If the bull won't come

The problem was that we did not know whom we meant when we said ‘we’.

Adrienne Rich

 

 

WOMAN. BEAST. MINOTAUR.

The new solo full-length (40 mins) dance piece by Adi Weinberg, If the bull won’t come, is the story of a Woman in transformation. Like many, she faces the daily challenges and compromises of existing in a woman’s body. One day, she is called out of her day-to-day life, out of the turbulence of her daily domesticity and is propelled into an encounter she did not expect: with herself. As she comes into contact with her multiple parts, her many selves, she experiences the different elements that live harmoniously, destructively and chaotically inside her. Some of these parts she needs to shed, others to confront and others are waiting to be born. A new polyphony and way of living is waiting.

 

The Woman’s journey echoes the story of another. Pasiphae was cursed twice: first into falling in love with a bull and having to consummate that love and, second, cursed to live in isolation with her unnatural son, the Minotaur, in the labyrinth. But curses, like stories, have a second side. All carry a blessing, if only you can hold on long enough. For us, Pasiphae has emerged differently. She is a woman with agency, who heard the calling of the wilderness. She gave birth to a new being, thus bringing two worlds together: the domestic and the wild. She proposes a powerful, necessary harmony.

 

If the bull won’t come features intricate, original music created in collaboration with Filipe Gomes. The sound palette consists of musical instruments belonging to both „natural” sounds and synthetic processing. It comes from the idea that correlation and patterns exist in all things. The main theme emerging is Freedom vs. Confinement – what do these polarities sound like musically – are they dependent on, maybe even defined by each other? 

 

If the bull won’t come is a compelling, powerful and touching story of lives meeting, within one Woman.

 

Dancer / Choreographer - Adi Weinberg

Dramaturg - Cat Gerrard

Sound Designer - Filipe Gomes

Costume Designer - Angharad Matthews

Lighting Consultant - Joanna Leśnirowska 

​

 

“raw, unbridled energy [...] intense and touching.”

- Astrid Priebs-Troeger