One Final Evolutionary Note
OFEN no longer perform this work, as part of decolonising their repertory. Social Darwinism justified the practice of colonisation, and legitimised concepts behind racial superiority, which is still being felt in colonised countries including Australia.
A study on Charles Darwins seminal work On the Origin of the Species. Cie.OFENs first work; One Final Evolutionary Note, depicts lifeforms existing in duration. From the Big Bang to the thought “I think therefor I am” it is celestial to earthly from peaceful to violent, it explored mutualism, commensalism and parasitism in animal and human nature, researching these in the form of the duet, as well as referencing great duos of Performance Art including Marina Abramovic and Ulay.
One Final Evolutionary Note is a durational piece which has been performed in versions from 15 minutes to 2 hours both in site specific and the theatre context. It premiered at Spring Forward Festival in Umeå Sweden as part of Aerowaves.
Concept and performance: Michael Carter, Gala Moody
Music: Renato Seixas
Light design: Giacomo Gorini
Premiered at 27.04.2014 at Aerowaves Spring forward festival at Norrlands Operan, Umeå, Sweden.
Supported by:
Andwhatbesidesdeath Vzw (Be) Compagnia Iris (It) Centro Danza Canal (Esp) Compania Nacional de Danza (Esp) Danscentrum Jette (Be)
20 May 2013 (preview)
Centro Danza Canal, Madrid, Spain
20 June 2013 (preview)
Pianofabriek, Brussels, Belgium
27 April 2014 (premiere)
Aerowaves Spring forward festival at Norrlands Operan, Umeå, Sweden.
24 January 2015
Clasijazz- Almeria, Spain
08 August 2015
Festival Why Not – Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, Holland
9 August 2015
SYMBIOSES MET DE NATUUR
by Moos van den Broek, Theaterkrant.nl
– English version below –
Festival WhyNot toont voorstellingen op bijzondere locaties in de stad Amsterdam. De derde editie gaat een dialoog aan met de natuur en vindt plaats in de tuin van de Tolhuistuin in Amsterdam-Noord. De sfeer is retro hippie, leidraad in de programmering is de versmelting van disciplines.
Op het geïmproviseerde podium tussen twee oude bomen in de tuin is op de tweede avond van het bescheiden festivalletje het duet One final evolutionary note van Cie. OFEN te zien. Twee dansers, Michael Carter en Gala Moody, nemen de tijd en beginnen stapvoets, ieder aan een kant van het podium. Daarna draaien ze cirkels om elkaar heen en ontstaat langzaam het lichamelijk contact tussen de twee. Het duet is geïnspireerd op de theorie van Darwin en wordt met grote ernst gedanst. Het is vooral het prachtige strijklicht dat aan het begin van het duet door de bladeren van de bomen schijnt en de performance iets magisch meegeeft.
English version:
Festival WhyNot shows performances at special venues in the city of Amsterdam. The third edition is a dialogue with nature and takes place in the garden of the Tolhuistuin in Amsterdam-Noord. The atmosphere is retro hippie, guidance in programming is the fusion of disciplines.
On the improvised stage between two old trees in the garden, on the second evening of the modest festival, you will see the duet One final evolutionary note of Cie. OFEN. Two dancers, Michael Carter and Gala Moody, take the time and start stepfoot, each on one side of the stage. Then they rotate circles around each other and slowly create physical contact between the two. The duet is inspired by Darwin’s theory and is danced with great seriousness. It is especially the beautiful beam of light that shines through the leaves of the trees at the beginning of the duet and gives the performance something magical.
WhyNot
April 2014
Aerowaves 2014 – Spring Forward festival
by Sanjoy Roy
Whiteish costumes, whiteish floor, whiteish lights, whiteish noise. You could call the choreography white-on-white too: there’s no colour contrast in Gala Moody and Michael Carter’s duet, only the inexorable blending of monochromes. A slow circling of the stage perimeter shades into inward spirals, which morph into cyclical shifts of place and plane. It’s like watching the orbits of planets, or particles moving in some magnetic forcefield. Eventually, the dancers seem to become sentient, though only distantly conscious of each other. Moody seems to struggle and expire; Carter carries her dead weight. They cross paths but don’t connect; they chase each other, but to no end. If the duet as a whole is rather overextended, its individual sections nevertheless show both compositional rigour and a stark, sometimes haunting beauty.
