DANCE OF THE MAGNETIC BALLERINA / Andrea Miltnerová (CZ/UK)

Czech Dance Platform festival 2013
performance length: 35 min
Retroexpression in Movement
no language barrier
co-production: Motus o.s. - produkce divadla Alfred ve dvoře
choreography and intepretation: Andrea Miltnerová
sound and lighting design: Jan Komárek

“For the whole time she hardly moves from the spot and yet she evokes, as it were, a transcendental experience from the perfection of her movements ... instead of posing questions, her body screams the liberating answer of beauty.” Karolína Jermářová, Fřesh Fľesh

“Obsessive discipline, obsessive symmetry, authoritative geometry of movement annihilate her (Miltnerová's) magnetic ballerina, from which there is no other way out than self-destruction. It is, of course, ravishingly beautiful and a thrilling self-destruction through movement.” Nina Vangeli, Dance Zone

Movement in the context of image and sound - image and sound in motion. The magnetic ballerina flutters inside a minimalist yet multi-dimensional space created to expand our perception and experience of dance. Intense movement sequences fuse with a collage of sound and a unique, interactive lighting design to relate a nonviolent, at times irritating, at times vulnerable, personal testimony of an obstinate obsession with movement.

Chosen as a priority performance for 2013 by the prestigious European network Aerowaves

The performance is part of the 2013 New Web project and DANCE PRAGUE in the regions.

Andrea Miltnerová
A British dancer and choreographer of Czech origin, who lives in Prague. For the past few years she has been specialising in Baroque dance and its creative fusion with other techniques, above all contemporary dance. She was born and trained in London and came to Prague to dance with the Ballet of the National Theatre. She currently collaborates as a performer with various Czech and foreign creators. Her deep interest in the Baroque led her to collaborate on the reconstruction of Baroque operas and to create her own performances based on movement analysis and ethnochoreographic research, for example The Baroque Body Revealed, Pentimento and Vertical Horizontal. She has worked as a director, choreographer and dancer with the early music ensembles Collegium 1704 and Collegium Marianum. She has danced in Baroque operas at the National Theatre, at the Baroque Castle Theatre in Český Krumlov and in festivals in Germany, Slovenia and Hungary. She is currently working with French choreographer Françoise Denieau, performing in her productions throughout France, including Paris (Opéra Comique) and Versailles (Opéra Royale), in Luxembourg and in Switzerland (Lausanne). Her contemporary dance solo Fractured was presented at the European Festival of Contemporary Dance in Poland and at euro scene Leipzig and Unidram Potsdam to critical acclaim. She has been invited to perform it at the Korzo Theatre in The Hague. Dance of the Magnetic Ballerina has been invited to Aerowaves' festival
Spring Forward in Zurich (Zürich Tanzt), to East Gate Europe 2 Festival in Aarhus, Denmark, to The Place Theatre in London and to Paradiso as part of the Julidans Festival in Amsterdam.

Jan Komárek
He studied painting and graphic design at the School of Applied Arts. He worked in various different fields, as well as composing music for theatre and puppet theatre. After emigrating to France, he formed the “Mimo Theatre”, creating puppet theatre for both adults and children, performing himself as puppeteer and clown. In 1983 Jan moved to Toronto, Canada, where, together with composer Rainer Wiens he founded ‛Sound Image Theatre’, using actors as well as dancers and various performers to create image based, poetic performances with live music. He received several prestigious Dora Mavor Awards for Best Play, Best Set and Lighting Design and Best Music. He gradually started to work as lighting designer for other professional theatre companies, particularly in the dance field in Toronto and Montreal. Jan moved back to Prague in 2001, where he became known on the alternative scene for his own shows and lighting design. He was voted ‛Theatre Personality of the Year 2009’ by the New Wave Festival and was awarded first prize for Lighting Design by an international jury at the 2010 Tanec Praha Festival. In Jan’s creations, sound, light and movement are inseparable elements and are created together. He draws his inspiration from images, be they paintings, drawings or photographs, as well as from the look and personality of the individual performers.

The performance is held within the Czech Dance Platform Festival / 11. – 14. 4. 2013
The 19th Festival of the Czech contemporary dance and movement theatre is organized by Tanec Praha civic association. Advance tickets to performance are available only at the Ponec theatre box office. On the day of the performance the tickets are on sale one hour before the start of the performance at the box office of Alfred ve dvoře theatre.
Reservations: ponec@tanecpraha.eu.

www.ceskatanecniplatforma.cz

Photo: Jan Komárek