Looking Forward

“How do you count time?” This was the jarring question Claudio asked me when stepping inside the DansBrabant building, guiding me and the rest of the visitors upstairs to the space shared with Amit and David. The trio was invited by Makershuis Tilburg to spend two weeks researching the contexts of their practices in a residency studio at DansBrabant Tilburg. Upon entering the studio, texts on paper rectangles were displayed on the ground. They acted like scores, forming inputs as “Move like flesh in a void”, and “Only listen. 100% listening. 0% impulse.” Many other instructions on the floor would keep the dancers’ bodies active for at least one hour. Amit, Claudio, and David assembled a device, a sort of crates-trolley carrying a live camera and pocket-size stopwatches around the room to project the papers on the wall for the audience to be visible. Maybe it was already a hint to the core of the upcoming performance, carrying time on a time-consuming tool. Anyway, we all took a seat. Everything seemed to be under control. Or maybe not.

The physicality of time

Improvisation, indeed, took over the room while Amit, Claudio, and David tried to share the space equally, balancing voids with their bodies. Each of them picked a prompt. Three performers, three acts. I can still vividly picture the scenes: “Whistling”, “Keep standing on your left leg” and “Count the days in a year”. Three perspectives of time overlapped in front of me. I must admit I never really stopped thinking about how physical time can feel and how many different sensations one can experience during the same interval.

The staging began. Amit started whistling while walking, adjusting the speed of his movements to the rhythm of his breath. He reached a peak at which his body was fully extended, and his voice felt dilated in time. Claudio found a half-body equilibrium, making the exercise even more challenging by tossing small balls into the air and catching them upon returning, creating a perception of stillness in such a dense moment. David moved frantically in front of a wall where a calendar was projected. His body literally followed the weeks, and his voice continuously counted each day, until finally reaching day 365 of the year 2024.

Listening but non-listening

The performance almost followed a time bracket model: it was a collection of solos, carried out independently but following a commonly composed framework, like a collective force that disrupted linear time. A bodily form of deep listening unfolded in the space, as well as the hard work of attuning to others while keeping track of personal movements. In Looking Forward, time was quite paradoxical: it felt shared and yet deeply individual. A non-verbal agreement was lingering between the three artists, a quiet understanding that each gesture carried meaning, yet that meaning was not entirely meant to be understood. The trio’s bodies remained situated in time for the whole duration of the show, yet continuously confronted with a constant state of negotiation with time’s instability.

This time-body tension made me think of the so-called inner clock and the crucial reference to John Cage coping with the elements we fear the most, such as change, time, loss of structure and silence. As soon as one of the dancers was holding a stopwatch in the right hand, the reenactment by American pianist William Marx of John Cage’s 4’33” came to my mind, following up on Cage’s idea of creating an indeterminate sonic score and messing up with the traditional Western metrical notation. Somehow, I had to note that the inclusion of prompts of stillness during this trio’s performance and the arrangement of different ways of slowing down movements became powerful intentions for rethinking the economies of time.

Inner clocks

Amit, Claudio, and David reminded me how time was intrinsic to my body and how tangible, embodied, and absurd it could be. They transmitted a clear sense of awareness of time I had never perceived before and yet left me confused. The improvisation offered a lens to see the absurdity of looking forward, which turned out to be the title of the performance. By shaping the studio with humorful actions, physical theatre and visuals, the dancers physically criticized the feeling of always knowing what we would feel and experience next, the sensation of being prepared and productive. During our conversation at the end of the performance, they shared with me: “This is what makes us feel ready and protected. But at the same time, prevents us from feeling alive. With Looking Forward, we say we must admit we will never know what is happening in the future. Let’s start by understanding what is happening in the present.”

As one of the stopwatches struck the last ring, Amit, Claudio and David smoothly set the atmosphere to break the fourth wall, allowing space for the public to enter their work. We sat in a circle, booknote at hand. This was the time to reflect on how to let the audience take part in the journey of sensing time, thinking back on what it meant to intentionally leave open some elements for viewers to reflect upon and consider the choices made in the performative process. The time for feedback, improvements and exploration.
But my time is up, I have to go.

Bios

Amit Palgi (1998, IL/NL) is an Amsterdam-based artist who graduated from the Maslool for professional dancers in Tel Aviv (2019) and following on from the BA Dancer/Makerat ArtEZ, Arnhem (2023). He created for and with Café Theater Festival, Still Moving Schiedam, Concordia Theater, Performance Technology Lab and others. With his art, he aims to offer new approaches to how we look at our lives, and how we share and think about dance.

David Feenstra (2002, NL) is a freelance interdisciplinary choreographer who graduated with a BA from Dancer/Maker at ArtEZ (2023). Within a wide range of interests, he works with improvisation, randomness and projection. Working with ICK Artist Space, Het Houten Huis, Orpheus Theater, Korzo and others as both creator and performer.

Claudio Murabito (1999, IT/NL) is a Rotterdam-based performer who graduated with a BA in Dance at Codarts (2022). A pyroclastic and phantasmagoric essence serving permanent research through dance, performance, poetry and sound. He worked with Marina Abramović, Emio Greco, Isabelle Beernaert and others.

DansBrabant is a catalyst for dance and choreography in Tilburg, working with a diverse range of great choreographers. Looking Forward is the result of research during a Residence from Makershuis Tilburg hosted in the studios of DansBrabant.

Makershuis Tilburg is a collaboration between five partners from Tilburg: Het Zuidelijk Toneel, Theater De Nieuwe Vorst, Festival Circolo, Schouwburg and Concertzaal Tilburg and DansBrabant. And is one of the four incubators of PLAN Brabant. Together they offer annual short-term talent development programs for everyone. Circus, dance and theatre makers who are at the start of a turning point of their artistic career and have a verifiable connection to Tilburg can apply to Makershuis Tilburg.

References

A performance by American pianist William Marx of John Cage’s 4’33”
Lepecki, A. (2006). Exhausting Dance: Performance and the Politics of Movement. Routledge
Oliveros, P.(2005). Deep Listening: a composer’s sound practice. Universe.