On tastes and colours
The starting-point of Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain (a mnemonic sentence for remembering the order of the colours of the light spectrum, i.e., red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet) is colour, to which Thierry Smits and his dance group give a resolutely subjective reading. In this piece, nine dancers pass through seven contrasted sequences. The colour that is at the basis of each sequence is a pretext for the making of a collage of the various sensitivities felt by the artists participating in this creation. Neither the order of the sequences nor their internal structure follow any rules other than the intuitive rules of the sensation of colour and logic of movement. No classical dramaturgy is at hand here. Rather, Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain is an invitation to travel through colour to what lies beyond, a voyage that starts with a colour and takes us elsewhere, just as the show’s title ultimately transcends its mnemonic function to produce an independent meaning. The way in which this meaning is perceived will probably vary depending on the beholder.
Violent and joyful, experimental and playful, formal and emotional, technological and physical, this project promises to be as full of contrast as the colours themselves.
Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain