A tentative dialogue between British Russell Maliphant and French José Montalvo might take place at the level of creating choreography, based on the distillation of the material each dancer brings along in their luggage. Russell Maliphant-himself a dancer-would explore this material through a juxtaposition with the technique he would propose in each case.
On the other hand, José Montalvo selects dancers from different backgrounds and juxtaposes their voices on stage, thus drawing material for the performance from the existence side by side of different techniques-of an African and a contemporary dancer, of a hip-hopper and a classical dancer, etc.
In both cases, music is the catalyst: it brings references to the surface and binds them together.

Russell Maliphant - Gathering Information
2004/ 30'
director, photography, editing: Steve Jackmann. choreographer: Russell Maliphant. music: Barry Adamson. production: Steve Jackman and The Place Videoworks. UK

Barry Adamson / Russell Maliphant
Barbican Hall, London, 13 April 2004
"Barry Adamson and Russell Maliphant aren't working to the same definition of cool. Adamson's music goes from lush soundtrack strings to jazz and sampling; he's keen on Sixties movie chic. Maliphant, on the other hand, is all refined detachment. His company come soberly on in their modern-dance pyjamas, ascetic and slightly scruffy. (...)
Adamson and Maliphant were sharing a concert in the Barbican's Only Connect series of collaborations. They've worked together before; Maliphant's Broken Fall, made for George Piper Dances and Sylvie Guillem in December, had an Adamson soundtrack of quiet hums and crackles.
In these new dances, Maliphant was up against much more assertive music. Adamson has worked as a bass player for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, as a film composer for David Lynch, Danny Boyle and Oliver Stone. This concert focused on Adamson's solo work, with a lot of brass solos and squelching funk bass. The BBC Concert Orchestra joined Adamson's own rock jazz band for the widescreen orchestral numbers; it's the first time some of this music has been played live.
All those musicians were on a high platform at the back of the stage, with the front left clear for dancing. The dancers lean against the high wall of the platform, flopped in glum attitudes. They step forward for a series of duets. Maliphant's choreography is all flowing, winding moves.
Towards the end, Maliphant lets his triple duet break out. The couples start to slide in different directions, no longer strictly in line. (...)
Maliphant's solo is unexpectedly charismatic. He crouches down in stages, a series of dips down and back up again; he swings across the stage, letting his shoulders sway. Mooching at last.

"A match made in heaven"
By Zoe Anderson
(extracts)
Russell Maliphant
Russell Maliphant trained at the Royal Ballet School and graduated into SadlerΥs Wells Royal Ballet before leaving to pursue a career in independent dance, working with companies such as DV8 Physical Theatre, Michael Clark & Company, Laurie Booth Company and Rosemary Butcher. He has studied anatomy, physiology, bio-mechanics, and the Rolfing Method of Structural Integration. In April 2000 he received an Arts Council Fellowship.
Russell Maliphant Company was founded in 1996 and has sought to explore a diverse range of techniques including classical ballet, contact improvisation, yoga, capoeira and tai chi. The company has toured extensively both nationally and internationally and has won several international awards.
Maliphant has created over 20 pieces to date, collaborating closely with lighting designer Michael Hulls and has set works on George Piper Dances, Lyon Opera Ballet, Ricochet Dance Company, The Batsheva Ensemble and Ballet de Lorraine. Russell Maliphant recently created "Broken Fall" with Sylvie Guillem and George Piper Dances, with music by Barry Adamson.
"Maliphant is, perhaps, the Schubert of modern dance, a supreme melodist of the body", wrote Ismene Brown at The Daily Telegraph.

José Montalvo
Being different is a pleasure
"Choreography for me is a game of shifting the weight towards physical practices. I make an imaginary museum of movements that I cut off from their original context and make something new. On the other hand, I believe that this practice reflects what today's cities are like: cosmopolitan and multilingual. My method takes into consideration that being different is a source of wealth-not because it has to be so, but for emotional reasons. In Paradis, I tried to celebrate being different: we can be different yet participate in something global without being homogenized. What I attempted to demonstrate was that being different may equally well be an area for enjoying expressing yourself. Perhaps this is what spectators perceive and why they respond so enthusiastically. Yet, there are more aspects to it, such as our dark sides. This is why these animals are there, which are half animal and half human. We are all a little bit of an animal. We are all a little bit of a tiger, a scorpion, a lion, a dove, a sheep, an ant. I would like to speak about that, and speak about it in a humorous manner-as if about something we already know. The people I address are smart enough to know that we all have our dark sides-the stake is to play with that and create beauty, color, sound, light..."
What do you mean by saying that your dancers are "joint creators of their dance?" What is your method of work?
Of course, I do not mean that each dancer does as he or she pleases or that there is no choreographer. I propose a great deal of freedom and some limitations. They improvise and explore their dances in relation to themselves. On the other hand, I do not assume the role of someone who shows movements but rather of someone with a critical eye on what they produce, someone who turns it inside out and incorporates it into a unified whole. It is something like shifting a choreographer's work.
Part of an interview to Christiana Galanopoulou
To Vima, 21/09.1999

Paradis
Paradis is a feast of imagination and inventiveness, an explosion of happiness and energy, which splashes all over fire-works. The work of choreographer Jose Montalvo is constructed on contradictions- the contradictions between styles of dance and breaking the barrier between reality and its representation.
Different dance genres meet each other on stage, showing the difference between narrative dance like classical ballet and dance originating in the street, like break-dance. Montalvo goes to the extreme and sharpens the characterization of each of these styles. The ballerina dancing on point seems "sharp, slim and tall - in opposition to the juicy, ample-bodied and jumpy African dancer. The encounter between both is irresistible.

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