Historic serie 18 | Triz

TRIZ
[2013]
choreography: Rodrigo Pederneiras
music: Lenine
set design: Paulo Pederneiras
costume design: Freusa Zechmeister
lighting: Paulo Pederneiras and Gabriel Pederneiras

The sensation of being just a hair’s breadth away from the blade of the mythical sword of Damocles was so imperative during the entire gestation period of the ballet from Grupo Corpo that it not only became the broad motif, but also inspired its name: Triz, an onomatopoeic term most likely deriving from the Greek triks/trikós (hair), symbolized in the expression por um triz (by a hair).

In order to stimulate the creation of the soundtrack for Grupo Corpo’s ballet, Lenine himself placed Damocles’ sword above his own head by constructing a musical topography interlaced with rhythmical subversions (a passion) from a single leitmotif and using only strings.

In a work where the occupation of space reflects the diabolical intermittence and guile worked on time by Lenine’s music, the possibility of creating a series of female duos acted as a soothing moment and a pause for breath. This was so necessary not only for the execution of the choreography by Rodrigo Pederneiras, but also for the execution of the movements by the ballet dancers, who worked in their group formations in such a state of permanent tension that  being off by a single hair, for just an instant, could be fatal.

With close to fifteen kilometers of steel cable, Paulo Pederneiras constructs scenery that alludes to the sovereign presence of strings in Lenine’s score while, at the same time, imposing itself as a powerful metaphor for the limitations placed on the creative team and the Grupo Corpo performers in producing Triz. 

Freusa Zechmeister relies on full-length bodysuits, exclusively using blocks of black and white to vertically divide the dancers’ bodies into two symmetrical halves. This option takes the notion of relating to limits and brings it almost to the edge of play. In a performance that takes the oppressive nature of limits as a starting point for its construction, Zechmeister’s costumes arise as a more evident symbol that the key to overcoming can be in the mere determination to stay in motion.