Tactile Quartet(s)
In Tactile Quartet(s), Vera Tussing builds on her longstanding choreographic practice in exploring the sensory potentialities of the audience. The piece puts the string quartet Quatuor MP4 in communication with a quartet of dancers – Yoh Morishita, Zoltán Vakulya, Esse Vanderbruggen, Vera Tussing – inviting the audience into a deeply layered and multi-sensory encounter between movement and sound.
What happens when we take the movements of a string quartet seriously as a choreography, and dance along? The four musicians play passages from canonical works by Franz Schubert and Florence Price, as well as contemporary works by Georg Friedrich Haas, Michael Picknett, and Caroline Shaw. As they play, the musicians engage in one-on-one tactile encounters with the audience, creating physical interaction. Everything arises from touch – a bow on a string, an arm on a shoulder, an acoustic sensation on your skin. The dancers mediate the encounter between musicality and tactility, their choreography oscillating between touch, sight, and hearing. At the point where the orbits of dance and music intersect, you are invited to enter the kaleidoscopic score. Lend a hand, or an arm!
Stanislav Dobak
Stanislav Dobak
Stanislav Dobak
Stanislav Dobak
Jivan van der Ende
Credits
Creation & direction: Vera Tussing Musical collaboration & technical direction: Michael Picknett Co-creation & dance: Esse Vanderbruggen, Vera Tussing, Yoh Morishita, Zoltán Vakulya Co-creation & music: Quatuor MP4 (Claire Bourdet, Benoit Leseure, Margaret Hermant, Pierre Heneaux, Merryl Havard) Artistic assistance: Muriel Hérault Lighting proposal: Caroline Mathieu Costume & set: Jivan van der Ende Contextual research & dramaturgy: JS Rafaeli Contextual research: Sebastian Kann Rehearsal support: Bun Kobayashi Photography: Arber Sefa Production: Hiros International Distribution: FAUVES – Agency for the Performing Arts | Julia Danila Co-production: Kaaitheater Residencies: STUK, Kunstenwerkplaats Pianofabriek, Wpzimmer, workspacebrussels, Arts Printing House Vilnius Supported by: Flemish Government In collaboration with: Universal Edition Wien, Auteursbureau ALMO Antwerpen Thank you: Clara Levy & Quartet partners (Sinouhé Gilot, Hugo Boulanger, David Dupouy, Anastasia Laurent, Dorelle Sluchin, Esther Singier, Victor Guaita) for their extensive contribution to the research, Gorka Gurrutxaga Arruti, Ehren Verrelst, Ruben Martinez Orio, INFINITY, Eglė Maceinaitė, Pierre Kouzmenko, Premiere Music Group
Music excerpts: Georg Friedrich Haas (String Quartet No2, 1998) // Florence Price (String Quartet in G Major, 1929) // Caroline Shaw (Entr’acte, 2011) // Franz Schubert (Death and the Maiden, String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, 1824) // Michael Picknett (original score created in collaboration with Quatuor MP4)