Benjamin Vandewalle WALKING THE LINE Dario Prinari Benjamin Vandewalle benjamin_vandewalle@yahoo.com PRODUCTION Caravan Production Handelskaai 18 1000 Brussels, BELGIUM Alessandra Simeoni alessandra@caravanproduction.be, M +39 340 3686865 www.caravanproduction.be Karel Dombrecht karel@caravanproduction.be, M +32 498 611985
In WALKING THE LINE, a silent group of people is walking/moving/positioning themselves in public space. During approximately 60 minutes, they are guided by clear but open directions, given (live) by the director/choreographer, who is taking part in the performative installation as well. The performance consists of a series of several powerful images that are construed together with the participants. Several options are explored, depending on the space of the action, the nature of the group etc. WALKING THE LINE is a continuous exploration into the possibilities of collective movement and positioning in public space. Dario Prinari Through the sequence of different movements, a group choreography and several group images are created with the participants. Moreover and most importantly, through their intervention in public space, the choreography of the passers-by and the space itself are remodelled as well. WALKING THE LINE is a mixture between a performance, a choreography and an installation, with a strong focus on the visual aspect of the performance. It is about movement and its physical, psychological, social and spatial consequences. Benjamin Vandewalle mainly chooses to make powerful images with living bodies: the specific movements are secondary to the overall image and effect on the participants/audience. WALKING THE LINE is influenced by a great interest in group psychology and group dynamics. Besides that, art historic examples like the flaneur, the situationists, form the
inspirational background of this performance. Vandewalle s own background as a choreographer and dancer gives him the artistic and practical tools to make WALKING THE LINE an interesting choreography with amateur people, both fascinating to participate in as to watch. However, rather than being a typical choreography that is based on nice dance moves, WALKING THE LINE is a dynamic installation with a close connection to film and visual arts: it is a series of living tableaux. Framing With this project, Benjamin Vandewalle continues his investigations into the idea of perception in public space. Many of his former visual/performative works centred on watching/being watched, challenged the gaze, invited new frames of looking etc. Vandewalle often created static installations (eg Inter-View, Birdwatching, ) - these installations being the frame for the audience, inviting a new type of looking at the environment. In WALKING THE LINE though, the frame is not static but dynamic. People are not put into a frame, but ARE the frame themselves, a moving frame even. Whereas in Birdwatching 4x4, the audience is protected by a visible screen (the box they sit in); in WALKING THE LINE the audience group itself will form the invisible screen and serve as protection against the gaze of the others in the external world. Within the safe anonymity of this box of the masses, new visual, performative and emotional possibilities might arise. Dario Prinari
By moving and walking in public space as is proposed in WALKING THE LINE, the position of the spectator is shifted. The world becomes one big spectacle: the public space is shown as a giant Gesamtkunstwerk with sounds, light, movement and images. An inspiring reference for this idea is the work Reserved base of the Italian artist Manzoni, in which he reverses the socle of a statue, causing it to hold up the entire globe as a work of art. Like Manzoni, Vandewalle considers the whole world as material, an unexplored creative terrain awaiting discovery. Both artists challenge the nature of art, the role of the artist and the relationship between art and the world around it. The framing idea is also explored more literally in WALKING THE LINE: the participants get a kind of glasses that frame their point of view. By wearing these glasses, they will be forced to watch their environment in a different way and focus on the details. They end up in a specific type of watching, as if watching a movie. When the glasses are taken off again, it might feel to the participants as if they are walking into a television screen: their gaze is opened and the world looks different again. Dario Prinari Moving the physical body The performance starts with some explanation of the basic rules and even with a short meditation-like introduction, to get the participants focused, create cohesion and alertness. A heightened consciousness of the body and its physical and emotional movements is the
result. WALKING THE LINE is no mindless walk but a conscious act. Through the performance, the bodies move in different ways, different spaces, different group constellations. A physical group choreography is the result. For this choreography, no specific physical abilities are required: everyone can participate, regardless of their age, leanness or experience with dancing. The physical characteristics of the individuals of the group are an essential part of the performative installation. People become art objects. They can experience how it is to be a sculpture, a work of art in a specific scenography. Moving the social body The ground rules of the performance are: no speaking, no interaction with each other, no direct interaction with passers-by. The main focus of the participants is on their inside and on their environment. WALKING THE LINE is a collective meditative experience in an everyday context. Passers-by can watch the performance as if they watch an installation or a work of plastic art in public space. Nevertheless, the performance -most likely- interrupts the social context and creates friction in the everyday life. The social body starts to react and move. Passers-by might react on the group movements by walking away, cooperating, laughing, watching They may interpret and reinterpret the performance, its images and its movements, led by social codes, expectations and prejudices: e.g. two people walking hand in hand are a couple / a group of people walking hand in hand is a publicity act Depending on the environment, people might relate what they see to something performative or to something religious, a protest act, a student s joke, Sometimes, it can even be regarded as a critique. For example, when a group of people stares through the windows into a McDonald s store, people eating their hamburgers might start to feel uncomfortable. The unpredictable group choreography/image/interpretation created by the passers-by (the second audience) is as important and interesting as the choreography/image that is performed by the participants (the first audience). Both choreographies react to and interact with each other in ways that cannot be regulated nor repeated. Moving the psychological body Group dynamics are essential in this work. The power of the group is huge: people in a group context are more willing to do actions they wouldn t normally do on their own, feeling protected by the idea they disappear between the others. Psychological experiments show that people even tend to cross their ethical boundaries because of peer pressure. Benjamin doesn t intend to use these group dynamics in any dangerous way, but regards these dynamics as a fruitful exploration space for new ways of moving and interacting in public space. By being part of a group, boundaries might fade, fear might subside and new possibilities might arise. People might feel safer and let down their guard. Shame can turn into excitement.
During the performance, we explore the possibilities of playing with the group idea and its psychological impact. How can you disappear in a group? How do you feel if a group of people looks at you? Do you regard the outside world differently when you are in the middle of a group? How close do you want to come to other people in a group? When do you feel lonely, when do you experience a sense of togetherness? WALKING THE LINE is not only a physical exploration, but can also become a mental exploration for the participants and passers-by. By doing or watching people do unconventional things in public space and/or by creating unconventional images, there can be a heightened awareness on the own physical and psychological patterns. Why am I afraid to sit on a bench on my own? Why do I care what people think of me? Why do I judge people who walk very slowly? What do I feel when I am surrounded by a group of strangers? Dario Prinari Moving the space The performance can take place in different environments: urban environments, nature, nonlieux, recreational areas, The performance will be adapted to the characteristics of every space and will be different each time, depending on the surroundings, the movements and the group members. Either way, the space starts to dance : it is moved in an unconventional way.
Because the performance takes place in open air, there is not just one point of view from which the audience can watch the performance. The 360* view might open up endless different perspectives. Every audience member can watch a different performance and see different images. Also the specificity of the surroundings demands different approaches: the materiality of the underground (concrete / wet soil / ) for example might require different ways of moving or cause different sounds, with different connotations. Images research Ostend, spring 2016 About Benjamin Vandewalle Benjamin Vandewalle studied at the Royal Ballet School of Antwerp from the age of eight to eighteen, but he soon found the world of ballet to be too rigid. He was subsequently admitted to Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's contemporary dance school, P.A.R.T.S., from which he graduated in 2006. "I am not concerned with dance, but with movement", stated Benjamin Vandewalle in an interview conducted by Wouter Hillaert in the book 20 years, 50 portraits, published on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of P.A.R.T.S. "Movement is one of the building blocks on which our reality is built. Movement creates a course in time, but also defines the space around us and even relationships between people". During the ten years following his graduation, he often worked with recurring themes, which he constantly presented in a different form: from more technological dance performances such as Point of View (2011) in which cameras were affixed to the dancers' bodies, to small-scale installations in the public space for just one spectator. Vandewalle: I am not concerned with dance, but with movement In his work Benjamin Vandewalle enjoys returning to the essence of theatre: seeing and being seen. The human view and perception are key. This is revealed, for example, in Point
of View, in which the audience sees what the dancers see via projections, as well as in one of his first productions Inbetween (2007), in which Vandewalle, accompanied by Vincenzo Carta, dances in a space fringed with curtains and the audience peeks inside using binoculars. In his work Benjamin Vandewalle enjoys returning to the essence of theatre: seeing and being seen. The human view and perception are key. The 'peep-shows' Vandewalle developed work in a similar vein, but on a much smaller scale. In the interactive installation Théâtre de la Guillotine (2006) an individual spectator placed his or her head in a pitch black box. When the light came on, you found yourself face to face with a performer, intimately close, peering into your eyes. Micro-theatre for a single spectator. He reworked this installation into Inter-view (2014), which used the same principle. Human contact couldn't be simpler or more direct, but this experience still has a deep impact on the spectators, as demonstrated in this report on Iedereen Beroemd (a popular daily television program of Flemish public broadcaster VRT). Benjamin Vandewalle has worked with the visual artist Erki De Vries on several occasions. Both share a fascination for anything to do with perception. In their first creation, Birdwatching (2009), perspective and orientation were turned completely upside down. The audience took their seats on a moving grandstand, while white walls moved back and forth on stage and dancers disappeared as quickly as they appeared. The ingenious combination of these three elements provided a dizzying experience that demonstrated the relativity of movement. "It's like sitting in the train and thinking that you are moving, while it is actually the train next to you that is in motion and you are still stationary", explained Vandewalle in the interview with Hillaert.
This was followed a few years later by the outdoor version of Birdwatching 4x4 (2012). This time a small group is driven through the streets in a sealed box. The spectators on the mini grandstand in the box can only look out through a window on one side, through which they see dancers moving through the passing landscape. An everyday reality experienced from an unexpected angle: it offers the spectators in the box an original experience. However, the accidental passers-by who did not buy a ticket also play an important role in Birdwatching 4x4. Not only are they an unsuspecting part of the urban film experienced by people in the box, they also see themselves reflected in a large mirror on the outside of the installation. Since each location is different and the movements of the ordinary man in the street cannot be directed, each performance is unique. Benjamin Vandewalle also regularly teaches workshops at home and abroad. He worked with the dance course Nyakaza in South Africa, set up the Comfusao project in Mozambique and accompanied a student exchange from P.A.R.T.S. to Senegal. He made two dance films together with the philosopher Jan Knops from Initia, and a group of primary school children from Molenbeek. (un)usual (2012) shows how he playfully dances with fifth year pupils in their classroom, on the school steps and in the playground, while a philosophical discussion ensues about precisely what dance is and why these children love to dance (or not). A year later, Benjamin Vandewalle created a real production with the same group, which was now in the sixth year. This extremely tough process was documented in a very moving film, Movements (2014). It effectively demonstrates how the children gradually overcome their fear of dancing and how they surpass themselves and discover that dance is more than just steps, but can consist of all kinds of movements, as a result of Benjamin Vandewalle's enthusiasm and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's moral support. Vandewalle: In the public space the potential audience is vast, which means you can tour locally instead of travelling around Europe. Over the next few years, Benjamin Vandewalle will not only be artist in residence at the Brussels Kaaitheater, but will also embark on a course as an urban choreographer. "In the public space the potential audience is vast, which means you can tour locally instead of travelling around Europe. Brussels is large enough! Over the course of several months I would like to create a major presence in the city through all kinds of small interventions. The city will be my rehearsal space", reveals Vandewalle. SOURCE: CONTEMPORARY DANCE FROM FLANDERS: AN ONLINE SPECIAL BY FLANDERS ARTS INSTITUTE AUTHOR: FILIP TIELENS Filip Tielens works as an artistic collaborator at Destelheide and as a theatre journalist for different media such as Klara, Theaterkrant and Cutting Edge. With his art critic collective De Zendelingen he has developed various projects in which many different opinions are unlocked using a multimedia approach.
CREDITS Concept, creation Benjamin Vandewalle Creation Nelle Hens, Evelien Cammaert, Gaël Santisteva, Cassiel Gaube Performance Benjamin Vandewalle, Evelien Cammaert, Gaël Santisteva, Cassiel Gaube Dramaturgy Jasper Delbecke (SoAP) Executive production Caravan Production (Brussels, BE) International distribution SoAP in collaboration with Sarah De Ganck (Art Happens) Co-productionKaaitheater (Brussel, BE), CDC Toulouse / Midi-Pyrénées (Toulouse, FR), SoAP (Maastricht, NL), KAAP (Oostende/Brugge, BE) Residencies Oerol (Terschelling, NL), KIT / Metropolis Festival (Kopenhagen, DK), Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (Oudtshoorn, ZA), Noorderzon (Groningen, NL) Thanks to Ruth Mariën With the support of the VGC ON TOUR Tour dates 2018 Past dates 10