PARTNER/YOU by Radical Low

About

'The voice you hear during the performance is an instant and direct interactive call from an online sex chat website... Its robotic crude vibrations emerge from the same brutal pulsions on which Stravinsky's Rite of Spring are rooted. From today's sexual web communication back to the archaic ritual of procreation, there is a continuum link, the link where time and space unfurl into the dance of the universe.'

(Por La Danza Magazine, Spain, February 2013)

For PARTNER / YOU choreographer Chantal Yzermans entered the world of nightclubs and took lessons in pole dancing from the professionals. From these experiences she has created a solo work, re-contextualising the original material from the nightclub into a live performance during which the dancer is connected online to an instant messenger website.

The unsuspecting participants are linked in to the room at random, producing a game of rhythmic gamble; we never know who the chosen partner will be and it is this unpredictable selection that decides the rhythm of the entire performance. A dynamic triangular relationship is thus created between the dancer, the audience and the anonymous partner(s).

Through this contemporary rite, Yzermans finds a continuity with the pagan ritual of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, which is played together with an original musical composition by the Madrilène minimal techno artist Substuff.

For the performance at Bruno Glint, Radical Low will also be collaborating with artist, author and curator Douglas Park.

live performance : Chantal Yzermans
live chat : Nono Pessoa
original music : Substuff
music : I. Stravinsky
costume design : Jean-Paul Lespagnard
light design : Harry Cole
artistic advice : Marc Vanrunxt
photo : Laetitia Bica

Presented in collaboration with Teatro Canal-Madrid, Kunstencentrum Vooruit-Gent, Jan Fabre/Troubleyn-Antwerpen and Kunstencentrum Monty-Antwerpen, with the support of the City of Antwerp

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CHANTAL YZERMANS is a dancer and choreographer who lived and worked in New York City from 2000 until 2006. During this time she studied daily for five years with the choreographer Merce Cunningham and company.

Radical Low is the dance and performance ensemble Chantal formed in Spring 2002 whilst in New York. As a choreographer she started collaborating with video artists in pure improvisation around the artifice of video as opposed to the live material of the moving body. Chantal then returned to Europe in 2006, traveling between Antwerp and Spain.

Radical Low have presented at Amperdans Festival in Antwerpen, Judson Church (NYC), Performing Garage (NYC), Galapagos Art Centre (Brooklyn), Les Rencontres Chorégraphiques (Paris), Recyclart (Brussels), Connecting Media (Hamburg), Monty Kunstencentrum (Antwerpen), and Festival Escena Contemporanea (Madrid).

Partner/You is the latest creation by Radical Low, which premiered in Madrid during the festival Escena Contemporanea in February 2013.

NONO PESSOA: live chatter

Nono Pessoa is a visual artist working in Antwerp and Bucharest. Chantal and Nono have been collaborating artistically for a couple of years on a various projects, from performance art events to photography. 'My working process itself can best be described as overpainting. Images are put on top of each other. Intention and context are subject to continuous change to result at last in remnants that only refer to this which once had been the catalyst but has disappeared by now. Signs of effacement change place with the original motive.'
http://nonopessoa.com/

SUBSTUFF: DJ / minimal electro composer

Substuff found his passion for techno sounds when he was a teen, discovering the pioneer clubs in Madrid in 1993 and becoming instantly addicted. In 1998 Substuff was founded by Mike Turned, where he played at many of the underground parties of Madrid City and abroad: Elektra 01, Elektra 02, Sublime Madrid, Drumloop, Pin Down 02, Techno House Festival Leganes, Espacio 024, Arena Madrid, Electronic Music Convention Switzerland (Bern) El Faro, Venturada, Parking Sound (Barcelona) Zoreks (Lleida), Open Air Festival (Burgos), Code-Fabrik 015 (Berlin) Orbital (Tokyo). In 2005 Mike finished his law studies and returned as Professional Zero, releasing one of his famous live sessions 'Live at Benecid'. He appears with Diferencias EP and later made a full-power act 'LNER 2909' in Zerinnerung Label (Germany) with over 2000 downloads in four weeks under the name of SUBSTUFF LIVE ACT.
https://soundcloud.com/substuff-1

JEAN PAUL LESPAGNARD: fashion designer

Jean Paul Lespagnard is costume designer for theatre and dance, a visual artist and stylist for magazines. He studied visual arts and fashion design in Liege (Belgium) and Luxembourg. He was a collaborator of Anna Sui (NY) and the assistant to Annemie Verbeke (Brussels). He has created the costumes for several theatre and dance productions and is a regular collaborator of choreographer Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods (Brussels/Berlin). In 2008 Jean-Paul won two awards at the International Fashion Festival in Hyeres (France). He recently founded his own brand, Jean Paul Lespagnard, and presented his third women's ready to wear collection during Paris Fashion Week in February 2013. 'PARTNER / YOU ' is the first collaboration between Chantal Yzermans and Jean-Paul Lespagnard.
http://jeanpaullespagnard.com/