Julidans - VOICE NOISE

The Flemish choreographer Jan Martens pays tribute to overlooked female performers in music in his work. Six dancers use their unique physical expressions to confront recordings in which the human voice can be heard in all kinds of guises: humming, soothing, screeching, whispering and singing.

Julidans - VOICE NOISE

Location

Internationaal Theater Amsterdam (ITA)

Leidseplein 26

1017 PT Amsterdam

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Women's voices

At the front of the stage is a microphone on a stand, symbolizing the anonymity to which many women in music are condemned. The six dancers alternate or enter into dialogue with an original musical selection around 'forgotten' female voices from the past eighty years of music history. Solos, duets and larger group choreographies come and go, sometimes harmonizing with the music, sometimes contrasting with it.

The intimate VOICE NOISE is inspired by Anne Carson's essay The Gender of Sound, in which she exposes the suppression of women's voices by patriarchal culture. Carson reveals how women's voices have historically been silenced, often viewed as hysterical, out of control, or simply disruptive noise.

'Unique and lively chamber piece'

VOICE NOISE, described by one reviewer as a 'unique and lively chamber piece', contains recordings by several singers, including the American Ruby Elzy and Camille Yarbrough. There are also more recent discoveries, such as Maria Rossi of underground band Cucina Povera and the experimental post-punk group The Raincoats, founded by Ana da Silva and Gina Birch.

Jan Martens interweaves his fascination for geometric patterns with the expressions of the dancers: sensual, fragile, intoxicating, light and soft. This brings dance back to its core, as a voyage of discovery into details and subtleties, in which concepts such as grace and elegance are re-examined. With this approach, Martens takes a new step in his pursuit of shaping an alternative canon within Western culture.