Improvisation

AT A LOSS

Nigel Charnock > danve

Michael Riessler > saxophone

Jean Pierre Drouet > percussion

At a loss > world premiere

The twisted, the different and the terrible are his metier. Nigel Charnock is the enfant terrible of the English dance scene, bringing on stage a little dance with death in “Human Being” (1997) and in “Meaty” (2000) – according to the title – all flesh, known to be willing. Sex, violence, god and devil, lust, greed, fear, life and death form into a “Danse infernal”, where nothing human is alien. Yet still, Charnock’s work does not just aim to provoke: “Just shocking is poor. […] artists must encourage people to raise questions; questions about what is going on.” says Nigel Charnock.

But what might look smooth, yet improvised at this dance, is rehearsed to the finest detail. Only thus freedom is possible. Due to this claim to technical perfection and superiority, Charnock might closely touch with saxophonist Michael Riessler Jan Pierre Drouet, the father of experimental drumming between avant-garde and improvisation. In “At a loss”, the three of them try to make seemingly incomparable elements like love, loss, sorrow, hope, ecstasy, fate and contradiction compatible for a moment. However, they still try to keep everything open.

Reinhard Schulz