The first dance collaboration of Amsterdam and Marseille offers a titillating combination of quality and idiosyncrasy.— de Volkskrant
The international dance production Extremalism is a unique European collaboration, combining the strengths of Ballet National de Marseille and ICK Dans Amsterdam. This multidisciplinary performance features 30 performers: 24 from Marseille and 6 from Amsterdam. Each dancer brings the specific background of their company, rooted in both classical ballet and contemporary dance.
The large-scale anniversary production celebrates the 20-year collaboration of the choreographic duo Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten. Extremalism explores the human response to the crisis of our time. What does a body do in an extreme situation? How does it survive specifically in a minimal setting? In short, how does a body respond to crisis? Through the power of the body, the performance breaks free from crisis, like Houdini from his chains. Thirty dancers, thirty bodies, thirty reflections on the present: look at my bodies and tell me what you see.
Extremalism has its double premiere in both the Netherlands and France, during the Holland Festival and Montpellier Danse. The production stands as one of the most ambitious and extensive in the oeuvre of Greco and Scholten. With its scale of 30 dancers on stage, in times of scarcity and cutbacks, it is a true celebration of contemporary dance and a tribute to the power of the body.
The production Extremalism marked that twenty years ago, the collaboration between Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten began with a search for a new dance form for Greco’s classically trained body. At that time, they were at the helm of the municipal company ICK Dans Amsterdam, the platform for contemporary dance in the Netherlands, and of the French Ballet National de Marseille. With Extremalism, they returned to the qualities that had defined their early work: the unique physical language and ‘extremalism’ (a contraction of ‘extreme’ and ‘minimalism’). They used this to take stock of the present (OGGI), with a look at the past (IERI) and an outreach toward the future (DOMANI).
Video — The power of a creation
After 20 years of collaboration, we inevitably bring the past with us, but only to cast a careful glance towards the future. Extremalism is not retrospective; it is an ongoing search for a balance without equilibrium. Even after 20 years, this remains the very engine of our artistic work.— Emio Greco | Pieter C. Scholten
