The RE-FUSE team met for first time in person in Utrecht, invited by Gaudeamus to work in the Muziekhuis (a residency space that hosted the 5-day-long workshop); a viola & violin player, a conductor, a clarinetist, a set & light designer, a choreographer, a stage director, a percussionist, a singer, a composer, an actor. A decision to avoid spending time in long discussions was taken prior to the workshop. The team started working through a structure proposed by Argyro Chioti, the stage director, which included the division of space into "rooms" of different functions. One of the rooms included a library of material. Within this structure, controlled improvisations took place.
Main goals of the workshop were to get to know each other while working together on stage, to better understand each other's discipline and practices through everyone's own body and voice, and to start identifying tools and creative methods.
How does a conductor approach his/her own body?
How does an actor communicate on stage with a musician?
How does a composer approach his/her own voice?
How does a singer communicate on stage with a dancer?
(...)
How much time would it take and what ways would it involve to create a common vocabulary, to be acquainted with each other's skills, to be aware of the various practicalities that arise and to be able to perceive each other's artistic starting point?
Interestingly enough, from day one everyone in the team started exploring material outside their own discipline, not focusing on their skills; the clarinetist barely touched his clarinet, the composer barely put together sounds, the set & light designer barely changed the space; they were all busy with each other in a "playground" that transcended their well defined craftsmanship.
Two video excerpts from DAY 1: