CRANE DANCE / MANU

Crane Dance Dance as an elevator. The way through the labyrinth to the penetrating subtlety of perception. Manu A story about a fall, a way to slavery. Descent from the world of ideas into the world of deeds, to the form of the human body, reason, and the ability to perceive the material world. The performance CRANE DANCE / MANU, consisting of two parts, concentrates on the exploration of the spheres of the abstract, intuitive perception, imagination, nonverbal communication, and understanding the language of myths. Through the performance the ENVOI group professes the dramatic legacy of Antonin Artaud. CRANE DANCE is a dance study. It strives to re-discover the nature of the sacred dance that was danced in the first Gothic cathedrals. The performance explores the sacred space (a temple, a sanctuary) within us. The space where we can meet both ourselves and our surroundings on a nonverbal level, where reality can be perceived directly. The basic question is whether there exists any relation between the journey into the heart of a temple and the heart of man. MANU is an allegory and inspiration. Manu is the name of the legendary teacher, the last Atlantian who according to the old myths helped to create the form of the human body, gave man reason and the ability to perceive the material world. Here he has become the theme of the story about the assumption of matter and the subsequent complete surrendering to it. He is an inspiration for the actual tragedy about the gravitational force of matter. ENVOI chooses a specific approach for each of the performances, the one that is best for the given theme. In the Crane Dance, the most important elements are dance and recorded music. Costumes, masks, and stage design are based on the ambiguous symbol of the Labyrinth and the ground plan of the cathedral in Chartres. In MANU masks, dance, and lighting are stressed more.