Dan Kai Teatro in Madrid

Dan Kai Teatro has recently perfomed (5th and 6th of December 2008) in the theatre Elaborigen (http://www.elaborigen.com/) in Cercedilla, a beautiful village outside Madrid. In spite of the cold weather it was a great experience.

Thanks to everyone who made this encounter possible, specially to: Jose humberto Villadoniga, Domingo de Pedro, Isabel Martínez Lorente, Alba Delgado Riaño and the theatre company Pajarracos Teatro.

ART CENTRE IN ICELAND

Since 2006 the Icelandic member of Dan Kai Teatro Eyrún Ósk Jóndóttir runs in Iceland the experimental theatre and community art centre Jadarleikhúsid. Its porpouse is to introduce different cultural and artistic traditions to the community od Hafnarfjördur, to provide a space for cultural experimentation and investigation into art to create alternative work for alternative spectators. Jadarleikhúsid places special emphasis on supporting young and elderly artists in their experimentation and to encourage cross-cultural communication and cooperation.

The building is 200m2 and 80m2 performance/exhibition space, no rigs, 50 people are alloewed to the space at the same time, but we have found that 30 audiences is an ideal number for this small space.

Those who are interested in holding workshops at the space, bringing a performance to the space, rehearse a performance at the space or hold an arts exhibition at the space, please email us at: axid@simnet.is or send us a letter and material/record of performance and so on to: Jadarleikhúsid, Pósthólf 95, 222 Hafnarfjördur, Iceland.

AGNES - high quality

Directed and performed by Sakura Tanaka and Gemma Rowan in collaboration with Dan Kai Teatro, AGNES - high quality explores the composition of eggs and electrical appliances and involves the distortion, fragmentation and deconstruction of contact, context and domestic science. The performance looks at the nature of identity in contemporary society, raising questions about continuity, reason and the desire to conform.

The work was first created as a site specific piece. It was devised using the objects, texts, personas and unique architecture found in a warehouse located within an old distillery. Throughout the development of the performance we continued to explore approaches to structuring and framing the material we created. Sequences, actions, activities and events have been yuxtaposed in a succession of starling visual images, continously transforming the work's multiple narratives. The work has also been performed in a disused pharmacy in Iceland and at the Camden People's Theatre in London. Space is an important aspect of the performance and we always seek to allow the unique attributes of the environment in which we place the work to inform its development, creating new surprises.

QUIESCENCE

QUIESCENCE is directed by Ixchel Rubio Martínez. It explores the idea of silence based on Derrida's notion of deconstruction and the concept Ma in Butoh. The source of deconstruction lies on the borders, at the edges, on the limits, in the same way as Ma exists. When does the sound become silence? When do sound and silence merge? The fact that one ends when the other starts is questioned. The foundation of deconstruction engages a thinking of displacing the centre of a certain structure. The discovery of the use of speaking language has eventually imprisoned the expressiveness of the body; the expression has become subordinate to the world. Is it possible to scape logo-centrism? And furthermore is it possible the displacement of the movement as a centre? Born in the chaos of crossing and activities, Quiescence questions our perception of silence and its primordial dualism with sound. The endless vertigo of getting to the limit is always there.

FEAR

FEAR is written and directed by Eyrún Ósk Jónsdóttir. It is written in a poetic style under the influences of Icelandic and Spanish folklores. The play explores the effects of the fear propaganda that authorities use to justify the war machine.

NANA DEL CABALLO

NANA DEL CABALLO is a devised piece directed by Gemma Rowan. It is based on the play El Público from the spanish playwright Federico García Lorca. In Nana del Caballo Romeo and Juliet are tuck withing the walls of the theatre. They are forced to play the same role over and over again. They are the living dead, never fully alive and yet they cannot die, as when the performance is over they sit up behind the curtain and prepare themselves for the next repetition of their tragic love story. But enough is enough! Romeo and Juliet rebel against the director's and the audiences ideas concerning the theatre and its purpose.

El Público was written in 1930 by the spanish playwright Federico García Lorca. One of his most experimental works, the play poses a multitude of questions concerning human experience. The themes the author brings to the surface such as the role of the theatre, sexuality, gender, convention and individuality are as relevant today as they were when the play was conceived.

Nana del Caballo is a development of "Nudos" (Knots) a performance first worked on by the group in 2004. Throughout the process of developing Nana del Caballo we were interested in creating work that was inspired by the many questions the text raised for us at that moment in time. El Público has continued to be an endless source of inspiration for our work.

ABOUT US

Dan Kai Teatro Collective was founded in 2004. We are a group of performers, practitioners and writers coming from Iceland, England and Spain. The work we create is the result of experimentation and research into performance. We are interested in engaging with live and vital explorations of what it means to make performance now. At the forefront of our work is the endeavor to develop an innovative, intercultural, investigative and challenging practice.

During 2006/07 the group decided to open their horizons and study further, so three of our members joined three different Masters courses in Theatre Research, Theatre and Politics and Acting. In 2008 we gathered again to share our new learning and include them on our common practice.

The current members of the collective are Laura González Cortón, Eyrún Ósk Jónsdóttir, Gemma Rowan and Ixchel Rubio Martínez.