It was a full house again for this season’s last NCA performance, Sospiri. We would like to thank everybody who helped realise this series of shows, and of course, everybody who came to see us.

Below is a review of Sospiri by Andy Brouwer, which we copied from his blog on Cambodia. Thanks for you beautiful words and photos Andy!

“Fabulous. Two fantastic dancers, mixing and matching classical movements with contemporary ideas, up close and personal, frenetic moments followed by serene and measured poses, the Sospiri performance at Meta House tonight had it all. The combination worked a treat for the full house who’d come to watch this, the 2nd night of a performance which is the tenth collaboration Bob Ruijzendaal has brought to Cambodia, with a variety of dancers. Tonight’s partnership saw the doyenne of classical dance, Sam Sathya, in tandem with one of the most vibrant and electric of the current crop of contemporary artists, Yon Chantha. It was a match made in heaven. The theme running through Sospiri was rituals and generations and the two performers gave it everything, as Sathya demonstrated the artistic proficiency that she has performed to audiences across the world for more than twenty years, with Chantha, at times dazzled and beholden to her teacher and at others, working herself into a frenzy of motion. I didn’t want it to stop. The music from Franz Liszt even included a tune from Robinson Crusoe, a television series from my childhood. The merging of old and new worked for me, to see the country’s best classical dancer at such close quarters revelling in her art and a blossoming talent in Chantha who simply gets better with each new performance.”

http://andybrouwer.blogspot.com/

Sam Sathya in classical costume.

You can come to see the performance at Meta House on Friday the 18th and Saturday the 19th of March. The 18^th an exhibition on Lilian ter Horsts drawings and paintings will also open at Meta House’s restaurant.

Davy (right) faces the audience while Chantha looks at her. Rady is dancing in the background.

 Together with director Bob Ruijzendaal they were inspired by everyday things that people do at home, while shopping or even when visiting a hospital. All movements were based on recognizable events. It was a remarkable performance again.

Duet of Rady (above) and Chantha.

Chanta (left) and Davy dance while Radhy watches.

Two nights in a row the new gallery of Meta-House was filled with Cambodian and international spectators. The audience watched three very focussed dancers perfom: Chantha, Davy and Radhy. In cooperation with Bob Ruijzendaal they showed a theatre piece that was inspired by the famous paintings of American artist Robert Longo, Men in Cities.

From left to right: Davy, Chantha and Radhy.

Monday Februari 7, Bob and the dancers started rehearsing for the second part of three performances that will be presented at Meta House. Par two will be on show on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 of Februari.

Davy watches Radhy's impressive jumps, which are based on Roberto Longo's images.

Three of Longo's impossible poses.

From left to right: Chantha, Koko en Davy.

Bob and the three dancers in the piece had already worked together successfully on last year’s ’Movin’ project. Yon Davy is a dancer and choreographer who stood out in last years Meta House series and choreographed parts of ‘Movin’. Yon Chantha, Davy’s sister, is a dancer with a very recognizable style and Nget Rady (Koko) is a young male dancer with a highly original approach. They share a passion for the contemporary and aim to experiment. Inspired by Robert Longo’s series of paintings Men in Cities they will search for movements that imagine the standing, the falling, the ordinary, the extraordinary, and sometimes the boredom of life in a big City.

 “(. . .) Dutch theatre director, Bob Ruijzendaal, had Cambodian dancers voice their individual artistic concerns to the audience as part of an evening-length work (Look at Us Now, 2009) that opened with the symbolic linking of these young artists to their past. Male dancers “sculpted” their female counterparts into the celestial dancers found on temple carvings from the Angkor Empire (9th to 15th centuries).

(. . . ) Ruijzendaal’s works employed common conventions of Western contemporary dance such as pedestrian costumes and movements, a variety of musical accompaniment, innovative choreographic patterns, projections and spoken word.  (. . .) ”

Read the full article here:

http://www.goethe.de/ins/id/lp/prj/tac/zgt/kam/enindex.htm

Movin! Made it to the cover of The Cambodia Daily. Moreover, the Phnom Pehn Post devoted a nice article on the performance as well. To read that story, follow the link below:

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2010040136717/Lifestyle/movin-pushes-dancers-beyond-their-comfort-zones.html

Action Wave was the first independent choreography of Yon Davy in which she didn’t perform herself.  The work was presented by two outstanding dancers: Yon Chantha and Choun Sovannary and was received with great enthusiasm by the audience.

Monday March the first, rehearsals for the new project will start under the working title Body Movin’,   with a whole new group of dancers. We will keep you informed.