TEST RUN
Directed and Designed by Charlotte
Vincent
Lighting Design James
Harrison
Devised and performed by Janusz Orlik,
Patrycja
Kujawska and Matt Howden
Test Run was originally created for Dance Umbrella in 2006 and performed at the Purcell Room, South Bank Centre, London in October 2006. Dance Umbrella celebrates and champions contemporary dance and is dedicated to the development of choreography, choreographers and dancers. Test Run is an invigorating, powerhouse solo performance by Janusz Orlik, desperate to ‘dance alone for once, without the usual things getting in the way… other dancers for example’.
Framed by an awareness that our audiences may have come to expect something ‘big’ from VDT as an ensemble company, Test Run meets this potential audience disappointment with a series of self-effacing excuses and apologies from the performers. They say anything, in fact, that will delay the start of the show. Once they ‘get going’ however, the neurosis falls away as Janusz’s lean and muscular body starts to move exquisitely to the rich, looping, multi-layered soundtrack played live on two violins by Patrycja Kujawska and Matt Howden, Over 30 minutes, a gentle, intimate solo gives way to an unexpected, aggressive and intricate trio, shaped by the physical and musical interventions of the two musicians who share the space. Test Run becomes a complex, highly structured trio – a game of perseverance and persistence, exposing the huge personal demands placed on one dancer to avoid public meltdown and to keep control of the stage.
Hurtling its way back from the brink of exhaustion to a slow and extended conclusion, Test Run is an exhilarating exposé of dance as obsession – surprising, highly athletic and beautiful in the simplicity of its form and structure.
Test Run forms half of Act One, a double bill of work touring in spring 2008. More information about the Act One tour, including video clips, dancers’ diaries, image gallery and the chance to win an iPod Nano, visit our special tour website www.vdtactone.co.uk
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