On Saturday April 21st, Transitioning Performance XL by Connor Schumacher had its première during Festival Motel Mozaïque in Rotterdam. After an elaborate and explorative creation process the work came to its final, beautiful and at the same time vulnerable, form.
In Transitioning Performance XL, Connor Schumacher portrays different aspects of life, through simple and at the same time complex interpersonal relationships. With a sharp eye for use of visuals and a refined feeling for sound and movement, Connor shows a theatrical exercise in how to be human and how we relate to each other.
With projections and an unusual setting, Connor starts with an invitation to reflect on your own modes of behaviour. The movement patterns of the dancers are food for thought and leave space for many interpretations and associations.
Together with his dancers (Christopher Tandy, Orla McCarthy & Nicolas Coutsier), dramaturg Maaike Schuurmans and light designer / technicus Edwin van Steenbergen, Connor went through a rich process that led to this extraordinary work.
Journalist Annette Embrecht paid a visit to the performance ant wrote the following:
The work of the young, talented choreographer Connor Schumacher […] invariably evokes numerous associations. His sophisticated placement of the dancers, in ever-changing compositions, makes you quickly suspect underlying relationships, like disturbed family-bonds. Power, lust, humiliation and submission seem to be of importance. Just as compassion, craving, compassion and camaraderie. While in fact you only see clear and fixed patterns.
**** Annette Embrechts, April 2018, Volkskrant
Read the full review here (Dutch only):
If you would still like to see the performance, and you do, be sure to join us at de Dansweek on 5 and 6 June to experience the work in real life. Order your ticket in advance here.
Enjoy the beautiful stills Hester Postma made below:
