A BEGINNING #16161D

Commissioning of works 17.02.2023

Aurora Bauza and Pere Jou will present a new creation, A BEGINNING #16161D, on March 11 and 12, 2023 at the Auditori de Barcelona as part of the Scenes series.
Hémisphère son is associated with this original project that explores the limits of individual and collective identity and traces a poetic path from darkness to light through voice and movement.

A BEGINNING #16161D is a performance about the limits of individual and collective identity, which are diluted in a medium that is more akin to imagination than reality.
A medium closer to the future than to the present.
In the darkness, the performers sing and move, exploring the potentialities of what is not seen and treating light as an object that illuminates voices rather than bodies.
Darkness here is not something dark, but the promise of fantasy.
Darkness is the context in which the imagination is triggered to observe what we feel, what is suggested but not seen.
In darkness, notions of space and time are altered, the boundaries between the bodies of the performers and those of the audience are diluted: the choreographic and lighting design of the performance reinforces this perceptual alteration of space and bodies, until the individuals converge into one collective body.
At the same time, the vocal, sound and choreographic designs that invade the audience space, unveil a 360° immersive sound experience, reinforcing the sensory and emotional impact of this proposal.

A BEGINNING #16161D cannot ignore the historical moment in which we find ourselves. A period in which, due to various environmental, migratory and political crises, we are surrounded by apocalyptic narratives that proclaim the end of the world as we know it.
Saturated by these narratives that see no further than the decay of a world that is ending, we feel the need to imagine the world that is beginning.

A BEGINNING_expanded version - AURORA BAUZÀ & PERE JOU (teaser) from Aurora Bauzà & Pere Jou on Vimeo.

A BEGINNING #16161D is an invitation to the future we imagine after the end.
An invitation to the world that appears on our retina when we close our eyes.
An invitation to redefine how we behave, how we relate to each other, and how we attempt to establish the boundaries of what we call "individual" and "collective".

A BEGINNING #16161D is an invitation to an environment where individuals are interconnected as in a network, where hierarchies are redefined, where the self and the we circulate, converge and diverge.
A world where we have found new ways to survive, where the darkness is not totally black.

A BEGINNING #16161D is committed to innovating the language of the stage by hybridizing the sung voice with light in a unique and singular way.
It is a proposal that evolves between musical composition and contemporary stage creation using musical and light discourse to generate a dramaturgical narrative that gives visibility and reflection on essential issues such as the dialectic between individual and collective identity, the prospect of an environmentally and socially unfavorable future and the desire for new forms, new ways of relating, expressing, looking and feeling.

THE VOICE

The sung voice is the expressive and dramaturgical engine that drives the entire piece.
Singing and its relationship to light are at the heart of the research and are the means by which the performers relate to each other.
Vocally, the piece evolves through a score that alternates between a vocal work from the classical repertoire and two original vocal works, incorporating passages of agreed improvisation, i.e. with specific rules of time, timbre, rhythm, pitch and harmonic progression, designed to evoke particular sensations and soundscapes.
More specifically, the piece includes fragments of Allegri's Miserere, as well as two vocal pieces composed for four voices: I don't cry and After the end.

A BEGINNING #16161D straddles the line between musical and choreographic composition, between sound architecture and scenography, between dramaturgy and musical discourse, without knowing where one begins and where the other ends.

A BEGINNING #16161D dilutes the border that separates them, or rather inhabits this border: it choreographs the voice and vocalizes the choreography.
The result is an uninterrupted musical story, full of nuances and landscapes, which build the emotional and sensitive journey of the piece and lead the dramaturgical discourse.

In addition to the performers' vocal score, A BEGINNING #16161D features a sound design that blends live sound works and amplified voices with a speaker system around the audience to enhance the immersive experience. It is a sound design that enhances the power of the voices, enriches the perception of the sound space and increases its ability to impact the viewer.

A BEGINNING #16161D was born with the intention of innovating the formal relationship between the performer and the spectator, breaking the frontal relationship between the audience and the performers and taking advantage of all the space available to sing while enveloping the audience.

THE LIGHT

Scenically, A BEGINNING #16161D is designed for five performers and lasts one hour. The piece can be performed in theatrical spaces as well as in less conventional venues with the condition that total or almost total darkness can be ensured.
Darkness offers us an empty space, a tabula rasa in which the subsequent appearance of light is incredibly significant. Darkness is the space where anything is possible.
Light, on the other hand, concretizes and determines reality.
Thus, for much of the piece, the lighting design focuses more on what it does not show rather than what it does show, and is generated primarily by small portable lights controlled and manipulated by the performers and connected to a light table.
By singing and moving, the performers connect voice and light in various ways in a unique sound and light journey that reinforces the emotional impact and the appearance of images of great poetic force.
Finally, lighting external to the performers will also appear towards the last third of the show, revealing unknown fragments of reality.
In this sense, the progression from darkness to light is one of the most important dramaturgical features of the show.

Auditori creation on March 11 and 12, 2023

Creation and direction: AURORA BAUZÀ & PERE JOU
Performers: ELENA TARRATS, MAIDER LASA, ISAAC BARÓ, DIANA POP, PERE JOU
Music and sound: AURORA BAUZÀ
Choreography: PERE JOU
Lighting: JOU SERRA, MARIETA ROJO
Costumes: MARIONA SIGNES
Dramatic and choreographic collaboration: ALESSANDRO SCIARRONI
Choreographic assistance: CLAUDIA SOLANO WATSON
Production and accompaniment : ARIADNA MIQUEL
Coproduction: L'AUDITORI DE BARCELONA, CENTRE CHOREOGRAPHIQUE NATIONAL D'ORLEANS
With the support of : HEMISPHERE SOUND, GRANER CENTER DE CREACIÓ, L'ESTRUCH, CC BARCELONETA, CASTELL DE MONTJUÏC

Photos © Aurora Bauza

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