Production Details / Press Releases
Referencing the Khmer Rouge genocide of the 1970s, and contemplating the natural cycle of life, destruction, and renewal, Drops and Seeds embodies the persistence and evolution of the ancient art of Khmer classical dance, which today rests on the shoulders of a mere handful of artists. Taking its title from a poem by Norwegian lyricist Simen Hagerup, Drops and Seeds considers performance as a mediator between earth and sky – a concept central to dance in traditional Khmer culture. The work brings dance, theatre, and ritual together to embody certain shifts in meaning that result when traditions are put under stress or recalled. Prumsodun Ok is the rst male student of Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, one of the leading choreographers of the Khmer style. He replaces the female performer with a queer dance ensemble whose alternative bodies and histories push the dance beyond its usual context, creating space for questions of remembrance and transmission, and considering positions of power in traditional society and cultural forms.
In Cambodia, as a result of genocide and war, hundreds of thousands of landmines are still underground. Composer Ana Maria Rodriguez sees them as resonators of the tremendous and sudden wave that struck the country. Can one see these (sound) waves as connecting disruptions of both the earth’s surface and social stability? Through twelve acts, the artists and Ensemble KNM Berlin guide audiences across fragile, challenging, and shifting sonic terrain, navigating the impossible contradictions between micro and macro, individual and society, as well as personal will and cosmic order.
prumsodun.com
ponatyarasa.com
kammerensemble.de
ctm-festival.de
[Source: play bill]
TFB Nr. 1418
Cast & Credits
Choreography: Prumsodun Ok
Music, gong installation and live electronics: Ana Maria Rodriguez
Stage and light: Fred Pommerehn
Sound direction: Andre Bartetzki
Costume design: Shanghai Chang
Prumsodun Ok & NATYARASA
Dance: Sory Chan, Chay Khuon, Sopharoth Morn, Prumsodun Ok, Chamreoun Soeurn, Sokhon Tes and Ponmonyka Touch
Ensemble KNM Berlin
Flutes: Rebecca Lenton
Clarinet: Horia Dumitrache
bass clarinet: Theo Nabicht
Percussion: Michael Weilacher
Violin: Theodor Flindell
Techs: Sven Seemann
Sound: Striid Koburger and Carlo Grippa
Stage: Karel de Wit
Light assistance: Klaus Dust
Production management: Thomas Bruns
Production management and PR: Karin Weissenbrunner
Drops and Seeds is a project by the Ensemble KNM Berlin, Prumsodun Ok & NATYARASA in cooperation with the CTM Festival 2020 and the radialsystem.
With the kind support of the Capital Cultural Fund Berlin and the Goethe-Institut Thailand.
Ensemble KNM Berlin and Ana Maria Rodriguez are funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe.
CTM Festival 2020 is funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe, the Goethe Institute, the Federal Foreign Office, the Music Initiative, the Federal Agency for Civic Education and many other partners.
radialsystem
Video Documentation
The video documentation is produced on behalf of the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. The purpose of this contract is to document productions in the field of contemporary dance in Berlin. The master recordings are archived by the University Library of the Berlin University of Arts. Copies of the recordings on DVD are available for viewing exclusively in the reference collections of the following archives (at media desks in these institutions):
University Library of the Berlin University of Arts
Mediathek für Tanz und Theater des Internationalen Theaterinstituts / Mime Centrum Berlin
Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin (HZT)