Artists in Residence
28 August - 10 September 2022: ZOO/Thomas Hauert
Premiere
18.10.2022
The last two pieces by ZOO/Thomas Hauert (HOW TO PROCEED in 2018 and IF ONLY in 2020) form a kind of diptych in which the motor of movement comes from the emotional states brought about by the state of the world today. With EFEU (previous working title QUATUOR), the ensemble leaves aside the state of the troubled world to immerse themselves in the physical relationship between life and earth. Perhaps driven by the need to remember that humans are part of nature: a more concrete approach in which matter emerges directly from the bodies of the performers, who are confronted with external forces and space. An abstract dramaturgy unfolds that is closer to musical composition than theatrical narrative.
The play premiered at Théâtre Les Tanneurs in Brussels on 18 October 2022.
Photo: Théâtre Les Tanneurs
Young Audience
08.09.2022
The showcases welcome professional dancers as well as people interested in culture and take place free of charge in various cultural institutions in the Kanton Aargau. For the first time, a young audience was also invited - the Kids Company "Hand und Fuss" from Baden. The aim is to introduce the young dancers to different dance styles at an early age and to exchange ideas with professional artists.
25 years of ZOO/Thomas Hauert
08.09.2022
Their latest piece ‘Quatuor’ will mark the 25th anniversary of the ZOO/Thomas Hauert company. We are very delighted to support this piece!
Premiere: 18 October 2022 at Théâtre Les Tanneurs in Brussels
Swiss Premiere: 18 November 2022 at Tanz in Olten
Many thanks to the Kurtheater Baden for offering us the space for this showcase and talk.
Showcase & Talk
08.09.2022
Yesterday, Thomas Hauert gave an insight into his new piece ‘Quatuor’ (still work in progress) and talked about his work and rehearsals during the residency. He focuses on improvisation to explore the tension between individual and group, freedom and constraint, order and disorder. After two recent pieces inspired by the troubled state of the world today, here the choreographer draws on the physical relationship between life and earth - like a reminder of our inseparable connection with nature. Life, that ingenious redirection of entropic energy in favour of a force of cohesion. Life, inseparable from movement, dependent on gravity and yet constantly striving to escape it. These fluctuations, these antagonisms at work in our bodies, are at once the basis, the focal point and the creative field of this new opus that listens to the complex and fluctuating forces of the universe.
Research and Rehearsals
05.09.2022
Dancer and choreographer Thomas Hauert is rehearsing with Fabian Barba, Liz Kinoshita, Sarah Ludi and Samantha Van Wissen for the latest project. During the time in residency, a lot of research work is done as well. On Wednesday, 7 September 2022, 19:00, you will have the opportunity to gain insight into the current process. The showcase and the audience discussion will take place at the Kurtheater and admission is free.
First ideas for the new project
01.09.2022
ZOO/Thomas Hauert are rehearsing for their current project. The first artistic orientations by Thomas Hauert:
'Life, any living thing, seems to be an anomaly, an ingenious coordination of originally much less ordered matter and energy. It goes against the trend of entropy, the growth of disorder, the absolutely inevitable fate of all physical systems. This fascinating phenomenon, negentropy, is a kind of cohesive force, like a physical translation of information. It can only be transient, but that does not make it any less mysterious. One of its effects is that every organism is distinguished by the ability to lift itself up against gravity, a feat that no inanimate matter could achieve. Movement is an inherent element of life. Any movement of our body is played out in relation to gravity (at least on earth or on the moon) and necessarily involves tensions and releases in various proportions and co-ordinations. This oscillation between tension and release, the complexity of the simultaneous and dynamic presence of these antagonisms in our body as well as the alternation between resistance and surrender to gravity will be the starting point, the focus and the creative field of this new project. The movement of the human body as raw material, which contains in its essence the resistance against the most destructive and implacable forces.‘
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Photo: Bart Grietens
Thomas Hauert
28.08.2022
In 1998, Swiss dancer Thomas Hauert decided to found his own company and has since created more than 20 pieces, including Cows in Space, Verosimile, Modify, Walking Oscar, Accords and MONO. Outside the ZOO context, he has created pieces for P.A.R.T.S., Zurich Ballet, Toronto Dance Theatre and Candoco Dance Company, among others. Thomas Hauert has been artistic director of the bachelor's programme in contemporary dance at the La Manufacture school in Lausanne since 2014. Furthermore, he was "artiste en compagnonnage" at Théâtre de Liège (2018-2022) and Artist in Residency at Théâtre Les Tanneurs. In 2017, he received the Swiss Dance Price.
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