Dizzy Defiance of Gravity by Joan Bourgeois
A star of the global artistic and pop scene, Joan Bourgeois, brought his piece to the Balkan cinema and delivered an unforgettable overture for the 21st Belgrade Dance Festival, one that will be remembered for a long time.
After years of negotiations, the organizers’ dream came true, and not only did Bourgeois adapt his world-renowned works to the space of the Balkan cinema, but he also personally came to Belgrade for just ten hours, straight from the Opera in Gothenburg, where he is preparing a new piece.
“It’s a great honor for me to be in Serbia and to participate in one of the most beautiful festivals in Europe,” said the smiling Frenchman during an interview with numerous journalists.
The joint title of several works, “The Elusive Point of Delay,” represents the essence of his artistic process and refers to that moment in juggling when an object or body is suspended in the air, seemingly pausing before being pulled back down by gravity. Through his works, Bourgeois attempts to extend that precise moment of floating, of weightlessness, trying to “disarm” time by temporarily defying the “depressing persistence of gravity.”
The collage, consisting of two solos and three duets, showcased Bourgeois’ recognizable scenography: rotating and balancing platforms suspended above the ground, trampolines launching onto stairs, “rebellious” chairs, and unstable tables.
Dancers Marie Bourgeois and Olivier Mathieu, with astonishing ease and grace, defied the challenges posed by this untamable set, sometimes having to rely on each other to maintain balance, as the instability of one would lead to the fall of the other.
The pinnacle of this skill was displayed in the final piece, “Wild Is the Wind.” On a platform spinning at a dizzying speed, the duo portrayed the evolution of a relationship in just ten minutes, struggling to resist the centrifugal force that kept pulling them apart. Accompanied by Nina Simone’s beautiful song, this powerful yet poetic, dizzying yet tender finale of Bourgeois’ gravity-defying mosaic left the audience breathless. Bourgeois has previously collaborated with artists like Harry Styles, Selena Gomez, Missy Elliott, Marco Mengoni, as well as bands Coldplay and Thirty Seconds to Mars, and fashion houses Louis Vuitton and Nina Ricci.
Photos: Gravity & Other Myths – photo by Dušan Vukić; Joan Bourgeois – photo by Dušan Vukić.
