Simone Truong : Choreographer
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as long as it last _ short version of the piece 9'

_ Simone is the choreographer and dancer, she sends videos of herself dancing by e-mail to cesar
_ Cesar is the video, stage and sound designer, he receives Simone's movements, texts and ideas and mixes
_ they create a performance together for you, the audience

2007/03/12, Simone sends a text and a draft of the choreography to cesar.
video text

"I realized there's no need
to carry anything anymore."
"I wish you wouldn't do that."
"I'm not going to start believing in things.
That's not who I am."
"But what if it's who I am?"


Is a promise a promise
if you know you won't be able to keep it?


His mind was filled with things that only he knew.
Which is why it disappeared to its unknown fate.
There is a world without sound.
No one speaks, no one laughs out loud or wails.
Fires don't cackle.
Houses don't moan.
Waves crash, but silently.


she had
what she thought might be an important idea.
It came as a tremendous relief.
But as soon as the fingertips of her brain touched it,
the idea started to move away from her.
she resolved to start carrying
a little book for ideas
that might otherwise be lost.
Because lost ideas are converted
into the feeling of loss.
On the first page she wrote,
"There is a world without sound."


There is a world in which silences are embodied.
The silence between a husband and wife
might take the shape of a kitchen window,
or a pocket watch,
or an ocean in a pocket.


Everything happens backward.
Words go into people, instead of coming out of them.
The edge of a sheet of paper heals a paper cut.
we know each other
less and less as time passes.
The end of everyday
is the beginning of every day.
One day we'll only barely know each other.
We'll drive backward


Words leave stains.
Some words are like lipstick around the end of a cigarette,
and some are like wine across a tablecloth,
and some are bloody.
Stained glass is always installed clear--
Some stains can be washed away,
Some stains are permanent.


And there is a world in which you can see what people are thinking.
Some people carry bank vaults over their heads,
and some commas and parentheses,
and some the naked image
of whomever they are looking at,
or of someone else.
Others carry nothing.
What about the people
who will be near me in the ground?
Have I ever passed one of them on the street
without knowing it?
Some people won't go out in public,
fearing what others might see them think.
Some won't stay inside.
Some pin their lovers against walls
and point at what they're thinking
and apologize,
or wait for apologies.
2007/03/10 After receiving the text and the dance draft, Cesar creates a typographical stage design, associated to the mouvements of the dancer : so please imagine these letters and graphic projected on the dancer's body and background.

For now the video has been timed with the speed of the text being read, but the video here requires re-timing to fit the choreography : the entire sequency has to durate about 6 minutes (next video). The video also needs cleaning, so the contrast is stronger.

download the video quicktime : 47mo

stills

text projected : imagine the body of the dancer associated with the letter, the lightning ...

 
"I realized there's no need
to carry anything anymore."
"I wish you wouldn't do that
"I'm not going to start believing in things.
That's not who I am."
"But what if it's who I am?"
Is a promise a promise
if you know you won't be able to keep it?
His mind was filled with things that only he knew.


Which is why it disappeared to its unknown fate.
There is a world without sound.
No one speaks, no one laughs out loud or wails
Fires don't cackle.
Houses don't moan.



Waves crash, but silently.
she had
what she thought might be an important idea.
It came as a tremendous relief.
But as soon as the fingertips of her brain touched it,
the idea started to move away from her.
she resolved to start carrying
a little book for ideas
that might otherwise be lost.
  Because lost ideas are converted
into the feeling of loss.
On the first page she wrote,
"There is a world without sound."
There is a world in which silences are embodied.
The silence between a husband and wife



might take the shape of a kitchen window,
or a pocket watch,or an ocean in a pocket.
Everything happens backward. Words go into people, instead of coming out of them.
The edge of a sheet of paper heals a paper cut.
we know each other
less and less as time passes. The end of everyday
is the beginning of every day.
One day we'll only barely know each other.
We'll drive backward Words leave stains.
Some words are like lipstick around the end of a cigarette,
and some are like wine across a tablecloth,
and some are bloody.
Stained glass is always installed clear--
Some stains can be washed away,
Some stains are permanent.
And there is a world in which you can see what people are thinking.
Some people carry bank vaults over their heads,
and some commas and parentheses,
and some the naked image
of whomever they are looking at,
or of someone else.
Others carry nothing.
What about the people
who will be near me in the ground?
Have I ever passed one of them on the street
without knowing it?
Some people won't go out in public,
fearing what others might see them think.
Some won't stay inside.
Some pin their lovers against walls
and point at what they're thinking
and apologize,
or wait for apologies.

 
2007/03/19, Simone sends a new version of the video and comments to Cesar.
video comments of Simone to Cesar video
Je suis assez contente de la façon que la pièce avance quoiqu’ il y a encore beaucoup à faire. Mais de toute façon je ne stresse pas car on fait ce qu’on peut et si on ne finit pas au bout, nous avons encore du temps de le changer pour juin.
En général j’aime bien la vidéo, surtout l’esthétique de l’image. Donc c’est une bonne direction. J’ai essayé plein de truc dans le studio avec et ça donnait bien avec la danse. En court ce que je pense :
* Ça ne marche pas avec la synchronisation de la voix avec les lettres. Trop illustratif (mais j’aime beaucoup ta voix avec ton accent français, très sexy... J ).
* J’ai essayé de jouer avec le texte. Tu vois en peu comment je l’ai mis dans la pièce. C’est un essai, en spectacle ça serait deux personnes, une fille et un garçon qui vont dire le texte. Je vais l’enregistrer en avance. Je pense que c’est mieux qu’avoir nos voix car sinon, on va penser que la pièce s’agit de notre relation.
* Je suis toujours en recherche d’une music. Un truc assez physique, mais un peu méditatif avec beaucoup de basse. Si tu as quelque chose à proposer de ta immense bibliothèque, tu es bienvenu.
* Les differents éléments (danse, music, vidéo) doivent être indépendants, mais connectes.
* J’aime bien les grandes lettres et les phrases multiplies sur toute l’image
* J’aime bien ta main dans l’image, quelquefois elle pourrait être plus discret
* Ça serait bien si le noir pourrait être plus noir
* On peut plus jouer avec la taille et la dynamique des changements pour donner vie a ton travail et le mettre en équilibre avec la danse
* Je trouve que l’idée de filmer les gens pourrait être intéressant mais ça irait dans une autre direction du concept. Les lettres/phrases et les gens sont deux choses différentes et n’iront pas ensemble.
* Je t’ai fait un box avec des néons et une caméra a l’intérieur.Comme ça on peut produire les black-out totaux s’il y aurait en plus une autre personne à cote du projecteur pour bloquer la lentille dans les moments de black-out.
* On doit aussi regarder pour les lumières de théâtres comment s’arranger. La projection est un élément en soit et je ne veux pas détruire l’image mais on doit également regarder que la danse a assez de lumière pour soutenir l’atmosphère et mettre les choses en valeur. c’est assez délicat ce truc, j’ai un peu essaye et c’est difficile à combiner.
2007/03/25, Cesar arrives in Arnhem and meets Simone. The story takes a dramatic turn, no i'm kidding, they are SUPERsomething Happy to meet of course ! They have a big discussion.

all roll as long as it lasts

as long as it lasts

Simone

It's Simone's piece, but it's a duo, the graphic work of Cesar shouldn't be the one of only a follower based on the text, but really a dance duo, they have to be working together, not one for the other. Eveything has to be redone, the graphic work of Cesar now focuses more on the dance sensation rather than on the text, which is understood in it's own dramatic way. Cesar becomes a "graphic-dancer", his body being light projected on scene LIVE ...

The piece appears to be very graphic, as they know now what the piece looks like (for the dance part) they are going to draw together the piece, and Cesar will also make the music according the gesture.

The music will be very simple and provide a strong feeling of space like Richard Serra sculptures. Cesar started to record the sound made from the contact of the microphone with the skin. Cesar recorded his own skin sound, and Simone's one. After several treatments, the music would be the sound of the surface of their bodies, creating voids and contacts with the 2 "bodies-sounds", creating a musical and conceptual relation between the "real-body" on stage of Simone, and the "light body" of Cesar, projected yet tangible and sensual.

 

On the right is a bundle of scketches of mouvements coordinated with the dance... as simple as possible ...

 
2007/03/28, first run with music ect ...

Here's a draft of the piece, needs re-timing, music proper mixing, the voices of the actors, editing ... tomorow we have the first public presentation, we'll have 2 cameras ...

 
2007/04/04, This is the piece ! The first is the short version edited (recommended), and the second is the real time version (please understand that the feeling of time is dramatically different on stage and on the screen). Please watch it, and give us feedbacks.

as long as it lasts _ short version 9 minutes

download quicktime 31,4 mo

as long as it lasts _ long version 19 minutes

download quicktime 55,1 mo

For more informations on the piece, please visit simonetruong.org
2007/04/05, Cesar edits a DVD containing this whole work, the short and the long version, attached documents, festival material ...

dvd cover : as long as it lasts

If you are of a festival organisation, please ask Simone to send you a copy of this DVD.

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