In her current work the provocative and innovative choreographer Alexandra Bachzestis proposes to use the body as an artistic and critical lens to study the contemporary production of images. In Chasing a Ghost the performance has been developed by the artist with four dancers and two pianists and it deals with the concept of a double, which is manifest through a series of duets. Bachzetsis draws from the fields of popular culture, literature, art history, and fashion to expand the choreographic archetype of the duet with references to the doppelganger, the mirror image, and uncanny doubling.
In «Chasing a Ghost» Bachzetsis links and severs. She produces an image, a movement, or a sound that is almost immediately doubled. A recognizable sound changes and becomes something else, a space that seems familiar is shown from a different angle, and a movement that has just happened appears a second later in a different form. Through the body, identity, the (moving) image, and the space of performance, Bachzetsis investigates fluidity and constancy – until we start to question what we believe we have just thought and seen, which then enables us to see things again in a different light.
Concept and Choreography Alexandra Bachzetsis Collaboration Concept and Stage Sotiris Vasiliou Creation and Performance Alexandra Bachzetsis, Johanna Willig-Rosenstein, Owen Ridley-DeMonick, Gabriel Schenker, Sotiris Vasiliou Music Arrangement and Performance Simon Bucher, Mischa Cheung Sound Concept Lies Vanborm Commissioning Curator Hendrik Folkerts Dramaturgy Dorota Sajewska Costume Design: Fashion Design Léa Dickely and Hung La / Kwaidan Editions Costume Design: Conceptual Advice and Research Christian Hersche Costume Design: Styling Priska Morger, Eva Buehler Communication Design Julia Born Photography Mathilde Agius First Photography Assistant Andreas Warren Matti Second Photography Assistant Fabienne Watzke Hair and Makeup Shooting Stephanie Kunz Technical Direction/Light Design Patrik Rimann Sound Engineering Jonas Häni Technical Support Tour Matyas Bokor Management Anna Geering Production Association All Exclusive, Anna Geering, Daphni Antoniou Tour Management Daphni Antoniou
Commissioned by The Art Institute of Chicago
Supported by The cooperative support agreement between the City of Zurich, the Canton of Zurich, and Pro Helvetia—Swiss Arts Council, Ernst und Olga Gubler-Hablützel Stiftung, Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation, Migros-Kulturprozent, Sophie und Karl Binding Stiftung
Co-produced by Art Gallery of Ontario; Mudam Luxembourg; PACT Zollverein, Essen; Tanzquartier Wien; Bundeskunsthalle Bonn; Julidans, Amsterdam; Gessnerallee Zürich This performance is a co-production in the frame of the Programmers’ Fund of Reso—Dance Network Switzerland, supported by Pro Helvetia—Swiss Arts Council
In-Kind Sponsorship Yamaha Pianos, provided by Yamaha Artist Services, New York; Kwaidan Editions, London
Additional thanks to Cynthia Leung, Edward Traskowski, Paul B. Preciado, Adam Szymczyk, Verena Bachzetsis, Jannis Tsingaris, André Desponds, Aphroditi Antoniou, Raphael Hefti, Li Tavor
→ Duration: 60 mins.
