© Georg Schreiber 2003
It takes some front to sit stark naked on stage with only a banana and a bottle of tomato ketchup for company. And then do nothing. For quite a long time. But front is one thing Nada Gambier is not short of, for it takes a peculiarly European, concrete kind of confidence to pull off the cheeky satire implicit in her Confessions – The Autopsy of a Performance.
K. Watson, Resolution!, Aerowaves Festival, London (UK) Feb 2006
I felt like I had entered the private space of Nada Gambier, the lonely process of creating and the difficulty of sharing thoughts about it. The performance’s strength lies in the fact that Gambier manages to surprise us by being present as a person and human being, not merely as a performer. In other words, she successfully accomplishes what she has set out to do.
K. Yli-Honko, Liikekieli (FI) Aug 2007
Nada Gambier est un phénomène, une petite fille trés douée....rien en elle ne cherche à éliminer la frontière entre l’art et la vie. On la sent naturelle. Elle narre d’horribles choses, danse techno durant dix minutes, s’exhibe moins qu’elle ne se laisse regarder, sans chichi, sans esbroufe, sans hystérie. Même pas froide, elle est juste là, avec une stricte économie de signes qui tombent à pic.”
'Danse et performances avec condiments divers' de Muriel Steinmetz
L'humanité (FR) 29.03 2005
De structuur van de dans vraagt om aandacht: ze is namelijk tamelijk gewaagd. Gambier kiest voor weinig beweging en onderdrukte emoties. Een minder begaafde choreograaf zou door de mand zijn gevallen. Gambier red het echter net. Het thema is zo consistent doorgevoerd dat de dans zijn eigen logica heeft. Melissa Coleman, Podium, Something Raw Festival Amsterdam (NL) 04.03 2007
Confessions – the Autopsy of a Performance (2003) is an investigation on the nature of presence on stage, the status of reality in this context and the dynamics of the construct; performer-audience- and the stage that keeps them apart.
What is presence on stage?
How does the manipulation of presence influence the perception of a performance?
Does construction feed falsification?
Looking at acting as a form of non-acting in order to arrive at a distance from the artificiality of performance, only to return to it again from a different perspective.
Looking for harmony between dead energy and live presence, stretching the tension between formalism and naturalism, environment and action.
(Physical) Images and text lead the spectators into a world where lies are sometimes true and facts unimportant.
In the performance manipulation and speculation give birth to a sincere and curious approach to what live performance is and brings our attention to the absurdity of theater, its nature as a constructed lie, built to be believed in.
Created and performed by: Nada Gambier
Light-design by: Oded Hubermann
Produced by: Choreographisches Zentrum NRW/PACT Zollverein in Essen, in the framework of DEPARTS, a network sponsored by: the European Commission ‘Culture Programme 2000’
Supported by: wp Zimmer, Antwerp (BE)
Confessions – the Autopsy of a Performance has been presented in
Austria: ImageTanz Festival (Vienna)
Belgium: WpZimmer and CC Berchem (Amperdans, Antwerp), December Dance (Brugge), Beursschouwburg (Brussels), C-Mine (Genk), CC Hasselt, BUDA Arts Center/Stadsschouwburg (Kortrijk), De Velinx (Tongeren), De Warande (Turnhout)
Estonia: Augusti Tantsu Festival (Tallinn)
Finland: Full Moon Dance Festival (Pyhäsalmi)
France: Rencontres Chorégraphiques (Paris)
Germany: Theater für Alle Festival (Bremen), Dampf Festival (Cologne), PACT-Zollverein (Essen), Mousonturm (Frankfurt), Tanzwerkstatt Europa Festival (Munich)
The Netherlands: Brakke Grond / Something Raw Festival (Amsterdam)
Sweden: Atalante (Gothenburg), Moderna Dans Teatern (Stockholm)
United Kingdom: Aerowaves Festival (London)
For more information and a recording of the work please send a mail to nada@nadagambier.be
For up-coming dates check the AGENDA