Matija Ferlin: The Other At The Same Time

About

After years of waiting, nothing came. The only thing that changed was the colour of the leaves, but everything else remained the same. The horror of the everyday ate human souls at a rate never seen before. Money had more power than any other kind of paper whilst words lost all of their value. So they finally decided to escape. They walked for hours, they walked for days. There were five of them. Best friends, castaways from a world long devoid of any humanity. In their pockets, nothing more than a pan or two, a couple of tents and axes, and a few books. They walked and walked, resting only for sleep in shelters created unknowingly by Nature. They walked through thick woods and wild forests, through deep rivers and merciless lakes. An ambiguous map in their hands, their hearts set on finding an ever-elusive goal. Insecure about what would await them, confident only of what they have left behind. They walked and they walked until…

This experimental performance project is a continuation of a movement system research that choreographer and director Matija Ferlin started in Onformance, his first group piece. He further developed his research in the project Solitaries, his first text based performance as a director.

Creating a dance system built on the creation of a body devoid of all concepts of prior dance knowledge, and following his interest in the relationship between movement and language, his new piece emerges at the crossroad between dramatic and dance expression. With his new creation, Ferlin wishes to synthesize his experiences and knowledge obtained through his previous artistic projects.

The Other At The Same Time is characterized by a specific working process, part of which took place while camping in countryside of south Istria, in which three Croatian dancers and two Canadian dancers unite with a larger group of Ferlin's permanent collaborators. The decision to start working in this atypical working environment was motivated by the desire to create a small working community, one that would be focused only on itself. The second reason for this type of seclusion lies in the fact that the performance itself deals with questions of community – re-questioning the conditions and qualities of social behavior of specific social groups – whereby they are delivered through the physical and not the textual aspect of the performance.

The materials of the performance have been thus partly generated from the real situations that occurred during camping – the co-living of the individuals forming a group that works on a new performance.

This project investigates the narrative potential of abstract movement, movement without any descriptive or gestural qualities, confronted with a concrete theatrical text. The concept of this new work is to move through the borders of the expected experience of the theatrical event by creating a body of responses, supporting text in a way we are not used to in classical theater.

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Credits

Concept, choreography, costume design and direction: Matija Ferlin
Performed by: Claudia Fancello, Tomislav Feller, Matija Ferlin, Liz Kinoshita, Roberta Milevoj
Recited by: Ana Buljan, Marko Cindrić
Text: Jasna Žmak
Stage design: Mauricio Ferlin
Music: Colin Stetson (Constellation Records)
Advising: Goran Ferčec
Graphic design: Tina Ivezić
Illustrations: Juan Echeverri

Translations: Danijela Bilić Rojnić, Katja Kosi
Project manager: Anika Miletić
Production coordination: Maja Delak, Saša Rakef
Public relations: Ana Kovačević

Work of art used in stage design:
Henri Rousseau
Le lion, ayant faim, se jette sur l'antilope, 1898/1905
Oil on canvas, 200 x 301 cm
Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel
Photo by: Robert Bayer, Basel

Support

Production: Emanat
Co-production: Istrian National Theatre, City Theatre Pula, Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana
Project partners: Zagreb Dance Centre – Croatian Movement and Dance Institute, Mediterranean Dance Center - San Vincenti, Municipality of Svetvinčenat
Financial support: Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia, City of Ljubljana – Department of Culture, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, City of Pula, The Canada Council for the Arts

Sponzors: Camping Tašalera, Vesna sirevi, Loborika, Matošević Istrian wines, Trapan, Kod Milana, Ford, Veralda, Jamnica, Arena
Accomodation: Arena Turist
Media sponzorsi: Glas Istre, Radio Maestral, Totalni - Radio Giardini, Radio Istra, TV Nova Pula, TV Istra
Medija partner: HRT Radio - Radio Pula

Thanks:
Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Ray Bradbury, François Truffaut, Don Wilkie, Constellation Records, Autokamp Tašalera, the Ferlin family, the Milevoj family, the Debeljuh family, the Žmak family, the Floris family, the Zgrablić family, Miro Blaž, Maria Vorić, Dalibor Macan, Tarek Halaby, Aleksandar and Andi Bančić.