Elisabeth Gets Her Way

Our box office for tonight’s performance closes at 4pm. For tickets after this time please visit The MAC.

Festival favourite and leading European dance artist, Jan Martens returns to Belfast for the third time following his previously acclaimed visits with The Dog Days are Over in 2016 and Victor in 2014.

On this occasion though we get to see Jan perform in his new solo, Elisabeth Gets Her Way, a danced portrait of the Polish-born Elisabeth Chojnacka (1939 – 2017) who was an exceptionally talented and passionate musician who contributed to the revival of harpsichord music in the middle of the twentieth century.

Martens ‘plays’ his body like Chojnacka played the harpsichord. Different styles of movement are brought together, just as she effortlessly wound her way between registers and genres. The solo will be complemented by a documentary layer in which Chojnacka’s work and life are discussed narratively, among others through interviews with people who were close to her.

Age Guidance: 16 yrs + (contains nudity)

Post show discussion: Friday 28 October with Jan Martens, hosted by Richard Wakely

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Saturday performance of Elisabeth Gets Her Way is cancelled.

More about the performance:

While in 1968 the Paris student revolt challenged old ideals, Chojnacka discovered avant-garde composers such as François-Bernard Mâche and began to play more regularly the few contemporary works for harpsichord, in addition to the classical pieces that were always part of her repertoire. In part thanks to her talent and perseverance, a number of composers (Ligeti, Xenakis, Ferrari, Berio, Halffter, etc.) wrote new work for the harpsichord in the 1970s and 1980s. These were often dedicated to Chojnacka.

Elisabeth Gets Her Way is a tribute to this exceptional woman. The solo is a danced portrait with a wide-ranging soundtrack, consisting of a selection of the music she recorded in her fifty-year career: from Nyman to Montague via Ligeti, all performed by Chojnacka. The objective is to keep the dance close to the sometimes complex scores. Martens ‘plays’ his body like Chojnacka played the harpsichord. Different styles of movement are brought together, just as she effortlessly wound her way between registers and genres with a few centuries of musical history in her fingers. The dance pieces in the solo will be complemented by a documentary layer in which Chojnacka’s work and life are discussed narratively, among others through interviews with people who were close to her.

In July 2021, Martens premiered any attempt will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones, a work for 17 dancers set to music by Chojnacka. The concerto for harpsichord and strings by Polish composer Henryk Gorecki, which she performed with the London Sinfonietta, plays an important role in that production. 2021 marked fifty years exactly since Chojnacka released her first album: Clavecin 2000. An ideal moment to pay homage to this remarkable woman with a solo in which she is given the time and space she deserves.

Jan Martens shares inspiration behind Elisabeth Gets Her Way – Read more

Credits

• CHOREOGRAPHY AND DANCE: Jan Martens
• SOUND ENGINEER DOCUMENTARY: Yanna Soentjens
• LIGHTING DESIGN: Elke Verachtert
• COSTUME DESIGN: Cédric Charlier
• VIDEO & MUSIC: full list of video excerpts (© Archives INA) and musical pieces via www.grip.house
• VIDEO EDITING: Sabine Groenewegen
• OUTSIDE EYE: Marc Vanrunxt, Anne-Lise Brevers and Rudi Meulemans
• TECHNICAL DIRECTION: Michel Spang/Elke Verachtert
• PRODUCTION: GRIP
• INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION: A Propic – Line Rousseau and Marion Gauvent
• COPRODUCTION: DE SINGEL (Antwerp, BE), Les Hivernales – CDCN d’Avignon (FR), Julidans (Amsterdam, NL), C-TAKT (Limburg, BE) and Perpodium (BE)
• RESIDENCIES: DE SINGEL (Antwerp, BE), Les Hivernales – CDCN d’Avignon (FR), Toneelhuis (Antwerp, BE), ccBe (Antwerp, BE), C-TAKT (Limburg, BE) and CN D – Centre national de la danse (Paris, FR)
• WITH THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF: the Flemish Government, Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government and Cronos Invest
• THANKS TO: INA – l’Institut National de l’ Audiovisuel, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo sous la Présidence de S.A.R. la Princesse de Hanovre – Direction: Jean-Christophe Maillot, Graciane Finzi, Régis Mitonneau, Anne Montaron, Emmanuelle Tat, François-Bernard Mâche, Zygmunt Krauze, Stephen Montague, Raphaël de Gubernatis, Claire Verlet, Ty Boomershine, Joris van Oosterwijk, Liselotte Sels and Kinga Jaczewska

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