Back in 1989 DEREVO was performing at OEROL for the very first time!
Aaaaah! Is it really so long ago???
22 years ago this Island made a new hardly noticeable companion to world re-knowned DEREVO theatre company.
Right there in the dunes, under the sky, on the endless sands, in the roaring wind and surf, there the unique principles of DEREVO’s dance have been elaborated. And they mean the mastering of huge spaces, laconic moves, purity of senses, precision in colours of the costumes and props, live music of nature…
Our improvisations here could be just four hours long, as well as nine days and nights without break, like in the „Adventures of the Golden Egg“.
And now at the thirtieth (!) anniversary OEROL Festival, on top of the hill, in an endless wind, blowing all the waste out of your mind and body, here DEREVO performs Mephisto Waltz.
No photograph could possibly convey the power of this place…
But still… here are some photo-visions…
Text: Anton Adasinsky
English text editor: Daniel Williams
Photos: Anna Bogodist, Elena Yarovaya
Photo design: Elena Yarovaya
See also one of the first online photo projects at DEREVO.org dedicated to the Island of Terschelling - Wind & Water »
I, Anton Adasinsky, am responsible for the news text.
Everyone is hurrying me.
Here, I wrote about my dream of a tunnel.
Daniel told me to stop writing a novel in the first person, people would need some facts, where have we been, where will we be, what have we done…
Here, I wrote about where we’ve been and what’s coming up
Lena Yarovaya told me that everyone knows it anyway and that a flatfish is hiding in the sand by using vibrations.
Here, I wrote about the flatfish, although it pretends to be a maggot there.
I’m tired now.
Just read all that you want. It’s just a troubled week of April.
We were in St.P.
HARLEKIN, MEPHISTO WALTZ, the workshop (there was quite a lot of people, about sixty or so). Then there were four days of dreaming up the DROP in the OCEAN.
Then I flew back to Dresden.
I’m not getting sic easily, you know. I mean any flu, quinsy and so on. But suddenly - bamm! I woke up and realise that I don’t want to go anywhere. I don’t want to go to the theatre. Rather I want to read something by James Fenimore Cooper. And I want a thermometer. It says to me: 38°.
Two days have passed like this. To me it’s just as unusual as reading my words in the press. Unusual but wonderful.
Now after a week in St.P., I have decided to end the story.
I’ve got a friend (yes, you can envy me). His name is Igor Timofeev. He lives on the outskirts of St Petersburg. He has a house, a sauna and twenty-eight guitars.
This place is my cavern. When I can’t cope anymore with hearing somebody else’s heart, I can escape there,into the sauna.
Everything describable just stops there. Words and actions change their meaning or lose it completely. We speak to each other there but subjects are not known to us and they’re not suggested by us.
He had a dream.
The manner, as he told it to me, refers to the special language of the steam room.
“raised on horizon… colour of the sky changed… like it was needed there… but they’re drawing here unnatural and a big piece… I unbuttonned the shirt to meet the punch… twenty seconds are still there… first light then I close my eyes then a sound, and in the sound I understand… stand and wait and then the air blows and it’s twisted… ribbed… I see the great playful movements of an accordion which you can touch with your hands… and the eyes flying towards you and me… do you understand!? I’m flying through the nuclear explosion and to my framework… to my skeleton everything is clean understand?? washed and cleaned and inflatable eyes maybe five meters large and I must turn them somehow…”
Then I could remember the rest of my own dream. I’ve never forgotten it to be honest.
I was running and following Pieretta to the stage. It’s a long tunnel. She’s lighter and faster, I wouldn’t be able to reach her. And suddenly I was not chasing her anymore but simply running, precisely and evenly. It was the run to the stage. I kissed my shoulder while I was running there.
On the opposite wall, there was a big letter “E” and then “A”. I realised that I must remember them, for I was running towards the beginning of these words. It’s not hard. When the letters were over I could put together the words “Heat Mode”. Now I was running directly towards the red glow. It was very easy to run.
We’ve added our dreams. I can’t quite remember what has happened after it. Nastya said something about a butterfly who gives a flower a slap in the face. We reproached her with poeticizing of men’s problems. However, the picture of that night has been completed: a butterfly and the hysterical kiss of a light bulb…
Ode to a one-day fly
The worm lying in a tight cocoon
Your life goes forth unhurried
You see no spring, you’re purposeless.
You’re sure you’re resting here for ever.
It’s so delightful, so silent here.
One year or two
But suddently there’s a coolness cracking in.
Scream, you worm! death is coming
Your shield is crackling and it’s scary. Scary!
The wind has blown away the pieces of the cocoon.
Are you dead? No, alive.
So what is that?
Where’s your house? Where’s the tightness and the dryness?
And the crushing there is again like thunder!
Behind your back two wonderful wings unfolded
And you are flying, you are singing.
Your day is in the sky, exposed to the wind
And to the sun of the world
You have been thinking this is death?
But this is life.
Exactly one day long.
Text: Anton Adasinsky
Photos: Elena Yarovaya, C. Friedlander, Lena Dolmatova, Roman Ekimov
Photo Design: Elena Yarovaya
In May Anton and the Positive Band hope to finish the promised CD “Cat on Accordion”. Meanwhile you can enjoy the new video by Andrey Gladkikh to the song “All Seasons” by Andrey Sizintsev, Nikolay Gusev and Anton Adasinsky.
Festspielhaus Hellerau Dresden
21 – 23 April 2011, 20.00
DROP IN THE OCEAN Premiere!
Stage design, costumes, production: DEREVO
Director: Anton Adasinsky
Composer, musical director: Nikolai Gusev
Sound design: Daniel Williams
Light design: Igor Fomin
DEREVO with Elena Yarovaya, Anton Adasinsky, Alexey Merkushev and Oleg Zhukovsky and guests from St. Petersburg – Nikolay Gusev (keyboards), Igor Timofeev (perc., guit), as well as dancers Tatyana Belousova, Nadezhda Lanskaya, Anastasia Ponomareva, Aleksey Lanskoy.
Project manager: Isolde Matkey Costumes: Anne Frumson Props: Andrej Bobylew Assistants: Elena Dolmatova, Ekaterina Lobanova
Technical director: Kai Kaden Production supervisor: Andreas Lorenz Light: Falk Dittrich Stage manager: Steffen Köhler Sound: Helge Petzold, Sandro Schwertner Stage: Peter Tirpitz, Welko Dimitrow
The new production by DEREVO is dedicated to the modern russian folklore and at the same time it’s a nostalgic contribution to the 50th Anniversary of the first space flight of human, as well as to the 50th Anniversary of the city partnership between St. Petersburg and Dresden.
The hero of the journey to the collective past is Petrovich. He could never forget his dreams, in his grey backyard he still tinkers a rocket which will once take him to the outer space…
Host organization: HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts Dresden.
The premiere has been supported by the Culture Foundation of the Free State of Saxony
We’re friends with AKHE. No more, and no less. Sometimes we hug each other when we meet. Sometimes we avoid each other for years. We’re women, in spite of our trouser’s length and our beards’ thickness.
Couldn’t go to the monkeys this year, cos’ I had to give my body some treatment. Hope somebody will bring them bananas.
Since there was some time for doing nothing, I decided to do nothing at the radon bath spa, not too far away from home.
You are usually only allowed to take a radon bath three times a week. And in this village radon saturation is supposed to be particularly strong. However, you can always talk to people, you know… Anyway, I was lying in a bath each day here.
And that’s what has happened.
It was sunny, the bath master covered me with some special cloth and rolled the tub right into the courtyard. It’s February, snow is everywhere and the sun is glistening. I was lying there with just my head sticking out of the tub.
I sneezed. A shadow darted behind me and then an owl landed on my stomach, well on the leather cloth that was lying on my stomach. I was afraid, as I should have been. In the corner of my eye I saw the bath master who was showing me what to do: to puff out your cheek and to beat it with a finger.
My arms were dipped in radon. The owl was very close. I freed my hand and tried to knock on my cheek. The owl shrugged his shoulders (it seemed so to me), retreated to the tub’s edge and aimed his double-barrel at me (i.e. he stared with his eyes). I didn’t have anything else to look at so I looked into his eyes.
Perhaps I fell asleep. Perhaps it was the radon. Perhaps that’s what I’m living for…
…I’m running somewhere amidst a crowd of people. It’s very loud, like a train station but during a celebration.
Behind the peoples’ backs I can see a performance. It’s AKHE. They’re hanging over the stage. Their legs and arms are in loops, all the furniture too. I can’t remember what they were doing but it was something simple. Everyone understands it and they all want to see more.
But it’s difficult to do, since the show is continuously sinking. There’s no stage floor and the audience runs one level down to see how the performance goes on.
The show is shorter here than usually. The sinking picks up the speed. AKHE are very concentrated
The structure of the ropes dictates something to them. They have never really been a theatre company. Everyone sees this now. Actually, they’re Guides on the Way Down when you are in this multi-leveled supermarket. I can’t run down with everyone else anymore. So I enter some department. Salesman warns me not to touch anything.
An unexpected outburst of fury. I smash something on the floor and run downstairs. There are fewer people here, and the movement of AKHE is even faster. I suppose they’re setting sail. They’re on the masts. I can guess what the ending is and I run down, deeper. Staff entrance. Deeper… There are several people around, just as serious as I am. A big hole above us and the applause can be heard from there. Pasha and Maxim are lowering unceasingly and precisely.
Some other spectators and I – all are men – are standing on the edge of a big pit filled with water. AKHE will sink down there in a moment. I will not stop it and I will not see it. I’m looking at the men all around. They’re very russian-looking – in grey and in black. On the contrary, the colours of AKHE are beautiful like the post stamps from Guinea.
I was staring at the owl. A light-bulb was blinking. It’s time to get out of the tub. My finger was on my cheek and rather frozen.
Text: Anton Adasinsky
English text editor: Daniel Williams
Photo: Elena Yarovaya, Silvio Dittrich, Anton Adasinsky
Photo design: Elena Yarovaya
Great news for our russian friends. Right after the perfomances in St. Petersburg in March 2011, there is a 3 day long workshop by Anton Adasinsky to be held. With many special exerсises and with deeper looks into the DEREVO system. Unfortunately this is only available for russian-speaking participants and audience.
With +10 °C in Dresden just a couple of days ago and with -24 °C in St. Petersburg right now we’re fearlessly looking forward to the Spring which is coming soon.
Meanwhile the tickets for our shows in both Dresden and St. Petersburg (and then Dresden again) can already by booked online.
TOTENTANZ 2011 in Dresden (18-19 March, Dreikönigskirche Dresden)
To be sung in chorus with anyone and anywhere.
Loud and with laugh
F maj7+5 D# maj7
For the year has passed C add9 D# G maj7
Thank you, thank you!
For the new year to come
Thank you, thank you!
For the many performances and for the joy
Thank you, thank you!
For the fever and the health
Thank you, thank you!
For the love and understanding
Thank you, thank you!
For the insults and conciliation
Thank you, thank you!
For forever and ever
Thank you, thank you!
For the freedom of deeds! By heart!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!
WeAreWonderfullyTiredOfTheBigYearOfTheMonkeyMephistoSokurov
CatOnAccordionHermitageThirdEvidenceLodzFlashMiracleWhiteFortress
EdinburghFarEastVikaPirozhkKhabarovaShagallStudioLaughPositivBand
NewAlbumSaintPetersburgYarovayaBookHarlekinInsomniaHomer…
come closer, yet closer… don’t be afraid…
Text: Anton Adasinsky
English text editor: Daniel Williams
Photos: Elena Yarovaya, Elena Dolmatova, K. Chmura-Cegielkowska, Anna Bogodist
Photo design: Elena Yarovaya
The idea came to me during the filming of the «Faust» by A. Sokurov
The forced immobility and the total ban even for my daily excercises (to keep the character’s spirit intact) were exhausting.
Now this is a kind of dance version of the film coming up as «revenge».
Though it’s quite unclear where the scarecrow comes from. But nobody’s bewildered by that at DEREVO.
Harlekin’s life is jolly and wondrous!
We were in Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, St. Petersburg. Now we’re travelling to Serbia, then Budapest, then to…. And yes, the book about Me-Harlekin is available now. You can see it here:
It’s like a libretto or a manual.
And last but not least: my notion entitled „Motorway – the moles’ tomb“ has been approved for consideration by the Greens. By boring six cm wide holes at two meter intervals on all roads passing a wood moles can reach the surface freely. Too many of them get stuck under the asphalt only to find death!
Text: Anton Adasinsky
English text editor: Daniel Williams
Photos: Anton Adasinskiy, Elena Yarovaya
Photo design: Elena Yarovaya
It happened in some way that my arms were opened widely in October, so many things could be embraced at once.
Look on the right – there’s a book to publish,
Look on the left – there’s a CD to finish,
Go ahead – there’s a performance to create,
Think what’s behind – there’s memories to write down.
I had to put off the trousers to avoid tearing them; and the DEREVO train had to roll on three different tracks…
October 22nd: an improvisation in the Nikolayevsky Hall at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
Something weird is here:
Then there was a loud week (since we were laughing rather loudly) spent with the recording of the new Album by Anton and the Positive Band „Cat on Accordion“.
Something funny is here:
Then the new book «Profession: Harlekin».
We won’t show you the book quite yet (it’s out on November the 4th) but from the cuttings and clippings Nastya Ponomareva could glue together a nice animation.
Here it is:
And that’s all in just 11 days!
This time I’ve spent about 20 days in St. Petersburg. This duration must be a record for my brain. Now I’m in Germany and I think about it. I think it’s not JUST some differences between the countries and people, it’s an abyss which is getting wider and deeper.
Soon we’ll not be able to understand or see each other. Hence we’ll not disturb each others’ own madness.
The live action „Cat on Accordion“ that happened in September in the courtyard of Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg requires some deeper realisation. I hope you’ll be able to see and hear what happened there soon.
Text: Anton Adasinsky
English text editor: Daniel Williams
Photo: Nastya Ponomareva, Elena Yarovaya, Anton Adasinsky
Photo design: Elena Yarovaya
DEREVO’s tour plan has been updated recently with some new dates and options particularly for performances in Russian Far East. HARLEKIN will be played in Vladivostok and Khabarovsk and optionally in Ekaterinburg. The dates for HARLEKIN performances in St. Petersburg have been confirmed as well. Please don’t miss the appearances of DEREVO with the critically acclaimed HARLEKIN in Subotica (Serbia) and Budapest (Hungary). An appearance in Antwerpen (Belgium) has been confirmed for the February 2011.
Third Evidence
Improvisation by Anton Adasinsky (Body) & Nikolay Gusev (Music).
Festival “Georges Pompidou Centre at the Hermitage”, St. Petersburg
Nikolayevsky Hall
October 10, 2010, 12:15
…just wake up early and run along the beach to the rising sun. The rustling breath sound quite like the hissing surf and you’re feeling happy because of your wet ankles…
Then the sun shines in the drops of sweat on your belly. You smile and you swim, and when you look back you see the lump of clothes on the shore…
(From one girl’s letter)
When shall I marry? // This year, next year, sometime, never. // What will my husband be? // Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich-man, poor-man, beggar-man, thief.
a counting game
…Do not swear, please! All of you are under suspicion!…
“I know why ‘Harlequin’, it’s for the help of his spirit. You could call the play in any other way, couldn’t you? And the costume is not that of Harlequin. It’s of The Poet! Pierette is his Muse. That’s so right! The Monkey is his inner demon, his sick and run-away heart! Isn’t it just like from Mayakovsky?”
And right there amidst roaring buses he started to read it out in Russian:
…I’ll shut my mouth.
Not a single wail
Will escape my hard-bitten lips.
Bind me to comets
Like to horses’ tails,
And gallop me,
Tearing my flesh on the stars’ sharp tips.
Or else,
When the soul drops the body, decides to leave it,
And comes to your judgment,
Dully flinching,
Over
The Milky Way put up the gibbet,
And like a criminal, seize me and lynch me.
Do what You will,
Quarter me! and let me remain thus.
I myself will wash Your hands clean! I allow it.
Only do this
For me,–
Take away that heinous,
Whom You’ve made my only and true beloved!..
400 years ago some actor asked to join a wandering minstrels company.
His appearance was rather interesting: ragged and patched robe, blackened face…
“Has he never washed himself?”, asked the ‘Father’ of the actors family
“No, he has burned”
“How comes that?”
“He had to fall from a great heights”
“What’s that on his forehead?”
“A horn shiver”
Actors cracked up together.
‘Father’ raised his voice and they fell silent.
“Thine eyes are sharp. Go thou on stage to-day and to-morrow. It is for spectators to decide.”
Spectators decided. The new actor was accepted in the company
“How must we call thee, horned creature?”
“Alichino”
Who have you been? What was your name, a wandering actor? And why, just why you chose a devil’s name?..
Text: Anton Adasinsky
English text editor: Daniel Williams
Drawings: Frances Drewery
Photos: Elena Yarovaya, D. Adasinsky
Photo design: Elena Yarovaya
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