CANTATA

‘Shropshire heeft weinig meer nodig dan drie opperst geconcentreerde dansers,Bachs berustende Cantata en het nieuwe geluidsdecor van Thom Willems…een prachtige, ingetogen voorstelling’ – De Volkskrant ★★★★

‘Shropshire is de intelligente estheet, die dans maakt die aangenaam is om te zien, en ervoor zorgt dat elke beweging de puurst mogelijke zeggingskracht heeft.’ – Trouw ★★★★

‘In Cantata laat Stephen Shropshire opnieuw zien hoe danstaal, dramaturgische ontwikkeling, muziek en gebruik van ruimte onlosmakelijk verbonden kunnen zijn. Shropshire toont opnieuw dat hij een choreograaf pur sang is.’ – Theaterkrant 

Change is inevitable. Sometimes that change is violent, sometimes it is not.  Often, it simply leaves us feeling ill at ease and slightly confused. The acceptance of this seems essential to the human experience.

Cantata is a work about change, about acceptance. It is also the last and final chapter of an unintended triptych that began in 2014 with My Everlasting, followed in 2017 by We Are Nowhere Else But Here. Although these works were created independently, they are undoubtedly interrelated. Together they form a kind of three–act memory play spanning the last seven years.

The music of Cantata includes Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 82, Ich habe genug written for the Feast of the Purification, February 2, 1727, and based upon the biblical account of Simeon. This sacred cantata explores themes of mortality and acceptance common to 18e century Lutheranism. Cantata also includes two new compositions created especially for this work by Thom Willems, whose transcendent sound environments dialogue beautifully with Bach’s formal compositions.

In moments of unrest, we often wish for change. We wish for social transformation, to hold on to a disappearing past, or simply for a better, brighter, future. But no matter the wish, change will come. It has no alliance. Like the lion or like the lamb, it will untether us, no doubt demanding both endless courage and our complete surrender.

Production: Stephen Shropshire / Korzo Producties

Premiere: January 31, 2019 Korzo Theater, The Hague NL

Dancers: Aimee Lagrange, Ivan Montis, Jussi Nousianen

Production design: Stephen Shropshire

Lighting Design: Xavier van Wersch

Music: Johann Sebastian Bach, Thom Willems

Cantata is made possible with additional financial support from Gemeente Maastricht, Brand Cultuur Fonds Limburg, Stichting Imperium, and Stiftmusik Stuttgart.