The choreographer Ula Sickle and the sound artist Yann Leguay do not only create a new choreography, but the technique it’s based on as well. The triptych of short studies tests the influence of light on our perception of body and space. And this influence is surprisingly strong. On one hand, wonderful images in different settings, bordering on the impossible, are being created: an immovable body is given life in short bursts of light, the dancer is seen from different sides, or a game of shadows turns into an abstract animated movie. But regardless of how stunning the body is in this coupling of dance and light, the true main role still this belongs to the theatrical machine itself – as a metaphor for the process that is substantive to all reality.

This interest in the mechanisms of perception has been present in the works of both artists for quite a while. Ula Sickle previously worked with pre-film techniques and developed Viewmaster, a poetical installation/performance that allowed for the projection of analog images as living holograms. Yann Leguay creates performances where some specific noise evokes a worlds of sound that deals with the technicalities it’s based on. Think of a vinyl record without grooves where the latter are being cut into it live, or magnetophone tapes and CD disks that reproduce the sound of their own recording. Cooperation with Light Solos combines these two fascinations: Ula Sickle focuses on the light as the main requirement for seeing,  but if Viewmaster partly conceals the structure, then Light Solos activate the complete theatrical space. Irrespective of whether it includes stroboscopes, moving robotic profile reflectors or a classical theatre lights, the lighting is complemented by sound in real time and creates a sound landscape that immerses the viewer in an intoxicating universe, while emphasizing its own artificiality at the same time. /Marnix Rummens/

 

Light Solos

Concept Ula Sickle & Yann Leguay

 

Solo#1 (Atomic 5.1) (2010, 20 min)

Choreography & Performance: Ula Sickle / Live Sound: Yann Leguay / Light programmation: Ula Sickle / Dramaturgy: Shila Anaraki / Created with/body doubles: Ramona Nagabczynska, Elisabeth Schilling & Artémise Ploegaerts / Production assistant: Guylaine Huet / Residency: Teatr Nowy (Warsaw), WorkSpaceBrussels (Brussels) & Les Brigittines (Brussels) / With the support of Brigittines & Teatr Nowy / Production: Le Fresnoy 

 

Solo#2 (2011,12 min)

Choreography & performance: Ula Sickle / Live Sound & light manipulation: Yann Leguay / Created with/body double: Elisa Yvelin, Ana Cristina Velasquez / Choreographic assistance: Elisa Yvelin / Dramaturgical Assistance: Adva Zakai / Costumography: Rosalie Stevens / Residencies: Kunstenwerkplaats Pianofabriek (Brussels BE), WorkSpace Brussels (Brussels BE) / Support: the Flemish Community Commission, Traject Subsidie Vlaamse Gemeenschap Comissie (VGC) & The Canada Council for the Arts

 

Solo#3 (2013, 25 min)

Concept: Ula Sickle & Yann Leguay / Choreography & performance: Ula Sickle / Live Sound: Yann Leguay / Light programmation: Yann Leguay, Ula Sickle / Created with/body double: Ana Cristina Velasquez
/ Technical assistance: Raphaël Noël, Grégory Rivoux, Dimitri Stuyven and the technical team of KVS / Production: Caravan Production (Bruxelles, BE) / Coproduction Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Bruxelles, BE). With the support of the Flemish Community Commission of the Brussels Capital Region (VGC), Residency Kunstenwerkplaats Pianofabriek (Brus­sel, BE), KVS (Brussels, BE). / Special thanx: Wieslawa Pikula

 

Technician on tours Gwenael Laroche
Tour organiser Caravan Production (Bruselj, BE)

 

Coproduction: Bunker, Ljubljana and Caravan Production