile up), weight and counter weight, balance and unsteadiness, strength
and resistance. As such, it is much more a physical exercise applied to dance.
The performers, Eric Domeneghetty, Claudio Stellato and Jaroslav Vinarsky, play with
diversity and derision three versions of the scarecrow, an anthropomorphic figure that
inspired Karine Ponties in this new piece.
Self-portrait without a name
Humus Vertebra: from the ground to the dorsal spine, verticality as a principle but also as a
question. The scarecrow, this “self-portrait without a name”, says the choreographer, is “a
guardian who is powerless (…); a scary character created to frighten but who is no longer
feared”.
Humour and humanity fill “Humus vertebra”, also something animal, like the hybrid
characters in the films of Stefano Ricci that fluidly integrate with the performance. Playful
and comical, the choreography belongs to a form of fine watch making – including an antishock optic, because brutality plays as much a part as surprising and joyful tenderness – in
scruffy attire.
In parallel, the costumes designed by Samuel Dronet and the scenography of Wilfrid Roche,
concoct like the dance, apparently makeshift fantasies under extreme pressure. This is one
of the guiding lines in the work of Karine Ponties and her dance company Dame de Pic: the
principle of artistic encounter, dialogue between disciplines (all seen by the choreographer
as writing, and for her all writing originates from the body) that make sense, without
however, being any more than a pretext. But the dance succeeds in touching without trying
to tell: a fragile, yet clear trace of poetry of the moment, open to the winds.”
Marie BAUDET
7
TEXT BY PATRICK BONTÉ – “ A being among beings”,
Alternatives théâtrales n°105, June 2010
“How to tackle or even describe Karine on stage?
Before even perceiving her as the dancer or choreographer, she’s a being, a figure that
appears in front of us – rather perhaps emerging from the depths of our consciousness?
First, there is the rightly bizarre insect, Ponties, of the Luciphore Species, with retractable
elytra. It glides backwards, it intersects itself and “it” becomes many, it is elusive, deformed
yet extremely put together.
Then there is the landscape-woman who carries the world on her head, a towering woman
with unruly locks, an unkempt memory that bad-weather dreams have unraveled...
Landscape of splinters, of femurs and skin that is revealed, lies down, tears, folds back on
itself with a grace that astounds the eye.
There is also the scarecrow, or rather the scarecrow-ess: a contradictory and moving
figure, since the fear it is meant to inspire suggests, above all, incompleteness, wisps of
defeated straw, never pulled together.
At the heart of these metamorphoses, Karine is not alone… she has her accomplices…
Individuals in constant search of a loss of equilibrium: accepting that vertigo begins on the
ground, on terra firma. Sentinels of an over-inhabited desert where nobody lives, their
heads like fists upon their bodies. They keep watch, suspicious, discreet, and slightly dark.
They await the worst, vigilant, avoiding one another, fleeing, and confronting without
action. They correct each other; keep each other in perspective; complete one another in
untiring embraces.
Dubious as to their real presence… They beautifully blend their differences, to search for
accomplices ...everything is ruined, and everything must begin again, at that moment,
without drama.
It’s undoubtedly this perplexity that brings charm to their interactions. And Karine
navigates this field, which becomes choreographic, with bravado and humor, extremely at
ease in the entanglement of composition and action. The dancers are as much captivating
personalities as strangely moving, wandering through a universe colored by surrealist yet
familiar tonality. Something like a Slavic fantasy often permeates the group, a freed spleen
that never utters its name, a sensitive precision of gesture that captures the extravagance of
their demeanor. The words and sentences that compose the poetry of new beginnings and
the beauty of human body.”
Patrick BONTÉ
Patrick Bonté has written for radio, film and theatre and has directed several productions.
Choreographer Nicole Mossoux’s partner since 1985, he has created theatre-dance
performances that have been presented in over thirty countries. Simulation, Les petites
morts, Les dernières hallucinations de Lucas Cranach l’Ancien, Twin Houses, Khoom, and
Nuit sur le monde… are suggestive works which attempt explorations of the murky regions of
sensibility in order to give a new view and new way of thinking about one’s relationship to the
world: through peculiar familiarity, humor and frigid intimacy. Patrick Bonté is also the
Artistic Director of the Brigittines International Festival in Brussels.
8
Drawing: Stefano Ricci
9
TOUR
12-21/03/2009
Théâtre les Tanneurs – Brussels – Belgium (Première)
27/06/2009
Festival de Marseille – France
07/08/2009
Festival Mimos – Périgueux – France
10/11/2009
Les Salins / Scène nationale de Martigues – France
18,19/11/2009
Biennale de Charleroi/Danses – Belgium
18,19/12/2009
Traverses, CCN d’Orléans – France
19-22/01/2010
Théâtre Les Tanneurs – Brussels – Belgium
17,18/02/2010
Centre des Bords de Marne – Arcadi (Hors Saison) – Le Perreux –
France
14,15/07/2010
Teatro a Corte – Turin – Italy
26/01/2011
Zagreb Dance Centre – Zagreb – Croatia
28/01/2011
EN-KNAP Cultural Centre Spanski Borci – Ljubljana – Slovenia
31/01/2011
Trafo, House of Contemporary Arts, in the framework of Prési-danses
– Budapest – Hungary
15/02/2011
Onyx - La Carrière – St-Herblain – France
17-19/03/2011
CC Jacques Franck – Brussels – Belgium
01/04/2011
Théâtre Paul Eluard – Bezons – France
All the dates on: www.damedepic.be
10
CREDITS
Choreography / Karine Ponties
Interpretation / Eric Domeneghetty, Claudio Stellato, Jaro Vinarsky
Animated film and artistic collaboration / Stefano Ricci
Set design and artistic adviser / Wilfrid Roche
Light design / Florence Richard
Original music / David Monceau
Additional music / Sigur Rós
Costumes / Samuel Dronet
Technical direction and lightning technician / Guillaume Fromentin
Video and sound technician / Benjamin Pasternak
Length / 55 minutes
PRODUCTION
Production
Dame de Pic / Cie Karine Ponties
Coproduction
Théâtre Les Tanneurs, Charleroi/Danses (Belgium), O Espaço do Tempo de Montemor-ONovo (Portugal), Centre Chorégraphique National d’Orléans – direction Josef Nadj, in the
framework of accueil studio 2008 – Ministère de la Culture, Festival de Marseille, Centre
départemental de créations en résidence des Bouches-du-Rhône, les Salins / Scène nationale
de Martigues, Arcadi, Centre des Bords de Marne, CDC/ Biennale nationale du Val de Marne
(France).
With the support of Ministère de la Communauté française Wallonie-Bruxelles – Service de
la Danse, of Association Beaumarchais (writing support), of Ballet national de Marseille in
the framework of accueil studio, and of Wallonie Bruxelles Théâtre/Danse.
Dame de Pic / Cie Karine Ponties is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the French Community
and Wallonie-Bruxelles International. The Company is on administrative residence at Théâtre Les
Tanneurs in Brussels. In 2011 and 2012, Karine Ponties is associated artist at Brigittines,
contemporary art Centre for movement City of Brussels.
CONTACT
Administration / Production: France MORIN
Rue des Tanneurs 75-77
1000 Brussels
Belgium
Tel +32 2 411 95 00
Mob +32 478 508 179
[email protected]
www.damedepic.be
11