Chiara de’ Nobili’s and Alexander Miller’s show, “There Was Still Time”, is scheduled for the coming 30 and 31 of July. A direct reference to “Waiting for Godot” and a look out to possible futures, or the absence thereof.
A danced story, the way the Company sees it, that blends elements of dance (urban, modern, breakdance) and acting. We met Chiara once before, in 2020, when she participated in the Biennale with Wrad, the year after she completed her choreography residence at the Biennale College. In her work, her focus on hands and feet is apparent, though we loved her smile and her natural empathy, too. She met choreographer Alexander Miller during the pandemic. Miller is a co-founder of The Saxonz, arguably the most important breakdance collective. In a few short years, the two authored Momento, PACK, Don’t you dare, Labyrinth. I like how in each of their presentations, they spell out “in collaboration with the dancers…”
The show you will present in Venice, There Was Still Time, is linked to Beckett’s work Waiting for Godot. In his play, the actors’ gestures are essential and repetitive. This is not the case in your production. So, what is the connection? What should the audience expect?
For us, Beckett is an inspiration as he emphasises aspects of existentialism that we find fascinating, often combined with a sense of dark humour. Those existential aspects mediate a shift of beliefs: people no longer hold onto the idea of a savior or think of themselves as invincible. They are acutely aware of their own limitations while living in a world that constantly reminds them of these restrictions. The audience can expect a rollercoaster of emotions. Our characters seize every opportunity to play, fight, love, and tease each other – all in an effort to entertain themselves, fight boredom, and escape the feeling of loneliness nurtured by an overwhelmingly complicated world. This also reflects contemporary struggles with depression, alienation, and fragmentation, themes that resonate deeply in a society obsessed with hyper-accelerated self-empowerment and excessive individualism. We blend the above-mentioned topics with influences from breaking, urban, and contemporary dance theatre while also incorporating acting techniques; thus creating a movement language that combines dynamic partnering with everyday gestures and the abstract, virtuosic movements of hip-hop culture. Our production equally mirrors the beauty and difficulties of contemporary life, oscillating between moments of frenetic activity and stillness, offering a chance to pause and reflect.
We are both fascinated by the absurd and the illogical, using exaggeration as a tool to explore these themes. The actions on stage often appear irrational; dialogues are deliberately nonsensical, and the sequence of events can seem arbitrary. We frequently incorporate dark humour to enhance this effect
I remember a meeting at the Giardini della Biennale in 2019, where Chiara talked about bringing everyday actions to the stage, but exploring the limits between logical and illogical, between reality and unreality. Does this exploration continue in the current production?
The tradition of the Theatre of the Absurd has always been a significant inspiration for me, both back then and now, as I co-direct each choreographic work with my partner Alexander Miller. While the content we work on constantly evolves and takes on new forms, our exploration of these themes has only deepened. Today, much like in the past, we play with characters who exist on the edge of the real and the surreal. These characters inhabit fictional realities and experience emotions with an intensity far greater than ours, yet they remain profoundly human and vulnerable. Giving more space to this human vulnerability is perhaps the most significant evolution in our work.
Nowadays, our focus is much more on creating pieces that reflect life itself. We are both fascinated by the absurd and the illogical, using exaggeration as a tool to explore these themes. The actions on stage often appear irrational; dialogues are deliberately nonsensical, and the sequence of events can seem arbitrary. We frequently incorporate dark humour to enhance this effect. While our interest in the absurd remains unchanged, we have gained a deeper understanding of how to connect absurdity with humanity to create an emotionally resonant experience for our audience, instead of remaining in the purely ironic position of uninvolved bystanders.
In the last three years, the amount of choreography you have created is impressive. Do all of them find an appropriate place in the market? What are the challenges for a dance company today, and what are the differences, if any, in attention across different European countries? Did the crowdfunding campaign for your new production, Labyrinth, launched last February, achieve the desired results?
The dance market is oversaturated with public demand being much smaller than the incredible number of works produced. Consequently, only a fraction of the works created gets the opportunity to be presented adequately. As a young company, it is extremely challenging to tour our work after the premiere. It has become increasingly harder to enter existing structures and networks. Therefore, we seek different opportunities and formats to create new works. Focusing on choreography competitions has helped us gain recognition on an international level, especially in the beginning of our career. As we progress, we better understand the challenges that festivals and theaters face and try to adapt our creation process accordingly. For example, our new creation, There Was Still Time, is designed without a big scenography to make it easier to tour.
Funding is another significant challenge. The shortage of public funding, together with the political shift toward right-wing governments in our region and across many European countries, makes it difficult to produce our work at our desired scale. This trend also leads to funding cuts and increased scrutiny of theater structures. Dance, like all arts, is often seen as a luxury rather than a necessity, making it vulnerable to such political changes.
Despite these challenges, we have been able to produce so much work in the last three years thanks to our ambition, the time invested in our company, and our network of regional financial supporters from Saxony. While we aspire to tour more extensively, we are still optimising our distribution methods. Managing and distributing our work as a small company is a full-time job in itself. Collaborating with various institutions across different countries has been a unique experience. Each country makes us feel at home in different ways, and the most noticeable difference is the audience. It’s beautiful to engage with diverse audiences, enriching our work with perspectives from various cultures, traditions, and social backgrounds. The crowdfunding campaign for Labyrinth was a direct response to the sudden decrease in expected funding. Despite it being our first time, the campaign was a success, and we managed to reach our financial goals. Running the campaign in the middle of rehearsals was challenging and exhausting, but we were pleasantly surprised by the number of people who donated. Among the contributors were members of our small fan base and individuals outside the dance community who had seen our work and were inspired to support it. This abundance of support was incredibly gratifying.
For PACK, Maria Chiara worked with a group of male performers in a very closed structure, being the only woman directing or coordinating six men. Do role differences related to gender still exist in the world of dance?
Firstly, I would like to express that PACK is not what it might seem at first glance. The concept for PACK was developed before Alexander and I started working together. His original goal, when applying for funding, was to question and break the stereotypes connected to men in the breaking environment. Once I joined the project, together we increasingly focused on sensitivity, vulnerability, and love, as well as playfulness and violence, in collaboration with the dancers we worked with. Ultimately, we aimed to deconstruct the still prominent image of men as the stronger sex to help bridge the gap between genders a little more. In the dance environment, as in many others, there is still a long way to go in order to achieve total equality among all genders, both binary and non-binary. For instance, in Germany, many state theatres are still predominantly directed by men. However, I believe that in the freelance world, this is changing more rapidly. Within our small company structure, Alexander and I share equal responsibilities, and we are both very eager to maintain a united front. At the beginning of our collaboration, it was harder for outsiders to recognise and acknowledge our equal positions; it still seems to be difficult for many people to accept equal partnerships and non-hierarchical collaborations. However, as we continue to work together, more people have come to understand and respect the way we operate, and such issues have decreased over time.
Wars surround us, and violence is increasingly visible. Theater and cinema portray the situation without mincing words. Does dance follow the same direction, or is there a tendency to preserve itself as a ‘happy island’? What are your thoughts on this?
It is hard to ignore the world we live in, even in the dance environment. All our experiences are reflected in our work, sometimes subtly, sometimes more boldly. Not every piece needs to convey a clear political message, but all works should transmit something meaningful.
For example, in our latest creation, Labyrinth, we explored the idea that dreams are poisoned by the reality we live in, transforming them into nightmares. In this context, we addressed issues like political repression, the devastation of wars and the failure of governments to defend human rights. But we also wanted to show their relation to intimate feelings of friendship, love, pain and fear. We aim to connect the collective and the individual, sometimes depicting the harshness of the world, and other times offering a more hopeful perspective on finding solace within it.
We consider it a great privilege to pursue a career in the arts, and with this privilege comes the responsibility to share relevant content. Our goal is to present work that is both beautiful and engaging, reflecting the complexity of the world and encouraging viewers to reflect on their own experiences and their broader societal context.
