January 22nd – 23rd, 2025 Opéra Berlioz / Le Corum, Montpellier
March 7th – 8th, 2025 Berliner Festspiele, Berlin
March 17th – 21st, 2025 Théâtre de la Ville, Paris
May 3rd, 2025 Festspielhaus Bregenz, Bregenz
85 minutes
Movements from Beethoven to Kanye West
Freedom Sonata is a free, contemporary take on the classic musical sonata form, evolving through three distinct choreographic movements.
The soundtrack is a juxtaposition of two musical sources: Kanye West’s 2016 album The Life Of Pablo and L. V. Beethoven’s second movement from his last sonata #32. Played by Mitsuko Ushida and recorded in 2006.
‘Freedom Sonata’ is yet another chapter in a continuous study into the ways in which groups/individuals behave, function and strive to find a state of balance and fulfillment. It is a manner of looking at the way society organizes itself in different contexts and exploring possible alternative models.
‘Freedom’, the term and concept, is probably the most abused, misused and misunderstood word that exists. The truth is that nothing is easier than stripping people down from any sort of freedom, liberty or natural right. Choreography can serve as a space to examine how to solve the internal tension between the individual and the collective. When asked if my work is political, I answer that my work is not political, but the way in which I work, IS.
If I look at my work from an anthropological angle, as in a process of actively examining questions such as: models for groups organisation, governance modalities and political structures, economic models, resources management and so on, the way I would define it then would be something like:
A commitment, through a choreographic practice, to the idea that it can be possible to have a society based on principles of self organization, voluntary association and mutual aid.
Decentralizing the conventional hierarchies between choreographer and dancers, rethinking the distribution of power and responsibilities, defining what choreography/dance can change the established paradigms by placing individual freedom at the center of dance making, are the most valuable strategies through which dance can become a relevant force in pointing out societal anomalies and proposing alternatives.
