New dance & performance

Aitana Cordero and Daniel Almgren Recén / Tashi Iwaoka: WBIR

WBIR is the second and concluding phase of [unit-Y ever in progress] project, which is a new dance theatre performance created by Aitana Cordero and Daniel Almgren Recén together.

The idea of the second and concluding phase was that the two performers of the first phase, Cordero and Almgren Recén who were makers themselves, would take the whole initiative to make a new piece based on and utilising anything from the first duet Bloody World Theory.

The first preparation took place at the end of 2008 by sending the makers of WBIR, the performers of the first duet, alone to a studio residency in Poland, and the final result (up until then) was realised in April 2009.

Through out the devising process of WBIR I had no control over their decisions, although there were some rules set by me that were;
1. I cannot be in the piece.
2. They cannot be replaced with someone else and should remain as two.
3. The remaking process should be collaborative between the two.
(Later 1. was eliminated from the makers’ list of rules as my position became irrelevant to the new performance)
By following the set of rules, I did not know anything about its process and performance, other than the frame I set, until I saw the premier.

WBIR was my research on what I named ‘the inherited’ which derived from decentralising myself from/within my own work. In many ways the research was about hope and human relations questioning (notions of) trust, love, freedom and responsibility.

After seeing the premier of WBIR I realised that what I was really after was ‘hope for and in the future’, and the new performance reflected it which made me very content with the piece although it seemed the piece was just the beginning of the direction towards which they took.
Before the premier I thought I was interested in what and how things from the first piece would be being carried to the second. However, in fact I was interested in seeing ‘towards where’ it grew, or what would become the second piece using the first duet as its springboard. In the end it was more about them – the new generation, than the legacy of my old piece.

Having the [unit-Y ever in progress] project concluded, essential questions still remains; What is freedom? Responsibility? Trust? And love? What do they create?

Initiator: Tashi Iwaoka
New concept, direction and performance: Aitana Cordero, Daniel Almgren Recén
Light design and effects: Jeroen de Boer
Technician: Pablo Fontdevila
Set advice: Jorge Dutor
Video editing: Filip Molski
Production: Ehkä-production, Het Veem Theater, Aitana Cordero, Daniel Almgren Recén, Tashi Iwaoka

Thanks to: Belen Ramirez, Marysia Stokłosa with family, Robert van Hulzen, Martin
Nachbar, Noha Ramadan and Yurie Umamoto