Choreography: Amir Kolben
Music: Antonio Vivaldi
Costumes: Elsa Pui-yin
Lighting: Shay Yehudai
Dancers: Merav Dagan, Miriam Engel, Ola Ostrovsky, Maya Michlal, Adi Amit, Maayan Zohar, Vladimir Zak, Tomer Dahan, Amir Kolben
Guest Dancer: Moshe Ron

The new KolbenDance Co. version of The Four Seasons is inspiring combination of music from the 18th century with contemporary dance,
The four seasons are presumably four well-defined periods of the year, following one another in an eternal cycle.

This version of The Four Seasons deals with change, with the constant shift between those presumably well-defined periods.

This piece is inspired by the ever-changing nature-
The changes between the seasons, the transitions between day and night, the movement between chaos and order and back,
And the seed’s desire to become a tree, whose fruits yearn to become a seed again.

This performance of The Four Seasons moves constantly between the changes in nature and their reflection in human nature.
And vice versa.
Because butterfly flutters in the belly can also create a storm.

ANDRE GINGRAS
"Hypertopia"
An international co-production about our obsessive striving for purity
by choreographer Andgre Gingras
Premiere: March 2006, Korzo theater, The Hague The Netherlands

Concept and creation: André Gingras
Assoc. director/dramaturge: Sue Jane Stoker
Dance: Kenneth Flak, Kirstine Ilum Sörensen, Lawrence Irons, Marek Zawalski
Video: Fabio Iaquone
Music: Jurgen de Blonde
Set design: Ilona Kroeber
Costume design: Asalia Khadjé
Light design: Bas Vissers

Hypertopia – a word created from the intersection of two existing words: utopia, the dream of a perfect world and society; and hyperopia, a technical term for the defect of vision that is commonly called near - or short- sightedness, or narrowing of the visual field. Combined, they form a question or series of questions: Does the dream of a perfect society lead to a feeling that the end justifies the means, thereby leading to a kind of selective blindness to what is actually happening around us?
In previous productions such as CYP17 and The Lindenmeyer System, the Dutch-Canadian choreographer André Gingras brought important social issues to the theatre. He does so again with Hypertopia, a dancetheater work examining an obsession with purity and the wish to achieve a perfect life. Today’s society is driven by a desire for utopia and an obsession with the ideas of political, religious, and racial perfection. It is perhaps now clearer then ever how great a potential threat is posed by fanaticism, and how the obsessive search for utopian purity breeds tension in society. The performance Hypertopia is a full-length (70 minutes) program for four dancers combined with video images designed by the Italian designer Fabio Massimo Iaquone.
However, Hypertopia is more than just a work for the theatre - with the creation of the weblog www.hypertopia-weblog.com. Not only is there a progress report available on this website, everyone is invited to give their opinions on different subjects. In this way Hypertopia strives to participate in the broader discourse on subjects that affect us all, inside the theatre and in the public domain.
Hypertopia premiered at 9 March 2006 in Korzo theatre in The Hague and toured throughout The Netherlands and abroad until May 2006. The production was selected for the Dutch Dance Festival, a platform for leading performances of the preceding season, and in addition was nominated for the ‘Zwaan’ best dance production by the VSCD dance jury. ‘In Hypertopia, André Gingras makes a forceful statement. It grabs the audience by the throat and confronts it with a mirror image: what is your position in a world where violence has become commonplace, and what is more; violence that also thanks to the media has become part of the entertainment industry? Gingras succeeds in translating relevant social themes and convincingly placing them in a choreography with an unmistakable energy.’(Passage from jury report).

The press about Hypertopia
‘Hypertopia is impressive, certainly also through the contribution of the excellent performers.’(Dutch daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad)
‘Hypertopia is far too intelligent to comment on its images. In superbly dry form, Gingras asks piercing questions – he is increasingly becoming one of the most interesting artists of the Dutch scene.’ (Düsseldorfer Kultur, Germany)
‘In Gingras’ work, (…) a moment passes like nothing, and the minimalism of the image is thrust into physical intensity, into a movement language of existential significance. ‘(Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Germany)
‘An evening that stays with you.’ (Frankfurter Neue Presse, Germany)

Production: Korzo producties, The Hague, The Netherlands
Coproduction: Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt, Germany, Tanzhaus NRW, Dusseldorf, Germany
Partners: Polygon-Centre for Cultural Research and Project Development (Zagreb, Croatia), Art Workshop Lazareti, (Dubrovnik, Croatia), Melkweg Theater (Amsterdam, The Netherlands).
Hypertopia is financially supported by the Dutch Ministry of Culture and the Dutch Fund for Amateur Art and Performing Arts.
The performances in Poland received additional support from the Dutch Embassy in Poland and the Dutch Fund for Amateur Art and Performing Arts

JOHANNES WIELAND
„progressive coma”

Choreography: Johannes Wieland
Dance: Brea Cali, Eric Bradley, Jon Guymon, Kristin Osler, Lillian Stillwell, Isadora Wolfe
Light: James Clotfelter
Set: Frederica Nascimento
Video: Monica Gillette, Ray Roy
Visuals: Sebastian Lemm

From the press:
“There are agile, handsome dancers; a clever use of video; and lots of sexy and provocative and mysterious incidents”
John Rockwell, The New York Times
"The work is obsessive, nakedly so, and the is crucial to its power"
Tobi Tobias, The New York Times

"progressive coma" is made possible in part by The Greenwall Foundation, Poseidon Services, and the Goethe Institut of New York.