Men of the river – wading into it, moving through it, climbing out of it. Walking by it, running with it, floating on it.
Famously, getting on with it.

The choreography of “Rivermen” is characterised by the words complexity, change and continuum. Complexity as in the infinitely faceted character – surface and depth – of a river. Change as in the renewal of the passing water at each and every instant. Continuum as in its seemingly timeless existence.

With the special projection set-up the video image acquires a new status. It is no longer limited to the two dimensions of a screen. It becomes once again light. It constitutes a moving surface supporting the dance and acts upon the dancers’ bodies transforming them, integrating them into its own structure. The dancers’ bodies approach this surface with circumspection. They touch it, pull away and come back, cross it with rapid steps, go along its edge and plunge into it. The surface reveals itself to be a third partner. A third body as an extension of the dancers’ bodies and vice versa. The ebb and flow of one seeps into the movements of the other resulting in the creation of a harmonious ensemble that is at times put in danger by one of its constituents. A violent ritual leading to a greater adhesion between three bodies.

RIVERMEN

choreography: Bud Blumenthal
dancers: Bud Blumenthal and Fernando Martin
music and video: Antonin De Bemels

created in Brussels in May 1999