Tempo [no] Tempo

coproduced by Die Kulturaktivisten and Theaterhaus Stuttgart

“I am in the present. I cannot know what tomorrow will bring forth. I can know only what the truth is for me today. That is what I am called upon to serve, and I serve it in all lucidity.

- Igor Stravinsky -

When certain reasons lead you to a new beginning, to a new place,
and they make you open a new chapter of your life,
What do you leave behind?
What do you see in front of you?

TEMPO [NO] TEMPO is a dance piece with the music of The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky performed live on piano at four hands. Four hands, four dancers. Four characters based on real events of starting a new life. Translated to a very physical language and the extremely complex execution of its music by Duo Jost Costa, Tempo [no] Tempo becomes a piece related to a specific social moment, very delicate but very real, as it was in that time when Stravinsky composed it, more than a century ago. This is the reflection of the original situation that the composer had during the composition of his masterpiece: A new beginning. A new Time.

It is a reflection of what the beginning of a new life means. It may be a good opportunity to discover a company that works with contemporary language on a solid classical base with an explicit literalism, sometimes shocking, and a clear interest on using technological resources on stage. Those dancers, with overwhelming personality and far from neutralizing, drag the piece's tension to one of the most alive subjects today: Immigration. The work is a celebration of femininity as a symbol of fertile restarting, around the central character, who thrills with eachhug.

Jordi Sora - Escena de la memòria

At the Stuttgarter Theaterhaus, the Spanish company Habemus Corpus powerfully linked [Strawinsky's] expressionist work about pagan rites in old Russia with the fate of migrants (...). Their dancing styles present themselves accordingly diverse: powerfuldetermined to tense-clipped. Also the fingers of the pianists dance - as filmed projection on the musical score. The dancers undergo enormous transformations that evening. Miquel G. Font and the cast suceed with an intriguing reinterpretation of the famous „Spring Sacrifice“

Anne Abelein - Stuttgarter Zeitung

Migration is movement, in which existential questions are asked and own perceptions are challenged. The idea behind the performance of „Tempo (no) tempo“ in the Holzgerlinger Stadthalle was to give this liminal experience space and sound through dance and music(...) Especially the conversations [with refugees] following the final rehearsal in which choreographer, dancers and musicians answered questions to the audience was a memorable experience for everybody involved. The cast made a special discovery when it realised that its performance offered itself to different interpretations and perceptions and escaped a unidimensional reading(...).

Boris Velge - Pressespiegel Holzgerlingen

Premiere: April 2016 - Theaterhaus Stuttgart

Direction and original idea: Miquel G. Font
Music: Igor Stravinsky
Choreography and Text: Miquel G. Font
Piano: Domingos Costa, Yseult Jost
Dancers: Emmanuel Dobby, Maya Gómez, Justuna Kalbarczyk, Laia Vancells Pi
Sound design: Miquel G. Font

Light design: Tom Böhne, Gunter Votteler
Off voices: Domingos Costa, Christoph Plum
Pictures: Martin Storz
Artistic production: Habemus Corpus
Executive production: Die Kulturaktivisten
Coproduction: Theaterhaus Stuttgart, Internationales Solo-Tanz Festival Stuttgart

Duration: 50 Minutes