Foreland – Bach and Britten
"As the last movement resonates powerfully through the St. Matthew Church, it seems as if the music is tearing the dancer apart from the inside. And as the last note fades a perfect silence descends for a moment... The playful conversation around Bach’s suite becomes, in the context of Britten’s music, rather a clearly structured dialogue" Maria Ladopoulos, Tanzschreiber
"What makes "Foreland - Bach and Britten" a unique audio-visual experience is this body’s readiness to have the sounds come and go, not submitting to the reverberant power of the cello, but accepting its "offerings", such as the staccatos and moments of extended playing technique where the bow ricochets over the strings, as an invitation to find a response in the organicity of the dancer’s, and the musician’s, body." Lea Pischke, Stream
“It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness, of pain: of strength and freedom. The beauty of disappointment and never-satisfied love. The cruel beauty of nature and everlasting beauty of monotony.” - Benjamin Britten
Foreland – Bach and Britten is a solo dance performance by Berlin-based choreographer and dancer Nitsan Margaliot in collaboration with Amsterdam cellist Isaac Lottman. The work engages concerto and choreography into an exciting dialogue. Foreland combines the two masterpieces, Johann Sebastian Bach's 5th Cello Suite and Benjamin Britten's Suite 1, op. 72, with a virtuosic dance interpretation that gives physical expression to the passionate and powerful music. Its German premiere takes place in the frame of Soundance Festival at St. Matthäus-Kirche, Berlin.
Dance, Choreography: Nitsan Margaliot
Cello: Isaac Lottmann
Dramaturgy: Tamar Grosz & Anna Chwialkowska
Styling: Jay Barry Matthews (with Nitsan Margaliot & Joachim Perez)
Production: Uta Engel (LEAD Productions)
Press: Lea Pischke
Nitsan Margaliot (IL/DE) is a choreographer, dancer, and curator entangled with familial and queer archives, fabulation, and vulnerable encounters. He has danced with the Batsheva Ensemble and Vertigo Dance Company. His choreographic works have been presented at festivals and venues in Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Israel and the USA. Nitsan holds an MFA from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. In 2020 he received the ‘Best Dancer’ award at the SoloDuo International Dance Festival NRW. He is a 2022-2023 recipient of the Tanzpraxis stipend granted by the Berlin Senate Department of Culture and Europe.
Isaac Lottman (NL) started playing cello when he was two years old. He had lessons with Aatie Aarts, Monique Bartels & Charles Watt. When he turned 13 he entered the Sweelinck Acadamy in Amsterdam where he studied with Monique Heidema. Since 2020 he is a student at the Conservatory Of Amsterdam and is traininng under the auspices of Pieter Wispelwey. He followed masterclasses with Jean-Guihen Queyras, Dmitri Ferschtman, Anastasia Kobekina, Gary Hoffman & Jeroen Reuling. In 2019 he received the first price at the Britten Concours and was the winner of the second price at the cello biennale competition in 2022.
More about Soundance Festival: soundance-festival.de
More about Stiftung St. Matthäus: stiftung-stmatthaeus.de
Foreland – Bach und Britten is supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of Neustart Kultur.
Review by Maria Ladopoulos
Review by Lea Pischke
Trailer
Excerpt
