in\TWO SOLOS by Jorge Morro and Norbert Servos

If you were used to think in a unity of two you have to recreate yourself as a single person. Two dance solos with the same subject: the fear of loneliness – from a female and from a male perspective. But man and woman have one thing in common: They have to overcome their ego in order to find a new beginning. In their desperation they try out whatever promises a way out of the disaster: an imaginary speed dating, dreaming of an ideal partner, a firework of virtuosity. But at the end nothing works. Failing as chance.

DRESSED TO KILL – A Man’s Solo

The piece is inspired by the real case of US-American Kevin Cotter who was left by his wife after twelve years of marriage. Staying alone with her wedding dress he started to abuse the dress in every possible way. Our man in the piece goes through different states in a manic ‚tour de force’: dancing, talking, playing piano, shouting, but also dreaming. He tries to compensate the loss of a relationship by showing off. Overcoming the drama of his own ego, he finally realizes:
How can we know who we are if there is nobody. Nobody. Talking into the wind. Standing at the coast talking to the clouds, the waves, the sand. – No, we don’t have to like the reply. But there has to be one. – Can you imagine how big it is out there? How unbelievable big? Can you imagine you scream and there is nothing, not even the echo of your own voice?

JORGE MORRO Graduated in Classical ballet at the Real Conservatorio de Madrid. Also studied Music and Piano as well as acting and singing. He went to London where he got his diploma in Ballet and Contemporary dance at the Central School of Ballet under the direction of Christopher Gable, who also directed Northern Ballet Theatre and gave him his first professional contract to join the company. Taking part of the International Dance Course for Professional Choreographers and Composers (founded by John Cage), under the direction of Robert Cohen, he starts his connection with Contemporary Dance. Since 18 years he has been working in stable companies as well as freelance. Worked with Amanda Miller, Dominique Bagouet, Meryl Tankard, Marguerite Donlon, Didy Veldman, Sasha Waltz, Joachim Schlömer and Itzik Galili. In 2004 he received the Mopix award for the best on screen performance at the Moving Picture Festival of Dance on Film and Video in Toronto in Norbert Servos’ film “Elements of Mine”, coproduction with NDR and Arte. Since 1994 he is connected with the Berlin dance scene, worked with Tolada dance Company/Joseph Tmim, MS Schrittmacher/Martin Stiefermann, Alex B, Be Van Vark Company, Talking Legs/Livia Patrizi, Berlin Ballet/Komische Oper, Sasha Waltz and Guests and Norbert Servos. With DanceLab, founded by Norbert Servos, he started to collaborate as a choreographer. He created “Where I have never been” for DanceLab Festival “A/skin'” in the Academy of arts. “En solo diez minutos” for the Autmn Festival in Madrid, “How it Happens” and the dance film “I think I have seen you before” for Komische Oper Berlin. Together with Servos he choreographed the Cuban/German co-production “Drink, Smoke – Made In Havana” for Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin and in 2010 “Valbarena” for Staatstheater Braunschweig. Also collaborating and working with the Dutch company Club Guy and Roni in Groningen. Together with Servos he is now the artistic director of DanceLab.

NORBERT SERVOS born in 1956 in Germany near Cologne, was a co-founder of the magazine Ballett international and for seven years a member of the editorial board. Within this period of time the magazine emerged to the leading dance magazine in Europe. Since 1983 he is working as a freelance choreographer and writer and published 15 books on Pina Bausch and the development of German Dance Theater as well as poetry. He choreographed more than 20 dance pieces in Germany and abroad which were invited to international dance festivals. Besides his choreographic work he is a guest teacher and lecturer for contemporary dance and choreography. In 1993 he founded DanceLab Berlin at the Academy of Arts. For DanceLab he created numerous pieces, among others the prize winning dance film “Elements of Mine” (2004) for Arte/NDR with dancers Jorge Morro and Nicola Mascia and together with Jorge Morro the dance theater piece “Drink, Smoke – Made In Havana” (2004), a co-production with DanzAbierta Cuba. At the end of 2005 he published “Schritte verfolgen – Die Tänzerin und Choreographin Susanne Linke”, in 2008 “Solange man unterwegs ist – Die Tänzerin und Choreographin Reinhild Hoffmann” and in 2012 “Pina Bausch – Dance Theatre”, all at K. Kieser Verlag, Munich. In 2010 he directed together with Eva-Maria Lerchenberg-Thöny the international dance festival “Tanzwelten” in Braunschweig, where he also premiered the dance theatre production “Valbarena” together with co-choreographer Jorge Morro for the states theatre. Norbert Servos is one of the important pioneers of contemporary dance in Germany and an international renowned specialist on dance theatre with worldwide publications.