Are friends electric? (2015) — teaser

Yuval Pick works on Kraftwerk’s music in order to trigger our collective memory and to continue his research into the common space. His choreographic approach uses movement as a sort of “human mechanical” which he then deploys onstage in a ritual.

For this creation, I wanted to work with existing pieces of music, in order to trigger our collective memory. I therefore chose to explore Kraftwerk’s music and universe, continuing my research into the common space, defined for me as the dynamic relationships between the collective and the individual.  I chose the period between 1974-78 in Kraftwerk’s sound, during which time the albums Autobahn, Radioactivität, Trans-Europa Express andDie Mensch-Maschine were all released. They are characterized by their analog sound and repetitive rhythms which remind me of heartbeats, the movements of breathing, walking, a musical gesture on the human scale. I interpret this part of their journey as the invention of a new European romanticism which offers a different perspective of Man and his environment. The 19th century ideal of Man and nature was replaced here by Man’s will to survive in his urbanised and mechanised environment. 

By exploring the «black box» of Kraftwerk, I found a number of rather intriguing elements which I would like to integrate into my research. They will allow me to combine several different musical layers, building a dynamic and fluctuating temporality. First of all, there is a reference to Franz Schubert in Trans-Europa Express, which was an invitation to go peruse the Schubert lieder, an old-time romantic register. I found in both acoustic universes the notion of «travelling» as a through-line, which will allow me to create a way of sliding from one era to another. Then, the extremely rhythmical nature of Kraftwerk’s compositions inspired me to reveal the skeleton of these compositions, a sort of x-ray of the music, transposing its rhythms with the sound of a single metronome.  

My choreographic approach often uses movement as a sort of “human mechanical,” which I then deploy onstage in a ritual form. With the dancers we will be creating material based on the idea of twisting, torsion, an organic shape which will drive the development of the movement, and which will be fed by the multiple musical rhythms.  I will also be working in the studio with the spatial trajectories of traditional European dances such as the minuet, whose principal motivation is the drawing closer and then moving away from one’s partner. It is the very elasticity of the space created between the dancers which interests me.

I want to bring together all these different kinds of material, creating a new dance for an ensemble, a hybrid form which will generate new spaces. 

Yuval Pick, June 2015

Choreography : Yuval Pick 

Music : Kraftwerk – Franz Schubert – Olivier Renouf

Dancers : Julie Charbonnier – Madoka Kobayashi – Fernando Carrión Caballero – Jérémy Martinez – Adrien Martins – Alexander Standard 

Choreographic assistant : Sharon Eskenazi

Lighting : Nicolas Boudier 

Sound : Olivier Renouf 

Scenographic advice : Bénédicte Jolys 

Costumes : Frederick Denis

Production : CCNR

Thanks to : Michel Raskine – Emmanuel Robin