The Corpus Dogme project was spearheaded by Corpus artistic director Tim Matiakis. A series of rules were ascribed to a designer (Jenny Nordberg) and two choreographers, of which Tilman O’Donnell was one.
Program notes:
Inspired by Jean-Luc Nancy’s book The Pleasure in Drawing, the work defers to the careful and meticulous act of drawing (drawing out, drawing toward, drawing through) to trace the contours of how form is formed.
The Dogma rules anchor and divert the work, in equal measure. The crystalline sets, lights, and costumes invite performer and spectator alike to contemplate the periphery, to wonder at and chart the shadows and the margins, and not solely center stage.
“...in general drawing / design (dess[e]ein in both senses) constitutes a way of placing itself in contact with the formation of the form (of the thing, the thought, the emotion).. [...] Little by little, what is at stake each time is nothing less than: how does the world form itself and how am I allowed to embrace its movement?”
- Jean - Luc Nancy The Pleasure in Drawing
Choreographer: Tilman O’Donnell
Set, costumes, props, light cues: Jenny Nordberg
Dancers: Alexander Stæger, Hazuki Kojima, Louella May Hogan, Alma Toaspern, Marco Herløv Høst
Playlist, prologue: Mitja Nylund
Dramaturgical consultant: Tanja Diers
Light & stage: Kasper Riisberg
Sound design & sound engineer: Jonas Jensen Costumier: Annette Nørgaard
Props: Mikkel Rasmus Theut
Production manager: Per Uffelmann
Production assistant: Luna Stage
Intern: Lara Ostan Vejrup
Artistic process consultant, Corpus: Marie Haugsted Mors Creative producer, Corpus: Eva Steen Nordhagen
Artistic director, Corpus: Tim Matiakis
Filmed by: Luna Stage
Trailer Edited by: AdeY
In Some Sense, the latest full length collaboration between dancer/choreographer Tilman O’Donnell (USA/GER/SWE) and musician/composer Mikkel Ploug (DK) follows the contours of a lecture by French philosopher Alain Badiou entitled From Logic To Anthropology, rendering its key concepts as musical score and choreographic inquiry.
Badiou’s speech patterns are uniquely musical, lending themselves to compositional exploration. The rhythm of his ideas inform the piece’s choreographic structure and embodied action.
Part lecture, part concert, part dance performance, In Some Sense navigates the overlapping territory of given forms - music, dance, language, and philosophy.
Concept & Design: Tilman O’Donnell & Mikkel Ploug
Choreography: Tilman O’Donnell
Musical Composition: Mikkel Ploug
Lighting Design: Thomas Zamolo
Film: T.M. Rives
Funded by the Danish Cultural Ministry & produced by Bora Bora Theater, Århus, Denmark.
Supported through residencies at PACT Zollverein, Essen Germany & a studio grant at Konstnärsnämndens Studio, Stockholm Sweden.
In Life & Love & So On follows the contours of a lecture by French philosopher Alain Badiou, From Logic To Anthropology.
The lecture provides the material for the dancers and informs the piece’s structure.
As an example of the concept of negation, the proposed Danish canonization of artistic fields by rightwing political parties is parodied in a film.
Part orchestra, part chorus, part corps de ballet In Life & Love & So On examines how dance and choreography can engage us in a different form.
A simple inversion.
Choreography, Costume, Set, Light, Score:
Tilman O'Donnell
Text:
Alain Badiou /Tilman O’Donnell
Film:
T.M. Rives
Commissioned by:
Corpus/Royal Theater, Copenhagen Denmark
Whatever Singularity #453: Solo for Tilman / Dancing with Alain follows the same structure as the solo created for Maxime Lachaume, danced by Tilman O'Donnell.
Performed at Nordwind Festival, 2015.
Festspielhaus Hellerau, Dresden
Kampnagel, Hamburg
Ca 20min
The Whatever Marathon is a two day performance created by Cyril Baldy and Tilman O'Donnell.
20 minutes modules are performed back to back.
Originally performed at the Centre Choreographique Circuit-Est, Montreal Canada.
Guest artists:
Jacob Wren
Benoit Tardieff
Hanako Hoshimi-Caines
Adam Kinner
Manfred Stoffl
“To make someone an icon is to make him an abstraction, and abstractions are incapable of vital communication with living people.”
- David Foster Wallace
This work was commissioned Cullberg Baletten and looks into how and why we are drawn to creating cultural icons.
Ca 50 mins.
Concept and Direction:
Tilman O'Donnell
Sound Design:
Mårten Ihre
Light Design:
Thomas Zamolo
Choreographic Assistant:
Cyril Baldy
The Progression Of Things is a site specific work created for Färgfabriken Konsthall in Stockholm, Sweden.
The piece looks at our linear notions of timekeeping and its imprint on historical thinking.
It is a six hour performance of roughly twenty minute loops.
With each loop, the room is reconfigured.
Concept & Direction:
Tilman O'Donnell
Light Design:
Thomas Zamolo
Music:
Tilman O'Donnell
Produced By:
Cullberg Baletten
This Is looks at the power structures that hold our cultures aloft, at what we see and choose not to see.
The performers move through six different rooms, enacting simultaneous situations. The sound travels into the different spaces, further underscoring each action as connected to the next.
Concept / Direction / Set / Costume:
Tilman O'Donnell
Light Design:
Thomas Zamolo
Choreographic Assistant:
Thomas Zamolo
All photos © Tilo Stengel
