{"id":193,"date":"2009-07-04T01:34:14","date_gmt":"2009-07-04T00:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol\/blog\/2009\/07\/04\/self-unfinished-by-xavier-leroy-powered-by-emotion-by-marten-spangberg-prisma-oaxaca-272009\/"},"modified":"2010-02-15T10:53:52","modified_gmt":"2010-02-15T09:53:52","slug":"self-unfinished-by-xavier-leroy-powered-by-emotion-by-marten-spangberg-prisma-oaxaca-272009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol\/blog\/2009\/07\/04\/self-unfinished-by-xavier-leroy-powered-by-emotion-by-marten-spangberg-prisma-oaxaca-272009\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00abSelf-Unfinished\u00bb by Xavier Leroy &#038; \u00abPowered by emotion\u00bb by M\u00e5rten Sp\u00e5ngberg, PRISMA, Oaxaca, 2\/7\/2009"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kaaitheater.be\/image_cache\/1367_375_254_FSImage_1_Spangberg01.png\" width=\"375\" border=\"0\" height=\"254\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" \/><meta name=\"ProgId\" content=\"Word.Document\" \/><meta name=\"Generator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 10\" \/><meta name=\"Originator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 10\" \/>\n<link href=\"file:\/\/\/C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cluther%5CCONFIG%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml\" rel=\"File-List\" \/><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>     Normal   0   21                         MicrosoftInternetExplorer4   <\/xml><![endif]--><\/p>\n<style>  <\/style>\n<p><!--[if gte mso 10]> \n\n<style>  \/* Style Definitions *\/  table.MsoNormalTable \t{mso-style-name:\"Tabla normal\"; \tmso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; \tmso-tstyle-colband-size:0; \tmso-style-noshow:yes; \tmso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; \tmso-para-margin:0cm; \tmso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:10.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\";} <\/style>\n\n <![endif]--><\/p>\n<p>ENGLISH VERSION<\/p>\n<p>At the end of \u00abSelf-Unfinished\u00bb by Xavier Leroy, the following conversation takes place at the exit of Teatro Ju\u00e1rez:<\/p>\n<p>a)-I need a beer. I don&#8217;t know how people can cope with contemporary performing arts without beer.<\/p>\n<p>b)-Didn&#8217;t you like it? I loved it! It was very simple yet so effective&#8230; He was taking you from one place to another and he never lost my attention.<\/p>\n<p>c)-I was bored to tears. It&#8217;s the same as always. They try to sell something as highly conceptual and in fact it&#8217;s a pain in the ass. I saw many people yawning and then they clapped like crazy just because it&#8217;s Xavier Leroy and he&#8217;s got a reputation.<\/p>\n<p>a)-Come on! Now you are the one who is boring. Performing arts don&#8217;t need to be entertaining. We have known this for a while now.<\/p>\n<p>b)-Yes, everything just did fit in. The only thing I am not so sure about is when he kicks the top of the table. That was the only moment where I felt a rupture with the flow of the performance.<\/p>\n<p>c)-Well, I just couldn&#8217;t stand it. This general denial, the refusal to dance, the superficial ideas about the nature of the human body&#8230; It&#8217;s so old fashioned! It pretends to be so clever and it&#8217;s so plain&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>a)-I wonder what is the problem with you. The violence of your reaction against this performance is rising its value under my eyes by the moment. Why can&#8217;t you accept people having a different way of working and following their own research? In my case I wasn&#8217;t thrilled but I definitely ackowledge its professionality. It&#8217;s serious, personal work. The problem for me is that I have seen many pieces very similar to it&#8230; But then this is an old piece, maybe he was one the first people to make such a proposal. Maybe some years ago this piece was more surprising and now it has become quite an established genre.<\/p>\n<p>(C gives A and B the odd look and sashays away. A and B look at each other and they shrug their shoulders).<\/p>\n<p>***********************************************************************<\/p>\n<p>I get to the Teatro Macedonio Alcal\u00e1 after bumping my head onto a shelf and with some ices cubes on my bleeding forefront. Not in the best of moods for being open and available to the performance. I always thought critics should explain how they felt before the show. The emotional context of each person plays such an important role as the lighting or the music&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The first 20 minutes of \u00abPowered by emotion\u00bb I absolutely hate it and I want to kick M\u00e5rten&#8217;s ass. At the same time I&#8217;m angry with myself because I don&#8217;t know whether it is the performance or it&#8217;s me being grumpy. I try to focus on his dancing. No, it&#8217;s not me. It&#8217;s him. I dislike his dancing. I don&#8217;t have any problems with dancers who didn&#8217;t follow a conventional training (as a matter of fact I didn&#8217;t), but M\u00e5rten seems to go for some type of complex dancing that requires a lot of technique or just looks ridiculous<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol\/blog\/wp-admin\/#_ftn1\" title=\"_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a>. The music is definitely emotional. At least this matches the title of the performance. Some members of the audience leave the room.<\/p>\n<p>Then the music stops, M\u00e5rten grabs the microphone and gets to the center of the stage. He sings in an terrible Spanish and in a terrible voice \u00abChan Chan\u00bb, mainly known because of the Buenavista Social Club CD. The whole thing is getting worse by the moment. Another group of people leaves the room.<\/p>\n<p>And then M\u00e5rten sings another emotional song in his broken Spanish and there is a switch. Suddenly I am really into the performance. I have a good time and I know why. I have seen this mechanism before in plays by Forced Entertainment or Marco Berretini. The whole thing consists in making a really bad joke and maintaining it for a long time. To make such a bet you have to be a performer with a lot of guts, because at the beginning people hate you. After a while it becomes hilarious for most of them, although many never get it and they leave the room angrily. And indeed, some more people leave the room and some audience members even boo the following songs. At the end he just stands quiet while we listen to the initial music for some time.<\/p>\n<p>I recognize the mechanism behind the performance and I appreciate it, although maybe I would have wished for a more elaborated structure.<\/p>\n<p><strong>This is an open text. You are welcome to contradict, tinge or agree by adding your own opinions under the text in my site: http\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol By Quim Pujol: critique with a wig<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>VERSI\u00d3N EN ESPA\u00d1OL<\/p>\n<p>Al final de \u00abSelf-Unfinished\u00bb de Xavier Leroy, se desarrolla la siguiente conversaci\u00f3n a la salida del Teatro Ju\u00e1rez:<\/p>\n<p>a)-Necesito una cerveza. No s\u00e9 como la gente puede soportar las artes esc\u00e9nicas contempor\u00e1neas sin cerveza.<\/p>\n<p>b)-\u00bfNo te gust\u00f3? \u00a1A m\u00ed me encant\u00f3! Era muy simple y sin embargo tan efectivo&#8230; Te transportaba de un sitio a otro sin cesar y mi atenci\u00f3n no decay\u00f3 ni un segundo.<\/p>\n<p>c)-Yo me he muerto de aburrimiento. Siempre es lo mismo. Intentan venderte algo como extremadamente conceptual y de hecho es un co\u00f1azo. Vi a mucha gente bostezando y luego aplaudieron como locos s\u00f3lo porque es Xavier Leroy y tiene mucho renombre.<\/p>\n<p>a)-\u00a1Venga ya! T\u00fa s\u00ed que me aburres. Las artes esc\u00e9nicas no tienen porque ser entretenidas. Es algo que hace rato que sabemos.<\/p>\n<p>b)-Si, adem\u00e1s todo encajaba a la perfecci\u00f3n. La \u00fanica cosa que no me convenci\u00f3 fue cuando hizo volar la superficie de la mesa. Fue el \u00fanico momento donde sent\u00ed una ruptura con el flujo de la performance.<\/p>\n<p>c)-Bueno, a m\u00ed me puso de los nervios. Esta negaci\u00f3n general, el rechazo a la danza, las ideas superficiales alrededor del cuerpo humano&#8230; \u00a1Est\u00e1 tan pasado de moda! Pretende ser tan inteligente y en realidad es tan plano&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>a)-Me pregunto cu\u00e1l es el problema contigo. La violencia de tu reacci\u00f3n contra la performance est\u00e1 aumentando su valor a mis ojos por momentos. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 no puedes aceptar que haya gente que trabaje de forma diferente y que siga su propia l\u00ednea de investigaci\u00f3n? En mi caso no me entusiasm\u00f3, pero desde luego reconozco su profesionalidad. Es un trabajo serio y personal. El problema para m\u00ed es que he visto muchas piezas similares&#8230; Pero luego hay que tener en cuenta que esta pieza ya tiene bastantes a\u00f1os, quiz\u00e1s fue uno de los primeros en hacer una propuesta de este tipo. Quiz\u00e1s hace unos a\u00f1os esta pieza resultaba m\u00e1s sorprendente y ahora se ha convertido en un g\u00e9nero bastante establecido.<\/p>\n<p>(C mira mal a A y B y se marcha airado. A y B se miran el uno al otro y se encogen de hombros).<\/p>\n<p>*********************************************************************<\/p>\n<p>Llego al Teatro Macedonio Alcal\u00e1 despu\u00e9s de golpearme la cabeza contra un alfeizar y con unos cubitos de hielo en la frente. No estoy en el estado de \u00e1nimo m\u00e1s adecuado para asistir a la performance. Siempre he cre\u00eddo que los cr\u00edticos deber\u00edan explicar c\u00f3mo se sienten antes de la funci\u00f3n. El contexto emocional de cada persona juega un papel tan importante como la iluminaci\u00f3n o la m\u00fasica&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Los primeros 20 minutos de \u00abPowered by emotion\u00bb no me gustan en absoluto y fantaseo con patearle el culo a M\u00e5rten. Al mismo tiempo me enfado conmigo mismo porque no s\u00e9 si es cosa de la performance o soy yo que estoy de mal humor. Intento centrarme en su danza. No, no soy yo. Es \u00e9l. No me gusta c\u00f3mo baila. No tengo ning\u00fan tipo de problema con los bailarines que no siguieron una formaci\u00f3n convencional (de hecho yo no la tengo), pero M\u00e5rten parece apostar por un tipo de danza compleja que requiere mucha t\u00e9cnica o parece rid\u00edcula<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol\/blog\/wp-admin\/#_ftn2\" title=\"_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a>. La m\u00fasica es emotiva, al menos eso encaja con el titulo de la performance. Algunos espectadores se marchan de la sala.<\/p>\n<p>A continuaci\u00f3n la m\u00fasica se detiene, M\u00e5rten coge el micr\u00f3fono y se sit\u00faa en el centro del escenario. Canta con un espa\u00f1ol horrible y una voz a\u00fan peor \u00abChan Chan\u00bb, conocida sobre todo por el CD de Buenavista Social Club. El conjunto va a peor por momentos. Otro grupo de personas abandona la sala.<\/p>\n<p>Luego M\u00e5rten canta otra emotiva canci\u00f3n en su pobre espa\u00f1ol y algo en m\u00ed hace \u00abclick\u00bb. De repente la performance me interesa genuinamente. Me lo paso bien y s\u00e9 por qu\u00e9. He visto este mecanismo esc\u00e9nico antes en piezas de Forced Entertainment o Marco Berretini. El todo consiste en hacer un chiste muy malo y mantenerlo durante mucho tiempo. Para hacer algo as\u00ed debes ser un performer con muchas agallas, porque al principio la gente te odia. Despu\u00e9s de un rato la performance se vuelve hilarante para la mayor\u00eda, aunque a\u00fan as\u00ed siempre hay quien no lo pilla y se marcha indignado. En efecto, algunas personas m\u00e1s abandonan la sala y algunos espectadores incluso abuchean al performer mientras canta las siguientes canciones. En la \u00faltima escena, M\u00e5rten se queda quieto mientras escuchamos la m\u00fasica del inicio de nuevo.<\/p>\n<p>Reconozco el mecanismo detr\u00e1s de la performance y lo aprecio, aunque quiz\u00e1s hubiese agradecido una estructura algo m\u00e1s elaborada.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00c9ste es un texto abierto. Como siempre, invito a todo el mundo a contradecir, matizar, o coincidir conmigo a\u00f1adiendo vuestros comentarios bajo el texto en mi Web: http\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol Por Quim Pujol: cr\u00edtico con peluca<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><br clear=\"all\" \/>  <\/p>\n<hr size=\"1\" width=\"33%\" align=\"left\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol\/blog\/wp-admin\/#_ftnref1\" title=\"_ftn1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Later on I discover that it is M\u00e5rten&#8217;s version of the choreography by Steve Paxton on the Goldberg Variations. Sp\u00e5ngberg has a whole conceptual development that allows other layers of reading. However, as in this case the piece was not previously contextualized, I would be falsifying my experience as an audience member if I included M\u00e5rten&#8217;s own thinking.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol\/blog\/wp-admin\/#_ftnref2\" title=\"_ftn2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> M\u00e1s tarde descubro que se trata de una versi\u00f3n de M\u00e5rten de la coreograf\u00eda de Steve Paxton sobre las Variaciones Goldberg. Sp\u00e5ngberg tiene todo un desarrollo conceptual que permite otras capas de lectura. Sin embargo, como en este caso la pieza no se contextualizaba previamente, estar\u00eda falsificando mi experiencia como espectador si incluyese los pensamientos de M\u00e5rten.<\/p>\n<p><br clear=\"all\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; ENGLISH VERSION At the end of \u00abSelf-Unfinished\u00bb by Xavier Leroy, the following conversation takes place at the exit of Teatro Ju\u00e1rez: a)-I need a beer. I don&#8217;t know how people can cope with contemporary performing arts without beer. b)-Didn&#8217;t &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol\/blog\/2009\/07\/04\/self-unfinished-by-xavier-leroy-powered-by-emotion-by-marten-spangberg-prisma-oaxaca-272009\/\">Sigue leyendo <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239,"href":"http:\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions\/239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tea-tron.com\/quimpujol\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}