DESCENT※ASCENT
“One must descend into the depths to recover the light hidden there.
The ascent is born inside the descent.”
Concept, choreography, light, decor & costume designs: Samir Calixto
Music: Pēteris Vásks, played live by Cello Octet Amsterdam
DESCENT※ASCENT is a co-production between Matter Affects, Cello Octet Amsterdam, Zwolse Theaters, and Schouwburg De Lawei (*)
©Samir Calixto
DESCENT※ASCENT
What role can art play in addressing the growing confusion and sense of disorientation in our times? Brazilian choreographer Samir Calixto answers this question by creating performances that take a step back, seeking a broader perspective that reveals the bigger picture and deeper connections. It is an approach that offers hope and comfort, but also highlights the responsibilities that this interconnectedness entails.
In the performance SUMMA, which he created in 2018 in collaboration with the Cello Octet Amsterdam, based on compositions by Arvo Pärt, he took stock of a world that had lost its balance. Nine years later, the collaboration continues with a performance set to music by another Baltic composer, the Latvian-born Pēteris Vasks, who is regarded as one of the most influential and acclaimed European contemporary composers. Vásks’ compositions form a musical reflection on the dynamics of opposing forces, such as the eternal repetition of the tides or the unstoppable oscillation between higher and lower, the sacred and the secular, good and evil. Precisely in a world that is becoming increasingly polarised, it is important to approach contradictions with nuance.
DESCENT※ASCENT is a work in which the fusion of disciplines offers the audience the experience of a ritual, a collective encounter in which audience and performers are one and attempt to reconcile their own human paradoxes with one another.
(*) A collaboration with Of Curious Nature (DE) is currently in its planning stages