Two dance productions will be combined over two nights at Trafó House of Contemporary Arts on September 8th and 9th. Trafó have teamed up with New York-i Dance Theatre Workshop to bring you America’s Zoe Scofield and Juniper Shuey’s ‘A Crack in Everything’, as well as Hungarian Anna Réti’s ‘Fregoli Syndrome, or it’s not the clothes that make the man’, a collaboration with Workshop Foundation. We had a chat with Zoe Scofield about her upcoming performance at Trafó.
Zoe Scofield’s a young, talented choreographer from Seattle who studied ballet in Boston. Since moving to Seattle, she’s performed with several choreographers and has presented her own work at high-profile venues and festivals. Zoe took the time to answer a few questions about the upcoming performance, a few weeks before the premier.
You collaborate with video-artist Juniper Shuey. How does it work, creating a piece together?
Juniper and I have worked together since the beginning of our company and my choreographic career; each time we create a new piece our working process is a bit different. Juniper comes from a performance background as well as being a visual artist, so all of his work has performative and theatrical elements. I’m very interested in architecture, video and visual art and bring that way of framing, presenting and ideas of time to the creation and performance of our work. I start with improvising in the studio and see what comes out of the movement. Juniper comes to rehearsals and makes suggestions – from the beginning of a project we’re constantly working together on all elements of the piece
Could you tell us a little about your new work, A Crack in Everything, which you’re premiering at Trafó?
I didn’t know there was a Leonard Cohen song with the line „a crack in everything” in it when I choose this as a title. A friend sent it to me and I was touched to see that the lyrics are so true to my feelings related to the performance: „There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”. That really sums it all up.
Juniper and I started talking about war, fear, retaliation, justice, revenge and the cyclical nature of history. A friend of ours is a Buddhist and a Greek scholar, and he started talking to us about the Oresteia. The nature of flaw, revenge, justice, fear, hurt, the need for forgiveness and stunned submission seems to be everywhere and feels very large and encompassing at this particular moment in the world.
The premier is in three weeks. Is this still an intense period spent working on the piece, changing, adding and re-doing things?
The performance at Trafó is definitely a premiere and the first incarnation of a work that will continue to grow and develop over the next few years. Three weeks will be the shortest time we’ve ever spent actually creating a piece! We’re excited about the experience and a bit scared as well… So yes, it is a very intense period!
Dates: September 8-9 at 8 p.m.
Trafó
1094 Budapest, Liliom utca 41.
Tel: +36.20.984.3669
www.trafo.hu