QUARTET

Contemporary Dance performance

Mirabelka Institute, 2023

The performance lasts 53 minutes and is part of the cultural and arts education program. A discussion with the creators (45 minutes) follows the performance.

Choreography and video direction: Magdalena Reiter
Dance and co-creation: Jerca Rožnik Novak, Beno Novak
Video design: Sandi Skok
Music: August Adrian Braatz
Set design: Urša Vidic, Maruša Mali
Costume design: Pia Gorišek
Lighting design: Mojca Sarjaš
Production: Mirabelka Institute
Co-production: Cankarjev dom
Partners: KUD Qulenium, Adrian Film
Photography: Darja Štravs Tisu
The performance features J.S. Bach’s Sonata for Solo Violin No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001: I. Adagio.

Quartet is a performance for one female dancer, one male dancer, and two cameras. It is dedicated to the inner and outer architectures of our relationships. The cameras follow the action live, acting as both mirror and voyeur; they emphasize and alter what is visible and reveal what is hidden.

The primary choreographic principles are reduction, duplication, and montage — reducing movement to the most fundamental elements of relationship, motion, and physical closeness: walking, touch, gaze — composed into the score of a quartet. The gaze of the pair, the gaze of the cameras, the gaze of the audience. The story, told from different perspectives, explores a play of oppositions between pleasure, violence, and coexistence.

Magdalena Reiter (PL/SLO) is a choreographer, dancer, and pedagogue who has lived and worked in Slovenia since 2002. She graduated from the State Ballet School in Gdańsk (Poland), and from P.A.R.T.S. (Performing Arts Research and Training Studios) in Brussels (Belgium).

She has created over 20 solo and group works in collaboration with NGOs, public institutions, and dance companies (Studio za suvremeni ples, Anton Podbevšek Theatre, Ljubljana Puppet Theatre, Polish Dance Theatre – Poznań Ballet, Bodhi Project, among others), which have been presented nationally and internationally. Selected works include: Vibration of a Single String (with Katarzyna Chmielewska and Jakub Truszkowski), Preludes and Fugues (with Mateja Rebolj), Conversation Pieces, Alice in Wonderland, Forma Interrogativa, Attention, Transland, Pars pro Witacy, Close-Ups, Solo for Two Voices (with Milan Tomašik and Anja Golob), and others.

She also works as a choreographer in theatre, opera, and film. As a pedagogue and mentor, she has taught in Slovenia and abroad (Folkwang University of the Arts, Zagreb Dance Academy, Zagreb Dance Center, SEAD – Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance, SVŠGL, En-Knap/EKG Group, and in workshops in France, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Poland, and more).

She received the Ksenija Hribar Award for Choreographic Achievement in 2023.

Excerpts from reviews:

The performance Quartet, choreographed by Magdalena Reiter, proves to be an impressive fusion of stage reality and camera technique. The duet’s sequences are duplicated, reproduced, and emotionally nuanced through a filming approach that deepens the perception of reality and evokes a cinematic vision.
Daliborka Podboj, Parada plesa, 20.01.2024

We are witnessing an increasing number of windows through which one can see how, from the other side, one enters through the door into oneself. What we have here are primarily perceptual spaces. The sense of distortion has less to do with the image itself (e.g., technical manipulation of video) and more with the distortion of the human inner world. A carefully devised choreographic approach draws the audience into an intimate perception of the ‘characters’. Each time the two come closer — and simultaneously move deeper into a dark unknown — it feels even more as though they are dreaming each other.
Radhani Pernarčič, Neodvisni, 19.01.2024

 

The post-production of the performance was supported by the Ministry of Culture.