MILENA & MICHAEL
EMANUEL GAT DANCE (2017)
Choreography, Lights & MusicEmanuel Gat
PerformersMichael Loehr, Milena Twiehaus
ProductionEmanuel Gat Dance
Co-Production Maison de la Danse de Lyon and Festival Montpellier Danse 2017. With the support of Conseil Général des Bouches du Rhône et de la Région Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur. The company acknowledges the support of the city of Istres, the French Ministry of Culture, DRAC PACA and Fondation BNP Paribas
World Premiere15 February 2017 – Maison de la Danse, Lyon, France
Performance HistoryMaison de la Danse, Lyon, France – Montpellier Danse, Agora / Cité Internatinale de la Danse, Montpellier, France (as part of TENWORKS) – Vignale Monferrato Festival, Piazza del Popolo, Vignale Monterrato, Italy – Espace 1789, Saint Ouen, France – Teatro San Ferdinando, Naples, Italy – Théâtre de Suresnes, Suresnes, France –Tanzfestival Saar, Theater am Ring, Saarlouis, Germany – Arsenal / Cité Musicale, Metz, France (as part of WORKS) – Scène 55, Mougins, France – Scène nationale d'Albi, Albi, France (as part of WORKS) – Dansa. Quinzena Metropolitana, Sant Andreu Teatre, Barcelona, Spain – Suzanne Dellal Center, Tel Aviv, Israel (as part of WORKS) – The Lowry, Manchester, UK (as part of WORKS) – Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, UK (as part of WORKS) – Flow 3, Teatrul Tamási Áron, Sfântu Gheorghe, Romania – Théâtre national de Chaillot, Paris, France (as part of WORKS) – Le Trident, Cherbourg, France – Théâtre Angoulême, Angoulême, France – Théâtre Quintaou, Anglet, France (as part of WORKS) – Théâtre Olympia, Arcachon, France – Lavanderia a Vapore, Turin, Italy
Total Number of Performances31
PhotographyJulia Gat
Milena & Michael [...] presents a sharp and fragmented choreography created in collaboration with Michael Loehr and Milena Twiehaus, the two interpreters of the piece. It’s an exploration of gesture that pulls back from its intensity, never becoming a fully realized act. The dancers hold back their drives, avoid those of their partner, and keep the form of the other’s body elusive and ungraspable. They are two individuals searching for contact but seem to be exploring ways not to engage.
Emanuel Gat’s WORKS offers an enticing evening of dance. His dancers live in the moment, reacting to the instant, just what is needed in a world that is changing at a frightening speed. [...] Sara Wilhelmsson disrobes from a very ordinary floral dress to a white leotard to perform a solo of great beauty and subtle subtext. The duet from Milena Twiehaus and Michael Loehr was equally intriguing with little overt emotion but plenty of depth as their body rhythms moved apart and came together along parallel paths.
The piece explores, like a magnifying zoom, what lies between the choreographic fragments. Space plays a fundamental role, like a third actor, with its own dynamic qualities. [...] Although Milena and Michael is an intimate piece, it was created to be danced in large spaces. The bare, vast stage serves as its setting. It highlights the actions and intentions that make it up. A must-see!
Milena and Michael is dance stripped down to its essential elements—a reflection on the very act of dancing and, at the same time, the story of two people seeking connection. [...] The work can be seen as a kind of zoom into the emptiness and fleeting quality that exists between movements, between fragments of choreography, between sounds, and between the two dancers.