Colours – this name was chosen wisely by Eric Gauthier, the artist director of the festival and director of Gauthier Dance who came up with the idea and concept of the festival. All the different colours represent diversity and a huge variety of meanings. A great name for a dance festival that has the goal of bringing all kind of people and dance companies together and of stirring this huge crowd only to watch the audience performing with the professional dancers (as seen on the pre-opening event on the Marktplatz or in the different workshops) and thus add another colour to the big picture.

I was lucky enough to see three amazing performances of very different dance companies at Colours International Dance Festival 2015. I started with “Kamuyot” from star choreographer Ohad Naharin, performed by Gauthier Dance/Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart.

Photo credit: Regina Brocke

If you want to put all the ideas of Colours International Dance Festival 2015 into one play, you would end up with Kamuyot. Performed in the gymnasium of the Theaterhaus the atmosphere was very relaxing and easy. At the beginning, the dancers sat among the audience, you could even chat with them. When the music started, the fireworks began. Ranging from classical to raggae and Asian pop, the variety couldn’t have been more colourful. And when the dancers started to invite members of the audience on stage to join them, it became obvious that dance is truly for everybody, no matter how old you are or what language you speak

Photo credit: Regina Brocke

The second show I saw at Colours International Dance Festival 2015 was “Milonga” by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui/Sadler’s Wells. And that night, it was tango time.

Photo credit: Tristram Kenton

I didn’t know much about tango before but I was thrilled. What a show! What a dance! The play showed how different tango styles can be performed by telling the tales of different couples. Once, it was fast and breathtaking, then calm and romantic. One couple was cheeky, the next one sad. Once, you watched two young people fall in love, in the next scene you were in the middle of a fight only to witness a tragic break up a few minutes later. And the music, played by an original Argentine tango band live on stage, did the rest. Did I already mention that I was thrilled?!

Photo credit: Tristram Kenton

I had decided to see a funny show, too. That’s how I got myself right into “Blue Love”, a physical theatre comedy by Shaun Parker. The evening started with the two actors handing out popcorn and free beer to the audience. Sweet!   In “Blue Love”, the fictive couple of Glenn and Rhonda Flune tells the audience about their love story, backed-up by home made films.

Photo credit: Prue Upton

However, their relationship isn’t as perfect as they want it to be and they find themselves right in the middle of a huge fight, conducting their marital dispute in quotations from pop songs: “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden, “ says Glenn and Rhonda answers “Love is a battlefield”. I could have watched their pop song fight forever. Soooo funny!

Photo credit: Prue Upton

What a festival! What a colourful variety and selection of performing companies! I really hope that Colours will be held in Stuttgart again next year. And the year after. And  the year after that and…

More information about:

Colours – International Dance Festival

The post World class dance companies at Colours International Dance Festival 2015 appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

We were 30 people in the workshop Dance for everybody. Some were semi-professional dancers, others (like me) were there for fun. And fun we had! Eric is a very relaxed guy and an entertaining coach. It was interesting to see a pro like him at work. He came up with a choreography for us during the workshop. We tried something, if it looked good, we adopted it, if it looked bad, he thought of something else.

I think we did quite well even though we lost it as soon as he stopped leading and guiding us… Oh well, I think we might need one or two more rehearsals but then we should be ready for the big stage! ;-P

Tan

It was great to see that also non-professional dancers like us can successfully perform a choreography that looks quite nice after three hours of practising. It all depends on having the right teacher . So thank you Eric for a fun afternoon and a great workshop!

Now I am even more excited to see some of the international dance companies at Colours! I got invited to see three performances: “Kamuyot” – performed by Gauthier Dance, “m¡longa” – from the Flemish-Moroccan star choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and “Blue Love” by the Shaun Parker Company. Stay tuned for more!

More information about:

Colours – International Dance Festival

Theaterhaus Stuttgart (only in German)

The post Dance for everybody “Colours International Dance Festival” appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.