In conversation with dramaturge Judith Wendel, choreographer Conny Janssen looks back on how ZIEL came into being. And how the concept turned during the creation process into the performance that can now be seen in theaters from January to April 2024.
Text: Judith Wendel
SOUL shows the fight to overcome resistance, the battle you wage to be free. I started investigating this with the dancers in the studio. What is holding you back, how do you overcome resistance and insecurities, what do you have to fight before you can be free. Conny Janssen
LUST FOR LIFE
“The idea for ZIEL arose from the need to embrace life. I longed for a pushing force forward. Maybe that was caused by all the downtime during the corona lockdowns? But it wasn’t just that. I wanted to free myself from limitations, break free from patterns and make an ode to life. That’s how Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life became our starting point.”
PROCESS
“At the start of the rehearsals I started looking for lively energy. I created dynamic dance material for the dancers to give them the vital energy needed for that ‘lust for life’. We talked about the search for freedom, about eliminating judgments, the need to jump into life full-heartedly. I wanted to arouse a physical zest for life, in myself, in the dancers, in the audience. But strangely enough that didn’t get us any further. Not closer to the feeling of the urge to live. I looked at beautiful dance and thought: ‘And now what…?’ I missed the counterforce, the resistance. I wanted to investigate that.
What is it that makes people unfree? Obstacles cannot simply be removed, they provide the foundation for those moments of euphoria and freedom. The contrast actually gives meaning. So I realized that making ZIEL is about the process of how you get somewhere, focuses more on the obstacles you encounter, than it is about fulfilling the desire. ZIEL shows the fight to overcome resistance, the battle you wage to be free. I started investigating this with the dancers in the studio. What is holding you back, how do you overcome resistance and insecurities, what do you have to fight before you can be free.”
MUSIC
“For the soundscape of the performance, I chose to bring together various types of music. I then asked Maartje Teussink to compose some moments. She, like no one else, can connect with her voice and her guitar. We use both electronic and classical music to make the substantive contrast between restriction and freedom musically tangible. The group work, where both the counterforce and the euphoria are leading, is fueled by electronic music. Those sounds are massive and make palpable the urgency to move forward, to break out. There is more individual humanity in classical music, the sounds are more transparent, there is room for encounter, tranquility and harmony.”
SET & VIDEO DESIGN
“In my previous performance, FRAMED, we opted for a mosaic of individual stories. We saw solitary lives passing by. That performance was made during the restrictions of the corona period. With ZIEL we have chosen to bring people together to create a collective energy. We create a space in which you zoom in on people who meet each other, who are continuously present on stage. We see the place where they come together. Around it we see small islands, as if in a parallel world, where they are alone with themselves. In this way we show both their outer world and their inner world and allow them to coexist.
In the video design we depict both worlds in words, sentences and texts. It is like a stream of thoughts and feelings. On the one hand, it is a driving element, which is part of the dynamics of the outside world and everything that comes your way. In addition, there are also words that indicate what we long for, what we seek space for in our inner world. The video is like a soundscape of thoughts that come to us, of words that pass within us but that also impose themselves on us from outside.”
ZIEL (meaning: soul)
“When I think of the soul, it is the most individual self you have, it is the core of your being. It is pure and deep within. You want to be able and dare to be that, and you want to live life to the fullest. At the same time, that core is vulnerable and you want to protect it against judgment, against pain, against rejection. How can you give that soul breath, let it exist fully? If we all did that, maybe we could really meet each other, there, in that space.
We have depicted that idea associatively. We hope that we succeed in touching people, that they recognize something that will help them connect with the people on stage. The process started with the search for zest for life and joy. Ultimately we have arrived at a place that is earthly, that is about overcoming resistance, about daring to open up. A place where we, eventually, can always find each other.”
