(im)possible 2011

What is really (im)possible?

zero visibility corp. and choreographer Ina Christel Johannessen have with the present performance (im)possible revisited the eternal conflict and paradox of creating true and genuine relationships. Although touching on the previous productions “…it’s only a rehearsal” (2003) and “(but) that night I found her very alluring” (2006), this performance is perhaps more introvert in its effort of creating a physical and mental presence in which the Other is included. The duet as form and seduction as artistic strategy are combined in (im)possible. The beauty and sensuality of the movements, the music and the scenography work by the principle of absorption rather that presentation. There is a possibility of being drawn into the performance by the play on the possible and impossible as an overall strategy. The performance language is rough (acrobatic), soft (poetic) and comic (situational). Moving in waves of performance structures rather than narratives, it’s more like an (im)pulse than a story. As well as the presence of life and energy – the dancers and the living bodies – there is also absence; death and emptiness – the ashes, the empty boxes… Is the (im)possible (finally) coming to terms with the paradox of life and death?

Siren Leirvåg, Lecturer in theatre studies, University of Oslo

THE DANCE ZERO

In (im)possible Ina Christel Johannessen has again explored what we might call dance’s “zero degree”. As in previous productions, especially It’s only a rehearsal (2003) and (but) that night I found her very alluring (2006) she focuses on relational constellations: subject - object, body - text, presence - absence.

The reference to a zero point can be found in the Danish linguist Viggo Brøndal’s concept of a neutral language category, neutral in relation to pairs of oppositional positive and negative terms or polarities, such as black or white, life or death. We can follow this reference further to the idea of a zero degree in literature as developed by the French literary critic Roland Barthes, where the poetic subject is freed from ideology, conventions and alienation and is instead realized as truth, consciousness and beauty in the eye of the viewer (reader) rather than by the creative authority (author).
Why this association to (im)possible?

Firstly, the more “objective” elements on stage such as red carpet, live bodies, cartons and ashes can lure us into a game of interpretation where we find ourselves in-between, involved in a kind of threshold experience of no defined meaning. The dancer/dance as staged subject presents us with a strong physical and spiritual presence and, at the same time, a distancing absence. We can immerse ourselves in notions or “signs” of life, pulse, energy, heart, but also death, silence, emptiness, ashes. Line Tørmoen’s dance expresses both what is veiled and unapproachable and what is exposed and vigorous. Almost like a ritual act of sacrifice, the threshold experience is reinforced when Dimitri Jourde takes a stranglehold on Line’s neck and nearly breaks with the established physical control of the aesthetic. The sense of physical presence is brutal, yet attractive. With a more humorous quality in movement and expression, we observe Cecilie Lindeman Steen as she covers her body with ashes, a gesture that places the viewer in a liberating position of uncertainty: How should we interpret this picture or situation – from the perspective of life or the perspective of death?
The performance holds several such blurred, double images: Dimitri’s acrobatic physical display in the ashes and Kristina Søetorp’s duet with Sudesh Adhana both express a relation that is simultaneously near and distant. Is it a kind of universal bodily force fighting with/against cultural difference?

Another relevant theoretical perspective for an analysis of (im)possible is found in the New York critic Elinor Fuchs’ book The Death of Character (1996) (again with reference to Roland Barthes). In short, Fuchs discusses the disintegration of the identifiable subject (character) and the emergence of a context-dependent (linguistic and social) subject, an entity that is realized through the gaze of the viewer. In this perspective we participate in the construction of the subject through our presence in the artistic work/situation. In terms of a zero point, the “death” in Fuchs’ title means life. The dichotomies or opposites are not mutually exclusive, but are rather mutually constitutive and thus productive in creating significance.

A tiny rewriting of the title (an idea the choreographer herself has launched) to (I'm)possible (I am possible) opens us to the notion of the subject as a potential – a possibility for realization. What is crucial, then, is the context and significance created by the viewer. The objects/installations enhance the experience of immersion in the staged situation of the dance as the wall of reflective metal squares changes character through the projection of color and light, creating an atmospheric optical interplay with the viewer.

By Siren Leirvåg, Lecturer in Theatre Studies, University of Oslo