DARK HORSE
photo: Bengt Wanselius, Norrdans 2012
DARK HORSE - THEATRE
In life there are moments when we need to discover within ourselves a strength we didn’t know existed, or that we consciously suppressed. Sometimes it is necessary to listen to the inner voices and follow intuition that guides and influences our lives, no matter how absurd it may seem.
Choreography and concept: Lenka Vagnerová
Music: Ivan Acher
Costumes: Jasminda Asplund Blanco, Monika Jonášová
Light design: Michal Kříž
Performed by: Fanny Barrouquère Bašista
Photo: Bengt Wanselius
With support from: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Capital City of Prague
World premiere of the original work: September 16, 2012, Murberget Länsmuseet Västernorrland, Härnösand, Sweden
Prague premiere and adaptation: February 4, 2016, Studio ALTA
Film premiere of Dark Horse directed by Tomáš Polák was presented on February 11, 2021 at the Festival of Dance Films, curated and produced by Jana Návratová and Petra Kašparová.
Dark Horse is a performance created in 2012 for the Swedish company NORRDANS. It was conceived as a solo for dancer Fanny Barrouquère Bašista. The task was clear – to create a performance for whole families and young audiences. A performance that can captivate both children and adults. The aim was to bring dance into schools and at the same time attract schools into the theatre.
Fanny performed this piece around 50 times across Sweden – in schools and theatres, indoors and outdoors. The solo was tailored directly to her.
“When I had the opportunity to choose the dancer for whom I would create a solo, I knew it would be Fanny. She carries an incredible playfulness within her, a fantastic dance expression, great technique and natural acting abilities.” — Lenka Vagnerová
Dark Horse is a performance about the “dark horse” – about a person we may not always bet on, and who can still surprise us greatly. It is a performance about hidden strength within us, about playfulness, mischievousness, and about the values we believe in. About the little child we all carry inside, which others may not always see at first glance – or which we sometimes fear to reveal.
Dark Horse is a performance about one dancer and many stories.
Credits Norrdans 2012:
Choreography: Lenka Vagnerová
Music: Ivan Acher
Costumes: Jasminda Asplund Blanco
Light design: Michal Kříž / Fredrik Zetterberg
Performed by: Fanny Barrouquère
Photo: Bengt Wanselius
Premiere: September 16, 2012, Murberget Länsmuseet Västernorrland, Härnösand, Sweden
DARK HORSE - FILM
Birth, pure, like a blank page. She is just a smooth wax tablet into which others carve with a plough. The path is not straight. It has many beginnings and endings and in front of her are those great, famous entrance doors with a shiny handle…
Premiere: February 11, 2021
directed by: Tomáš Polák
concept and choreography: Lenka Vagnerová
performed by: Fanny Barrouquère
scenario: Lenka Vagnerová, Tomáš Polák
music: Ivan Acher
musicians: Jana Vébrová, Ivan Acher
director of photography: Pavel Klener
2nd camera: Jakub Fencl
1st camera assistant: Jakub Nemčok
edited by: Tomáš Polák
color grading: David Matras
costume: Michal Heriban, Jasminda Asplund Blanco
props design: Michal Heriban
production manager: Alžběta Málková
supervision: David Hinton
directed by: Tomáš Polák
produced by: Dance Film Festival Prague Jana Návratová Petra Kašparová
co-produced by: Lenka Vagnerová & Company
supported by: Ministry of Culture Czech Republic, City of Prague
thanks to: Barbora Rokoszová, City of Hrádek nad Nisou, Association Serpens
Reviews:
"Fanny Barrouquère is a revelation, a stream of fluid energy that makes you want to run after her and do what she does. Such is the suggestive ease of her compelling entrance in “Dark Horse” – she commands the stage with a swift, yet softly foamy dance sprint. In a white T-shirt and wide trousers on a white dance floor she appears as the embodiment of promise, enthusiasm, and naivety. Her whole body is electrified – a soft chest constantly pulsing, limbs flying through the air, ending in swiftly rolled, almost inaudible falls. And soon she starts teasing us… Into all that dance-acrobatic elegance suddenly flicker comic moments. Yes, Fanny is a clown." (Jana Návratová, Taneční zóna)
"The solo is literally tailored to dancer Fanny Barrouquère – to her supple, flexible, and versatile body. And to her face, which can conjure an innocent smile, amazement, or a simple childlike mischievousness that grows in every little human very early on. The performance makes do with simple stage means."
"Fanny Barrouquère moves through states of joy and rapture, as well as sadness, and she excels in every shade, even during unexpected interaction with the audience. The whole performance has a kind and humorous undertone; her mischievous glances towards the audience continually spark laughter. Physical exaggeration dominates most scenes, with passages of clearly readable content that the audience understands, even though it is not served in the form of pantomime. Space for imagination remains throughout. A child viewer will surely be captivated by the performance and its interpreter, whose eyes are almost omnipresent." (Lucie Kocourková, Opera+)
"Playing with the costume awakens further imagination, the dancer actually shows how easily one can conjure a water surface or any fantastic texture."
Outside the competition programme, several premieres of Czech dance films made during the pandemic were screened. One of them was the outstanding film Dark Horse by Tomáš Polák and Lenka Vagnerová, which premiered on the big screen.
Director Tomáš Polák first met Lenka Vagnerová during their student years, but their collaboration on filming a purely dance performance was both unusual and new for him. The story of a woman unfolds in landscapes (on sand by a bay or lake, in a forest) and in the desolate, cold interior of a church. We watch her transformations and intimate drama. Dancer and performer Fanny Barrouquère mysteriously transforms, reacting to the environment she inhabits, yet metamorphosing almost Kafkaesque into other worlds, other dimensions. The solo performance and the dancer’s expressive message, so different from stage experience, are firmly in the hands of the film camera. Naturally, Ivan Acher’s music also sets the rhythm of this dance drama. This is an extraordinary film, adapted from the longer original choreography of Lenka Vagnerová, that leaves you with chills.* (Marcela Benoni, Taneční aktuality)
