SO CLOSE
CéU NA BOCA
FOR MOMENTS OF HAPPINESS
AN INVISIBLE STORY
IT COULD ONLY BE WITH YOU
CHOREOGRAPHY FOR LISTENING

QUASAR CIA DE DANçA

SO CLOSE

The differing relations between people serve as inspiration for the the performance So Close, the 22nd creation of choreographer Henrique Rodovalho for Brazil’s Quasar Dance Company. This time it was the fascination about the properties of encounters that prompted reflections on the borderline territory that separates socialization from intimacy with those around us. Quasar Dance Company is sponsored by Petrobras thanks to the incentives created by the Rouanet Law.

At its core, this work questions the distance that exists between people and to what extent we should get closer to strangers, thus opting to break barriers. Selfishness and altruism are also brought into the debate since being at close quarters can mean both good and evil to the other as well as to ourselves. “As far as the creative process is concerned, the more obvious relations were no longer of interest to me. I was more excited about dwelling on mysteries and uncertainties,” says the choreographer.

Quasar Dance Company is one of the most prominent dance groups in Brazil, having also achieved international acclaim thanks to its unique physicality which overrides concepts and narratives in So Close. All the choreographies were inspired in the relationship possibilities with the other, and ultimately lead to physical contact. Thus, there are no solos from the beginning to the end of the spectacle. “People are touching each other all the time in search of a way to express themselves,” explains Rodovalho.

Since there was no interest, from the perspective of the creative process, in defining the nature of the relationships – which originate the movements of the dancers – all the attempts at crystalization end up causing transformations and the search for new possibilities. On the stage, the choreographer displays ordinary people, modified by the intensity of the feelings that pervade them as they construct and deconstruct relationships.

According to Rodovalho, besides understanding the nuances in establishing contact with the other, what also served as inspiration in this work was how this debate could translate into choreographic creation. He says that in the course of 22 years he has been conceiving self-standing choreographies which will find their way into a performance after being wrought by the playwright and art director. This time, it was different: “Like in continuity sequencing, one thing led to the other and the possibility of continuous movement, as opposed to broken-up scenes, had much more appeal to me,” says Rodovalho.

The scenery, conceived by Rodovalho himself, centers on a furry carpet that covers the entire stage, where subtleties interfere in the relationships as they unfold: they arouse, potentialize and expose emotions. This “skin” on which the performers dance could suggest different sensations, like intimacy, comfort, warmth, lust.

Henrique Rodovalho also designed the lighting and uses an open-ended stage so that the lights can cut out the space and suggest the environments being proposed, enabling the audience to “get close up to the scene.” The wardrobe, in pastel colors, was created by Cássio Brasil, who has been working with the company since 2005 and in So Close attempts to enhance the color of the skin in contrast with the scenery. The soundtrack highlights the electronic beats of German composer Hendrik Lorenzen, created specially for this performance.

nach oben