POPSONG

by Thomas Bentin Works

POPSONG is an immersion into the world of gender roles and their dynamic relation and dependency, performed with a vivid physical expression in a new creation by Thomas Bentin.

The immense passion and energy that this theme evokes created the initial drive for Thomas Bentin to examine closer these questions. How we define yourselves as gender, and how this definition relates to the other sex in terms of limitations and possibilities can generate an enormous amount of tensions, insecurities and changes that affect us in our essence, in our social and intimate behaviour, in how we dress and coexist with each other. If one gender changes its definition it creates immidiately  a problem for the other gender and a necessesity for redefinition.

These dynamics between the genders is what makes the bodies move in this piece, confronting two women and one man on stage.

POPSONG is a dynamic, abstract and extremely physical dance performance that combines a colourful physical expression with a strong sense of detail and atmosphere, inviting the audience to absorb themselves in the musicality of the performance. The soundtrack is an easy accessible and surprising mix of Experimental Pop, Electronic Ambient and Classical Music with compositions of The Knife, cLOUDDEAD, Dietrich Buxtehude and Ryoji Ikeda.

The set design is super minimalistic, letting a thin transparent plastic curtain hanging from the ceiling dominate and divide the space diagonally in two. The curtain functions as a wall separating the persons on stage, as an obstacle for the performers, as a window behind which you can observe the other and as a mirror for self reflexion. The audience is seated on two sides of the stage in L-shape thus seeing half of the space through the transparent plastic.

In this creation Thomas Bentin collaborated with artists from the forefront of the Chilean dance environment, like Elizabeth Rodríguez (Choreographic assistance), Carola Sánchez (Set & Costume design) and Antonia Peón (Light design).

POPSONG had its world premiere at Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral in Santiago de Chile in August 2014.

Idea & Direction - Thomas Bentin

Dancers - Natalia Bakulic, Betania González & Thomas Bentin

Choreográphic assistance - Elizabeth Rodríguez

Scenography & Costumes - Carola Sánchez

Installation - Andy Dockett

Light Desing - Antonia Peón

Sound Design - Santiago Farah

Production - Anne Reungoat

Foto - Stephanie Cabrera, Fabian Cambero & José Carrasco

Support - Balmaceda 1215, Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral, Embajado Royal de Dinamarca en Chile

Music - cLOUDDEAD, The Knife, Royji Ikeda, Dietricht Buxtehude, Biosphere