SUN 15  at 19
PIAZZA ANNONARIA

JOSHUA MONTEN USA/CH

ROMEO, ROMEO, ROMEO

choreography Joshua Monten
dance David Pallant, Max Makowski, Jasmin Sisti, Jack Wignall
screenwriting Guy Cools
produced by Verein Tough Love
coproduced by Dampfzentrale Bern, Kunsten op Straat/Werkplaats Diepenheim
photo Jonas Kambli

NATIONAL DEBUT

Dance is firstly a courtship ritual. Even in this time of Tinder, Grindr and online dating, dance still has a focal point in our chances to find a partner. This production, made for four "Romeos" (one of which is played by a woman) explores the idea of dancing as a form of courtship deeply intimate and vibrant.
Every member of the audience can play as Juliet and be co-protagonist of the non-stop efforts of the dancers to make an impression - with their art, their charme, their physique, their mischievous movements and, sometimes, just with their desperation.
The audience sits around the stage. All the reactions and the interactions can be seen by everyone, so they become part of the choreography, and the audience itself becomes a character in the show it's watching.
The title "Romeo, Romeo, Romeo" shows from the start the central idea of the performance: the moment in which a man, moved by the desire to couple, dances to impress someone. Each performer keeps asking himself the same question: who I want to be? How should I show myself to the world? The dancers' eyes are not lost somewhere in the distance, they try to catch the audience's gazes, so close to them. They keep on approaching, closer and closer...
The audience sits close by the dancers. Performers and audicence comunicate explicitly with each other. The audience's reactions can be seen by everyone, so that each person becomes a character in the performance he's watching. While dancing, the performers also shows their best pickup lines, they talk about their strategies, their memories, their hopes, their dissatisfaction.
Their physical language is a mix of the single dancer's courting techniques, studies on courtships and exhibitionism in the animal world (ostrichs, unicorns...), traditional dances (Maori, Greece...) and contemporary "hit-moves" (Gwara Gwata, Whip/Nae Nae...). The result is a new kind of dance with bubbling group choreographies, mischievous interactions with the audience, and a personal vision of this traditional use of dancing.

The half-Swiss half-American choreographer Joshua Monten was born near New York City. He studies litterature and anthropology at the Duke University before finding a new interest in dancing at 20. As a dancer, he works with the Bern Ballet, the Heidelberg permanent theater, Öff Öff Aerial Productions. He dances for Stijn Celis, Hofesh Shechter, Irina Pauls, Konstantinos Rigos and Tino Sehgal. In 2012, Joshua Monten founds his own company, which performed hundrends of time in international Festival and theaters. Among the institution that have asked Joshua Monten for his choreographies the are the Ballet National du Rhin, l’Opéra National de Lorraine, the permanent theater of Nuremberg, the Gdańsk Dance Festival, The Yard, Kaserne Basel, the Konzert Theater Bern, the Zentrum Paul Klee and Art Basel.

BANDO OPERA PRIMA