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IJK
IJK
IJK, the title shows i, j and k vectors of the three dimensions, in the space geometry.
IJK, is a volume, the volume of the stage, the volume in which is going to appear a movement and the writing of the movement follows here a logic of juggling.
Juggling of objects, where several volumes, parallelepipeds, are placed on the stage, and where the whole is conceived to be displaced, manipulated, as principal accessory of the actor. Its movement generates changes of space and makes us think of the Cubes Game of Oskar Schlemmer.
Juggling of bodies, where the three actors, two boys and one girl like in The Triadic Ballet, are using cubes as support and base of their movements and invest the inside of these volumes for an acrobatic research in confined spaces.
Juggling of balls finally, where the research is guided by the sound produced by balls when they bounce on and inside the cubes. This approach reveals the rhythmic and musical character of juggling. Here the acoustic volume is placed on the front.
With the fabrication of a music, IJK is akin to the idea of musical spectacle dear to the Bauhaus feasts, and also the idea of the burlesque actor. The graphics of lights which resumes in flat and widely the volumes present on stage places IJK at the meeting point between these two poles: between abstract art and the humour of the absurd. ?
Aurélien Bory – March 2006
IJK is about hearing the music in juggling.
Aurélien Bory
Dance in Review
20 May 2008
Compagnie 111, New Victory Theater
When the French troupe Compagnie 111 last appeared in New-York in 2004, it brought a quietly captivating show, “Plan B”, that involved a fanciful well and spooky, illusionary tricks. It also possessed the sort of homespun imagination that hooked a child’s mind, yet appealed to adults.
While childlike and naïve, Compagnie 111 was never childish.
This physical-theater company has returned to the New Victory Theater with “IJK”, a 60-minute production that, frankly, seemed on Saturday to hold the most magic for the younger set (those under 10). The first work in a trilogy – which includes “Plan B” and “More or Less, Infinity” – “IJK” is a playful exploration of geometry and volume.
Conceived by Aurélien Bory, the company’s artistic director, the work is simply told through short scenes. Stripped on theatrical excess, “IJK” features Mr. Bory, Olivier Alenda and Anne de Buck, who rely on cubes, balls and, or course, the body to challenge ideas about perception and reveal the poetry behind physics.
“IJK” begins in the dark and gradually comes to life with Arno Veyrat’s lighting, which casts geometric shapes in cheerful greens ans oranges. Lines and angles – for instance, the way one cube tips sideways against another – figure in the work’s spatial design. After a while it becomes very “Sesame Street”.
As much as “IJK” relies on visual illusion, it is also an exploration of sound and rythm. In an early scene Ms. de Buck plays the accordion as bouncing balls add percussion ; later Mr Alenda juggles and dribbles balls while stomping out a brisk flamenco dance.
When compared with the memory of “Plan B”, the work is a disappointment. Bet “IJK” is never pretentious. When the tricks get tiresome, turn to a trick that works and watch it through a child’s eyes.
Gia Kourlas
Distribution
With Olivier Alenda, Aurélien Bory, Anne De Buck
And Stéphane Ley, Arnaud Veyrat
Originaly directed by Christian Coumin
Revised by Phil Soltanoff
Conception Aurélien Bory
Juggling research Olivier Alenda, Aurélien Bory
Light design Arnaud Veyrat
Sound engineer Stéphane Ley
Costume Sylvie Marcucci
Artistic collaboration Thierry Dussout
Photographer Aglaé Bory
Head of Production Florence Meurisse
Production manager Clément Séguier-Faucher
Press Plan Bey Agency
PRODUCTION Compagnie 111 – Aurélien Bory
COPRODUCTION Théâtre de la Digue/Toulouse, Espace Apollo/ Mazamet.
With the support of : Conseil Régional Midi-Pyrénées, Conseil Général de la Haute-Garonne, Mairie de Toulouse, Studio de création du Lido / Centre des arts du Cirque de Toulouse.
IJK is the first part of a trilogy about space. The other parts, Plan B and Plus ou moins l’infini were created in collaboration with Phil Soltanoff.