Silver
2002 / 15'Director:
Wim Vandekeybus
Choreographer:
Wim Vandekeybus
Music by:
Thierry de Ìey
Photography:
Wim Vandekeybus
Editing:
Rudi Maerten
Performers:
Ultima Vez
Production:
Ultima Vez, Quasi Modo
Belgium"One for Sorrow, two for Joy, three for a Girl, four for a Boy, five for Silver, six for Gold, seven for a Secret never to be told:" Wim Vandekeybus used this Irish nursery rhyme about magpies as a basis for his performance '7 for a Secret Never to be Told.' Bizarre beauty and magical movements lead us into a world of superstition, myths, luck, and bad luck. The performance is made up of seven interflowing sections, alluding to 'two extreme emotions, the two sexes, two precious metals, and a secret.' A specific set was designed and different movement material was developed for each scene.
Silver is the fifth scene in the performance: A motionless figure wrapped in foil appears on stage. Suddenly, huge feathers fall out of the air and make the figure move. Gradually, the other dancers appear on scene: Complex partner work develops into an energetic and powerful physical scene, using the typical Vandekeybus dance vocabulary: highly energetic dance, exhausting use of the dancers' bodies and energy, tense relationships between the dancers, audacious loops. Besides their physicality, his choreographies are also closely connected to the world of visual arts, as costumes and sets play important roles. The music by Thierry De Mey - a musician, architect, and filmmaker - plays an important role in the creation of an atmosphere of a "child's nightmare."
The brutality of the work becomes intensely personal with each camera close-up. What is remarkable about the way Vandekeybus films his work, is that, although he does not use "orthodox" shooting techniques, he manages to inspire exactly the same feeling in the spectator as that created by the actual performance. The director-choreographer adeptly creates images with the same blend of violence, energy, and lyricism as the piece itself.
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