PREMIERE PROGRAMME
PUNCH N’ PECK
CHoreography, lighting and costume design
itzik galili
Restaging and assistant
elisabeth gibiat
music
percossa
Aaron Jay Kernis
Punch n’ Peck is a re-worked version of the first section of Galili’s full evening work, Me (2004), ending with the duet If as If (2006).
Human interactions are the theme of the work.
We start with a quiet foreshadowing of the end.
The percussion section, set to an original musical score played on three old-fashioned typewriters, begins playfully, builds in tension, dissipates into a soft tinkling duet, then rebuilds to an insistent rhythm. The percussive side of the typewriters with their imposed race for speed provokes a twitchy, uneasy feeling in us; a kind of intimate struggle to keep our sense of self. As reminders of a different era, they can also trigger more soothing, charming memories; a yearning for simpler times, for a younger self…
In the final duet, Galili looks at the inner doubts, the search for closeness, and the painful experience of the rejection. A man tries in vain to curl up in a woman lap, wanting to be caressed. Repeatedly, she pushes him away.
Itzik was born in Israel and danced in Bat-Dor Dance Company, and Batsheva Dance Company, where he started choreographing. Today he is one of the most prominent figures in the contemporary dance scene, having created and set works on almost every major company.
A WHERE
Natively from Czech Republic & Reunion Island respectively, Jakub and Em took their first steps into the dance world at the ages of 16 and 12, both starting with Ballroom Dancing (Latin, Standard & line-dancing). They were both hooked since they discovered West Coast Swing, and were especially drawn to the creativity, musicality, and freedom within the dance.
Their dance world is shaped around multiple influences such as urban dances, contemporary, modern, zouk and contact improvisation.
A Where was developed with the Ballet d’Jèrri dancers, and is Emeline and Jakub’s first creation for dance in a theatre setting. The piece explores the concept of home not as a certain place, but rather as the community that we build for ourselves wherever we are.
CHoreography
Jakub Jakoubek
emeline Rochefeuille
music
patrick watson
FOOTSTEPS
CHoreography
GARRETT SMITH
music
imogen heap
phoria
costumes
OCwear
Garrett Smith was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. He was a dancer with Houston Ballet and Norwegian National Ballet, and has been commissioned to choreograph for Houston Ballet, The Mariinsky Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Bolshoi Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, Ballet West, Texas Ballet Theater, Milwaukee Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Salt Contemporary Dance, Odyssey Dance Theater, and La Scala. He has co-choreographed a new Swan Lake production on ice at the Dynamo Stadium in Moscow, combining figure skaters, acrobats, and ballet dancers, such as Olympic Gold Medalist, Evgeni Plushenko and prima ballerina Olga Smirnova. Garrett created much of the original choreography for the 2020 Netflix series Tiny Pretty Things, and acted as an advisor for the show.
Garrett’s newest work, Footsteps, will be a world premiere with Ballet d’Jèrri.