THE GARDENS WHICH ABANDONED THEIR TREES
LIMEN BUTOH THEATER
"THE GARDENS LEFT THEIR TREES"
INDIGO VERSION
Butoh opera for mezzo-soprano, cello, electronics, video
and two butoh dancers.
Director: Sylwia Hanff
Music: Robert Jędrzejewski
Butoh dance: Sylwia Hanff, Magdalena Jakubów
Mezzo-soprano: Elwira Janasik
The pieces used in the performance were: Ariadne's Lament by Claudio Monteverdi, Dido's Lament by Henry Purcell, Hor ch'è tempo di dormire by Tarquinio Merula.
We were inspired by the ritual function of lament, its absolute dimension as a song with transforming power. We are looking for a moment of transgression in the deconstruction of its classic opera form (H. Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, The Coronation of Poppaea, and C. Monteverdi's Arianna's Lament), in comparison with contemporary composition and musical improvisation, as well as butoh dance.
We are interested in both the individual experience of loss and the sense of loss and abandonment that characterize the world of modern man.
Unexpectedly for us, we found a similar space in the poetry of J. Przyboś, from which the title of our performance comes.
Can lament be a "transition", a transformation of the sense of loss and finding a new meaning? Each performance can give a different answer, each will be a mirror.
[S.H.]
Photo: Yassiek Matuszewski
