26th November, 2024
09th October, 2019Choreographed & directed by Sujay Saple, G5A Foundation for Contemporary Culture presents the Mumbai premiere of Shapeshift's ‘You Want Me To Stay For Anything In Particular?’ The shows which began from 4th October will culiminate on 13th October as part of G5A's Performance Long Runs. ‘Do You Want Me To Stay For Anything Particular?’ is designed as a concert of sound, and of movement.
The work has been created through an exciting collaboration between performance maker and designer Sujay Saple, and Mitsuaki Matsumoto, a sound artist and musician from Japan. “I think the first thing when you approach a collaboration (other than an obvious interest in each other’s work) is to see where we meet, what wavelengths we share. For both of us, it’s our attraction and interest in formal and abstract art-making process. We’re not straight, linear narrative content-y (sic) people. We are not into see-through, easy emotion - we like to explore how constructions and deconstructions can create new experiences - subtle nuanced responses.", says Sujay Saple.
The duo had previously collaborated in 2017 on two separate interdisciplinary projects, both choreographed by South African choreographer Moya Michael based in Brussels. The show is a choreographed sonic experience involving one musician and one performer, with a small number of spectators placed in intimate proximity to the artists and to each other. This concert has been designed to enable a strong, visceral exploration of absence and loss, residues and recollection, and the intangible moments that get left behind.
As Mitsuaki Matsumoto travels to India, he shares, “It’s nice to come to India to do something different. Usually, I only play and do concerts, my own thing. For me it’s an extension (of my own practice) to work with choreographers and theatre artists, so I propose (sic) to Sujay - let’s do something.” Other than creating experimental electronic soundscapes, another interesting feature of Mitsuaki’s concert is his musical instrument itself. It is a self-modified string instrument, entirely fashioned and designed by Mitsuaki – using ‘lost’ remnants and dismembered parts of other musical instruments, mainly the Japanese Biwa and the cello.
This instrument itself will play an important ‘role’ in the piece, not just as a sonic device for a music performance, but also as a central sculptural object.
So what is ‘Do You Want Me To Stay For Anything Particular?’ in short it is a concert of sound, and of movement. Irreverent towards harmony and melody, both musician and dancer wade through a haunting terrain of carefully fragmented silences, spasms of sound, darknesses, and absences. Music is not always the driving force, and the dancing body is not always the centrepiece. Together, the two performers invert the notion of a concert, inviting the listener to also see, and the spectator to also listen. In this sensory space, sound and body often disappear, suggesting the loss of something tangible and yet elusive. The work proposes that the quiet and unseen happenings might be the ones that last.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
SujaySaple (choreographer, designer)
Sujay is Artistic Director of Shapeshift a dance-theatre company based in Mumbai. He has choreographed nine original works Unselfed(2012), 'Moonfool(2014), Ghar Ki Murgi(short,2017), Agent Provocateur(2017), Plastic Bodies(short,2017), Sculpting Intimacy(performance-installation, 2018), This Is All There Is When There Is All This(2018, with Rachel Dsouza, for The Company Theatre), Lullaby, Stranger (2018), and Sons Of The Soil(short,2018), which have performed at various festivals and vital venues around India and received rave reviews. He has been an independent performer, director, designer and workshop conductor, working actively in the field of performing arts for over seventeen years, and on more than 50 collaborative performance projects. He lives in Mumbai.
Mitsuaki Matsumoto (musician)
Mitsuaki is an audio-visualist, visual artist, composer, sound performer, and scenographer. Under the name of Mathieu Martin, he has been developing audio and visual works, which have no particular direction nor visible form, with the goal of giving spectators a physiological feeling. With this point of view, he also creates scenographic work, and has worked with French visual artist Marc Plas. Mitsuaki’s solo work tries to create a ‘sensory space’ through different means, from acoustic to electric, from analog to digital, from stereo to surround. As a musician, he plays in different contexts: acoustic improvisation music (bandoneon), prepared sitar (self-made instrument), electronic sound accompaniment for dance etc. He has often played in collaboration with instrumentalists: Pierre Bastien, Hans Koch, Cristian Vogel, JaapBlonk, Tetsuzi Akiyama, Kazuo Imai and many others. In Tokyo, he organizes the "Croisements" festival Tokyo edition (solo improvisation festival) which reflects on the nature of improvised music, and in Kagoshima prefecture the "Croisements Kagoshima" concert series. Mitsuaki lives and works in Nara.
Mallika Singh (performer)
Mallika Singh is a theatre performer. She has worked with Trishla Patel (tpot Productions), RaghavDutt (Rangbaaz), PurvaNaresh (Arambh), Atul Kumar (The Company Theatre) and Rajat Kapoor (Cinematograph). She has been a part of plays like Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of An Author, Aaj Rang Hai, Parey, Chaar Small, children’s plays Wolf, Growing Up, Jungle Book 2, Jhoom’s musical IshqAaha, The Company Theatre Production This is all there is when there is all this, directed by SujaySaple and Rachel D'Souza, Cinematograph's What's done is done directed by Rajat Kapoor, Aadyam produced Ladies Sangeet directed by PurvaNaresh and the recently premiered Aadyam production Detective Nau-Do-Gyarah directed by Atul Kumar. She has performed in an Amazon Prime Web-Series titled MADE IN HEAVEN directed by Zoya Akhtar and NityaMehra, and Excel Entertainment’s feature film GULLY BOY directed by Zoya Akhtar. She has also worked with MIRCHI LIGHTS PRODUCTIONS as a writer and director for corporate projects and schools.
Poorna Swami (dramaturg)
Poorna Swami is a dancer, choreographer, and writer. She has performed her choreography in and around New York City, at the Wassaic Project Festival, Theater for the New City, Gibney Dance, Movement Research, WAXWorks at Triskelion, and La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. She has also performed in dances by Paul Matteson, Gina Leung, OhadNaharin (restaging), Anne Zuerner, and Lucy Sexton. For the 2017 edition of the Attakkalari India Biennial, Poorna edited Attakkalari’s online dance magazine, Ligament, and facilitated the festivals Writing on Dance Laboratory. Between 2015-2017 she served as India Editor-at-large of the international online literary journal, Asymptote. Poornas writing has featured in publications such as The Caravan, Open Magazine, The Wire, The Hindu BLink, Words Without Borders, Indiana Review, HaydensFerry Review, and Prelude. She holds a BA in Dance-Theatre and English from Mount Holyoke College (USA).
Details:
Performance:
‘Do You Want Me To Stay For Anything Particular?’
Dates: Friday 4th October to Sunday 13th October 2019
Timings: 9 pm (daily 1 show) on Thursdays & Fridays; 6 pm and 9 pm (daily 2 shows)on Saturdays & Sundays
At: G-5/A, Laxmi Mills Estate, Shakti Mills Lane, Mahalaxmi
Duration: 60 minutes without an interval
Suitable for ages 12+ Choreographed and Designed by: Sujay Saple
Performed by: Mitsuaki Matsumoto and Mallika Singh
Dramaturgy by: Poorna Swami
Production Manager: Samrat Chandanshive
Supported by The Japan Foundation, New Delhi and G5A Foundation for Contemporary Culture.
Watch the teaser right here:
