Programme 2 - a Folia | Instantly Forever

With Instantly Forever, Petter Jacobsson and Thomas Caley turn to the reflection that is the theme of this entire season: how to stay in the present, while looking to the future?

Carried by contrasting musical choices: the first movement of Igor Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements (1946) and the Pulses I and II movements of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians, Instantly Forever aims to explore the sensation of anticipation, in an atmosphere of permanent, unpredictable change. A scene, a situation, is created from fragmented images, as a kind of reflection on a bygone era and intersecting temporalities. The accumulation of gestures and the inheritance of movements lead the piece towards a saturated present; in the idea of a world in constant evolution, of an urgency, of a pressure that makes us both hope and fear for the future.

Then, with a Folia, Marco da Silva Ferreira seeks to explore the notion of ecstasy, the joy and trance that emerge from a moment of dance shared by a group. The folia, in Portugal, is a fast, playful 15th-century folk dance originally performed by shepherds. The historical traces that mention it all speak of a festive atmosphere where everyone lets loose completely, free from social conventions linked to gender or class. It's this idea that interests the Portuguese choreographer, who seeks to translate it by mirroring Portuguese folia with the nightclub dances of our time.