The international festival of documentary theatre Akcent will culminate with a revived version of the choreography In Spite of Wishing and Wanting for eleven male dancers of the Flemish company Ultima Vez. “In 1999, In Spite of Wishing and Wanting caused a huge stir. For the first time, Wim Vandekeybus created a performance not about the chemistry between men and women, but a primal desire in a world of men alone,” explain the festival organisers. The performances will take place from 24 to 27 November 2016 in Archa Theatre.The music for the project was composed and recorded by David Byrne, musician, multi-instrumentalist and former member of the Talking Heads. In 2016, Vandekeybus revived the piece and cast a new generation of dancers. “In the context of what is going on in Europe and in the world, the piece has become very topical. That’s why we included it in this year’s programme of Akcent,” says the festival director, Jana Svobodová.
“Using minimal effects, the choreography draws energy from the organic symbiosis of dance, theatre and film. A part of the piece is a film based on two short stories by the Argentinian writer Julio Cortazár. The spellbinding dance sequences are supported by David Byrne’s sensual soundtrack,” add the festival organisers.
“Wishing and Wanting is much about basic human desires. These are, like fear, the engine of our acts,” says Vandekeybus in the interview held after this year’s premiere of the remake.
“It’s true that we find some odd moments in the piece that remind us of reality, there are unsettling images, accidents, anxieties. We live in fear. Fear is present in every detail of our day-to-day existence,” describes Vandekeybus the strange resonance evoked by his choreography in the current context.
“I can see that the piece merges many different elements – physical, emotional and musical. I can see a movement and dance grammar based on patterns and gestures beyond the usual dance vocabulary… and sound and music composed beyond the pop, rock and dance music vocabulary… but still the piece involves references to all these fields. That’s one thing that I like so much about Ultima Vez performances – the readiness to ignore all rules except ‘connecting’ the piece and the audience and making it work,” said David Byrne in 1999.
Source: Archa Theatre
Josef Bartos
Thank you for your thoughts. One got stuck in my mind – that passion makes us different from AI. Just yesterday I read…I am a dance critic. I am a member of an endangered species