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Press kit – Pressemappe
Contact : alex@lepatinlibre.com - 0162 889 43 08 – www.lepatinlibre.com
Inmitten all der Pirouetten und Pailletten der
Eiskunstlaufwelt wandten sich ein paar
unerschrockenene, hochkarätige Athleten
von den überkommenen Traditionen des
“...on Ice”- Entertainments ab. Sie
entwickelten eine neue Form des
zeitgenössischen, urbanen und
akrobatischen Tanzes, verbunden mit der
magischen Kraft des Gleitens.
'Le Patin Libre', eine franko-kanadische
Künstlergruppe, gilt als Pionier dieser neuen
künstlerischen Form. Sie wird ihre Arbeit
nun auch das erste Mal in Berlin vorstellen.
Die Gruppe präsentiert ausgewählte Stücke,
die ihre künstlerischen Entwicklung
wesentlich geprägt haben sowie Auszüge
aus ihrer neuesten Produktion.
Nach der Aufführung wird das Publikum von
den Künstlern auf die Eisbühne eingeladen,
um selber das Gleiten zu erleben, auf dem
Eis zu tanzen und gemeinsam zu feiern.
31. Aug. 2013, 19 Uhr
08. Sept. 2013, 15 Uhr
14. Sept. 2013, 19 Uhr
Erika-Heß-Eisstadion (Berlin Wedding),
Müllerstr. 185, U-Bahn Reinickendorfer Straße
Info, Tickets, Videos: www.lepatinlibre.com
"Le Patin Libre" ist eine franko-kanadische Künstlergruppe die sich dem
Contemporary Ice Skating verschrieben hat. In dieser neu entstehenden
künstlerischen Form werden Eis, Schlittschuhe und Gleiten als Medium genutzt.
Die Gruppe wurde im Jahr 2005 auf den gefrorenen Gewässern Montreals gegründet.
Die visionären Eisläufer, die auf internationalem Level starteten, ließen sich von der
Dynamik des zeitgenössischen Tanzes und der Zirkus-Szene in Montreal inspirieren.
Ihr Ziel war und ist es, ihre athletischen Fähigkeiten in Mittel kulturellen Ausdrucks zu
verwandeln. Jenseits von Pailletten und Glitzer des traditionellen “...on Ice”Entertainments sind die Werke von Le Patin Libre bemerkenswerte Kunst, in der die
verblüffenden Potentiale des Gleitens theatralisch und choreografisch erforscht werden.
« Splendid ice-olation » - TimeOut London, Großbritannien, 2012
« Ein echter Performance-Kunst.» - Le Figaro, Frankreich, 2012
« One of Canada’s best kept secret...» - BBC News, Großbritannien, 2013
« Eine kleine Revolution. »
Contact : alex@lepatinlibre.com
0162 889 43 08 – www.lepatinlibre.com
- La Presse, Canada, 2008
…creates an explosion in a discipline
that art forgot and signs its
renaissance.
- Voir, Canada, 2013
“What Is Contemporary Ice Skating?” ist ungezwungen, fröhlich und dabei bedeutende Kunst. Es ist
buchstäblich die Eruption einer neuen künstlerischen Form in Berlin. Vergessen Sie alles, was Sie über
Eisshows oder zeitgenössischen Tanz im Kopf haben. Dies hier ist anders!
Le Patin Libre verbringt den Sommer in Berlin. Der künstlerische Austausch entstand auf Inititative der
eiskunst-werkstatt, birgit aust, die sich der Öffnung neuer Räume im Eislaufen widmet. In Zusammenarbeit
mit der Berliner Eiskunstlaufszene geben die Künstler Workshops und teilen ihre Erfahrungen als
Innovatoren und Rebellen in der erzkonservativen Welt des Eiskunstlaufens.
Vielleicht haben Sie ja schon einen kleinen Eindruck dieser gleitenden Künstler bei ihren Performances mit
Rollerskates auf den Straßen in und um Berlin bekommen.
“What Is Contemporary Ice Skating?” beginnt mit einer 35 minütigen Aufführung aus der
Entwicklungsgeschichte von Le Patin Libre. Darauf folgen Auszüge aus ihrem aktuellen Werk “Skaters
Anonymous”. Es geht ihnen um die Darstellung des Wesens ihrer ursprünglichen künstlerischen
Antriebskraft: die neuen und unerwarteten theatralischen und choreographischen Potentiale des Gleitens,
mit denen Tänzer sich magisch durch große Räume in schwindelerrregender Geschwindigkeit bewegen,
ohne dass sich ein einziges Körperteil regt.
Nach der Aufführung werden die Künstler von Le Patin Libre diese Magie mit dem Publikum teilen. Alle
Zuschauer sind eingeladen Schlittschuhe anzuziehen und zu den Tänzern auf die Eisbühne zu kommen.
Der Komponist der Gruppe übernimmt die Rolle des DJ und die professionellen Eis-Künstler werden für
alle verständlich und umsetzbar in ihre Kunstform einführen. Ja, auch wenn Sie noch nie zuvor auf dem Eis
standen. Am Ende des Abends wird die Eisbahn eine “raving dancing party”!
Dieser Event findet an einem für Kultur und Tanz ungewöhnlichen Ort statt: einer tiefgekühlten Turnhalle,
einer Eisbahn, die normalerweise für Sportarten wie Eiskunstlauf und Eishockey bestimmt ist. Sie erleben
eine kulturelle Avantgarde-Veranstaltung in diesem Tempel konservativen Sports. Hier werden die
Zuschauer eine einzigartige künstlerische Erfahrung machen und Teil der kulturellen
Belebung des Erika-Heß-Eisstadions sein.
Contact : alex@lepatinlibre.com
0162 889 43 08 – www.lepatinlibre.com
Auszug aus dem Pressespiegel
Für Videos und TV-Auftritte bitte diese Links klicken:
Bericht der BBC News, United Kingdom, Januar 2013
Melden Sie Web-TV London, UK, November 2012
Berichterstattung Culturebox, France 3, Dezember 2011
Cultural Chronicle Zeitung TV Radio-Canada, April 2010
TimeOut London, UK, 2012
Kritik an ‘Skaters Anonymous
The Gazette, Kanada, 2013
MONTREAL - With pathos, comedy and a zooming display of
undershorts, the splendid Montreal skating troupe Le Patin Libre
performed an ice-dance show last Saturday unlike any other. Called
Patineurs Anonymes, it was not about traditional figure-skating spins and
jumps, although troupe founder Alexandre Hamel niftily pulled those off
when needed. Instead, it was about pushing skating choreography into
emotional realms far deeper than anything at the Olympic Winter Games
or Disney on Ice.
Growing pains, friends’ disputes, identity crises, protests against authority
— the show’s numbers might have been emotionally top-heavy if not for
abundant visual wit, irony and sophisticated humour. Children may
appreciate the skating skills, but the show’s sentiments were aimed more
at adults.
Patineurs Anonymes opened with Hamel taking a beginner’s tentative first
steps on skates. His stride became more fluid with each turn around the St.
Louis Arena hockey rink until he was whizzing along with the effortless
motion of a Canadian Figure Skating Championships finalist, which he
once was. Eventually he was joined stride for silky stride by Taylor Dilley
and French-born Samory Ba. The troupe’s sole woman, Pascale Jodoin,
was not part of this show, but composer Jasmin Boivin periodically skated
or walked onto the ice to play the cello or bring props.
Wearing handwritten name tags and unglamorous dress — no sequined
shirts for these fellows — the three plopped themselves on chairs flanked
by a table and an easel board instructing them on how to win figure
skating competitions. Each made an attempt to conform to competitive rules, but the loss of individuality was too great a sacrifice.
Hamel kept banging himself into the boards in a running joke, while during a jump, Dilley knocked over the easel with his foot.
Clearly, they were saying that skating holds more potential than what competitive rules allow.
“To which extent can you be your own person in a society that maybe wants you to be something else?” Hamel asked in an interview
before the show. “That’s really why we decided to leave the figure skating world.”
But skating was in their blood, as they showed in a touching number in which Ba removed skates and donned shoes, only to be
prodded by the others until he finally returned to his skates. Talent, the number implied, should never be denied.
In the eight years since Le Patin Libre surfaced, its members have searched for the essence of skating and how they can exploit its
distinctive qualities. The foremost quality, said Hamel, is sliding — not as self-evident as some might think. “One unique aspect ... is
the body can remain immobile but maintain momentum through space. A dancer has to walk or run or move on all fours. In skating, my
feet can remain fixed and I can still move at 40 kilometres an hour.”
The show used this quality beautifully time and again. As immobile as statues, skaters whizzed in and out of darkness. On a tether
attached to Dilley, tall, immobile Ba skimmed around him in great circles. A push or pull by one skater set an immobile colleague in
motion. In each case, the action created an emotional relation between the immobile one and the others. Passivity, aggressiveness,
indifference, helplessness, bewilderment — many states were implied.
But the trio didn’t just slide. As medical patients in blue gowns, they drew laughs with some unusual means of getting around the
“hospital.” More laughs when the gowns came off. Three guys scurrying around a hockey rink in their underwear was a sight to see.
Le Patin Libre created Patineurs Anonymes in Burgundy, France, where its members trained for three-month residencies in each of the
last three years. Although the troupe gets both Quebec and Canadian funding, its main support is in France, where private rinks let the
troupe train during off hours in exchange for performances. The shows, moreover, have done good business in France and in London.
Hamel said he and his colleagues are greatly inspired by Europe’s amateur skaters — mostly male teens on hockey skates — who
practise hip hop and other urban dance moves on public rinks. Montreal forbids amateur dance displays during free hours on municipal
rinks, a policy that Hamel encourages the public to oppose.
As far as Canada goes, Le Patin Libre easily has the coolest guys on skates.
Kritik an ‘Skaters Anonymous (Gefördert im
Rahmen des working-title‚’The Rule of 3’ vor März
2013)
Londondance, UK, 2013
Think of ice skating, and you might think of camel spins and
toe loops, of Tonya Harding landing a triple axel, or of
Torvill and Dean’s breathtaking performance at the
Winter Olympics in 1984. Like ballet and ballroom dance,
ice skating has a visual language of its own, of dazzling leaps
and daring lifts connected with that particular gliding
motion that only comes from the ice. The word skating
instantly conjures up images of ice princesses in sequinned
tunics, pretty choreography strong on entertainment but
low on profundity.
Canadian troupe Le Patin Libre (The Free Skate) aims to
develop figure skating with a new contemporary approach
to skating, and The Rule Of 3 is to Holiday On Ice what
Lloyd Newson is to Marius Petipa. The piece embraces
a pedestrian aesthetic with few showy jumps and more of an
emphasis on careful, minimalist unison and theatrical
passages of near-stillness. Being contemporary, the trio of
performers of course end up skating in their underpants;
perhaps they should be grateful that the show wasn’t
choreographed by fellow Canadian Dave St-Pierre, or
they’d be sliding across the ice wearing even less.
We open with choreographer Alexandre Hamel
struggling to put on his boots and taking his first, cautious, wobbly steps across the ice. Soon he is joined by Taylor Dilley
and the remarkably long-limbed Samory Ba; the three glide around the ice in silent unison and eventually break into a
jazzy Fosse-inspired number. The sparkly waistcoats and high-kicking energy of the routine please an invisible audience,
but all is not well with our trio of skaters who are soon revealed to be in group therapy for some unknown condition.
The piece moves between silent scenes showing the performers in abject silence, slumped on metal chairs in their
discussion group, and vignettes in which the men are shown literally trying to break free from the ice rink, plunging into
the plastic walls, or braiding up and down the rink together with an effortlessness that seems to elude the three in their
therapy sessions. These might be retired skaters unhappy with their lot, or disturbed patients who only dream they are ice
dancers; The Rule Of 3 switches between apparent reality and fantasy without truly revealing which is which.
Towards the end, Ba makes a break for freedom by exchanging his skates for trainers. The others at first applaud but then
won’t let him leave, physically dragging him back into a world of skating that may or may not be real. It’s here the three
cast off their clothes, and they seem to find some kind of liberty in a free-flying trio skated to syrupy popera classic Con Te
Partirò. By giving themselves over completely to the cheesiness of the score, the performers now find in their work an
undeniable joy and beauty.
Audiences looking for figure skating stunts or showdance on ice won’t find either here – The Rule Of 3 is a more thoughtful
and philosophical show that enquires into the very nature of ice skating. There are tropes that dance audiences have
undoubtedly seen before – the sections performed without music, the deliberate falls and ungainly accents, the bits where
nobody seems to be skating at all, the silence – and yet it’s refreshing to see these figures carried across to a new medium.
Figure skating is certainly long overdue a shake-up, and if Le Patin Libre can help bring it spinning and lutzing into the
21st century then very good luck to them indeed.