HAS BEEN

Stars | Transience | Lightness

The rules are absurd, the characters speak foreign languages and the emotions are overwhelming. On the stage, bodies circle one another with the occasional tender caress then collide with full force, all accompanied by contradictions, tension and humour. «HAS BEEN» is contemporary dance at the interface of other art forms. In this Swiss premiere, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Martin Zimmermann blend Helvetic Dadaism with Belgian surrealism. The two artists strip down, with much amusement, the mythos of the has-been, but in a permanent circle of renewal, best-before dates lose their meaning. Humour and a light, sensitive touch are used to explore fluidity, burning out and finally even their own artistic transience.

Zimmermann has been working with the Theater Casino Zug for a number of years, with ‘Louise’ being the most recent collaboration. In this new production, two equally high-flying stars of the dance and circus scene combine opposing creative forces. Swiss stage artist and clown Zimmermann has helped to define contemporary circus, his silent, visual universes speaking to all and marrying circus with theatrical dance. Belgian-born Moroccan dancer and choreographer Cherkaoui flits between institutions and the independent scene. As artistic director of the Geneva Ballet and with his company Eastman, he has created large-scale productions and worked with stars such as Madonna and Beyoncé. His choreographies draw on global forms of movement and showcase fleeting identities that go beyond the norm and transcend themselves.