Gland – The marginal Sculptures of Newtopia (Dimension a & b)
Performance
by
Kat Valastur
In the frame of 8th Tanznacht Berlin 2014
In her new solo “GLAND”, the choreographer and dancer Kat Válastur wanders through unknown landscapes created alongside her body. “GLAND“ is a projection of a landscape, in which a series of events is experienced in parallel universes, shifting from familiarity to the unfamiliar. The tiger’s leap, the stillness of the statue, the shining of the asphalt on a rainy night – all belong to the same category. Every gesture belongs to a constellation of thoughts about its meaning. What if there is no meaning but only gestures? Now step out from the projection and tell me where you are. With her own particular virtuosity, Válastur presents new challenges to habitual perception over and over again. “GLAND” is the first work in a series of choreographies by Kat Válastur entitled “The Marginal Sculptures of Newtopia” and will take place in two complementary spaces: on stage (dimension a) and on the web (dimension b).
Concept, choreography & performer: Kat Válastur. Sound design & diffusion: Lambros Pigounis. Stage: Ulrich Leitner. Lighting: Martin Beeretz. Video: Iosif Lykakis. Costume: Lydia Sonderegger Artistic collaboration: Nikos Flessas, Thomas Schaupp, Stephen Zepke. Assistance:Ania Nowak. Web design: Lamb and Lamp. Press & production: björn & björn. Production: Kat Válastur. Co-production: HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin and Tanzquartier Vienna. Supported by the Berlin Major’s Office – Chancellery of the Berlin Senate Cultural Department and the Fonds Darstellende Künste e.V. Supported by the Institut für Raumexperimente (Berlin).
Kat Valastur
Kat Válastur, is a Berlin-based choreographer and performer. Fragmentation, time lapse, entropy and virtuality are some of the notions that emerge from her dance works, through the creation of a specific fictional force field in which the bodies of the performers are exposed to. As part of her creative process she utilizes personal diagrams, scores drawings and texts that she creates for each work. In 2013-2014, she was an invited artist (grantee) at the Institut für Raumexperimente, an educational research project by Ólafur Elíasson in collaboration with the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). In the context of the program, she started her research on the new series of choreographies “The marginal sculptures of Newtopia”. The series includes the works “GLAND“ (2014), “Ah! Oh! A contemporary Ritual“ (2014) and was completed in 2016 with the dance piece “OILinity“, a poetic reflection upon the problem on dependence of western societies on crude oil and its consequences on human and nature. The series were co-produced and presented at HAU Hebbel am Ufer. She studied dance at the Hellenic school of dance, at the Trisha Brown studios on a Fulbright scholarship and received a Master degree from the (SODA) Master Program at the Inter-University for Dance in Berlin. Her work is presented internationally.