"La Strada" 2011
(Comments © by "LaStrada, Graz")
"via!"
les clandestines - (fr)
They tell of love, parting, work, repression, death and homesickness: Italian folk songs pierce your very heart. It is said that the country´s turbulent history has endowed them with this extraordinary force.
This is what "Les Clandestines" pursue in their project. They do not seem to sing these songs; rather, they act them out. In this way their tours through the city become a musical journey to the landscapes of the soul. Strong-voiced women enjoy to the full the humour and poetry of this treasure of songs.
You are invited to walk, sing, laugh and cry along!
"barco de arena"
claire ducreux - (fr)
Being a dancer, Claire doesn´t need a lot to set the world swinging. Here she sets sail on a semicircle of metal and embarks on a journey through atmosphere and elsewhere, because Claire´s boat trips and bridge-building lead to diverse landscapes far from daily routine, where sadness turns into a fertiliser of exuberance, loneliness dances with humour and tenderness with doubt.
Gravity-defying street dance performance seasoned with generous helpings of clumsiness: gorgeous, highly emotional and pretty funny.
"rondafonio"
factoria circular - (es)
It´s really completely straightforward: all you have to do is build a giant wheel, let´s say four to five metres high. Then you mount wheels on it to be able to drive through the city. And of course you mustn´t forget to leave space in the middle for three musicians. For example, for a guitarist, a saxophonist and a drummer (including full drum kit).
And while the wheel is turning, the three make music that travels; really wicked funk and the like. Completely straightforward, like we said. Nevertheless, a whirl of excitement!
"re:locations"
samson ogiamien - (at)
The river and its banks as symbols of transition:
On both sides of the river Mur, Samson Ogiamiens´ installation Re:Location stages the stages of a migration, describes being stranded in a foreign place and the efforts of the search for identity in a conflict between origin and arrival.
Ogiamien processes personal experience of exile, loss and a new beginning in six sculptures, which he positions on the river bank and in the centre of the river. The global phenomenon of migrant experience becomes thus visible in the middle of the city, where middle-class and suburban Graz of the left and right river banks respectively traditionally meet.
"the green man"
adrian schvarzstein - (es)
Street theatre at its best, "The Green Man" show is characterised by a wealth of improvisation and interaction with the audience and lots of slapstick. The friendliest alien ever lands in Graz ... a top-notch one-clown-show.
"nal boa"
ex nihilo - (fr)
Public space as work place: newsagents, musicians, sausage vendors - they get things right. But only Ex nihilo actually proves that it is also possible to perform contemporary dance in the street.
This time, their multi-faceted tales of time and space reach a new climax in "Nal Boa". Here, Asia meets Europe and a distinct dance tradition encounters an extrovert game between group and individual, presenting and staging the city physically, spontaneously and highly suggestively.
"l´enterrement de maman"
cacahuète - (fr)
The passionate desire to go beyond borders, the mischievous delight in minor scandal; nobody has cultivated this quite like Cacahuete´s wicked fingers.
For 25 years these parading comedians have been catching unsuspecting street audiences off-guard with gently mischievous pomp and fanfare, as naughty mannequins or as a funeral procession, bringing them to tears of laughter.
For the silver jubilee of their legendary funeral campaign Cacahuète return to Graz at last: "It hasn´t worked so well anywhere else" they assure us innocently.
"titanic"
theater titanick - (de)
In the age of technology, apocalypses are man-made. Already in its early days, in April 1912, this was so. Now, 99 years later, the Titanic´s fateful encounter with an iceberg repeats itself in a theatre inferno spraying out sparks - live music included. Fire and water effects accompany the first and last voyage of the luxury liner, which emerges like a time-lapse sequence from a tangle of pipes and tubes.
During a relay event of pomp and fanfare nobody notices the strange rumble - only the engineer identifies the approaching catastrophe. Unfortunately all the others on board are engaged with a feast, champagne and the ladies´ décolletages - bad luck. So the luxurious party turns briskly into a magnificent orgy of doom with exuberant passengers and a crew in the mood for celebration, limping marches and fire in the engine room.
For La Strada, this magnificently unsightly spectacle marks a revival of the grand final production; a strong finish!
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