within MOVING_movimento 2009

Today is nothing more than remembering yesterday. Today can be lived and remembered it tomorrow. The body in this piece is a vessel, a time machine that travels between a specific moment in the past and the memory of this moment, becoming the physical companion to the lonely body on stage. The body exists at that moment, lives the moment, and after is affected by remembrance. The main question is simple: how can we deal with the constant remembrance of our mortality or can we ever really cope with it?

As a choreographer, I generally focus on the concept of physical risk. This led me to work with the texts of Pavese and Kane – both their works were completed with their own suicide. I realized that it was time to focus on the fragility of the human soul after exploring the fragility of the human body, and so, a new approach involving emotional risk. The common point of these writers is that their suicides are neither pathetic nor tragic. Their vision led them to see the main tragedy of all human beings: the remembrance and nostalgia of lost moments never to have again, and our pathetic search for happiness… “today, nothing…” everything stays ay yesterday.
Ilyas Odman

Ilyas Odman began to dance at METU Dance Theatre in 1998 and was a choreographer and trainer between from 2000-2002. During this period, he began to attend dance classes in Ankara Modern Dance, Turkey. Alparslan Karaduman, Bürge Öztürk, Paul Clayden, Jan Pusch, Chevy Muraday, Dilek Dervisoglu, Stephanie Parent, Martin Sonderkamp, Talin Büyükkürkçiyan, Rubato, Alexandre Abellan, Handan Ergiydiren and Karin Ponties are some choreographers with which he collaborated. In 2001 he founded Under_Nine Dance and Movement Project. With the company, he performed in the Istanbul Balkan Caravan Meeting, IETM Istanbul Meeting, IstanbulReconnects, Portugal 9th `a sul` Modern Dance Festival, Macedonia 3rd Balkan Dance Platform, Belgium 0090 Kunsten festival, Belgium East meets West Festival, Italy 2007 Festival delle Rocche, Italy 2007 Festival Ports of Arts, Italy 2007 Festival Insoliti, Garaj Istanbul, Kargart Bedenek Contemporary Stage Works, Garaj Istanbul Pro, Contemporary Stage Works Meeting Kadiköy. He continues to give lessons in Osmangazi University and Atölyedans Istanbul. During his career he has collaborated with artists from different disciplines, including Bahadir Dilbaz, Karine Ponties, Ethem Özgüven, Umay Umay, Yüksel Aymaz.

choreography and performance: Ilyas Odman
music original score: Hana Koriech
light design: Emrah Keskin
lyrics from the play Psychosis 4.48 by Sarah Kane,
Epilepsy is dancing by Anthony and the Johnsons,
Obsession by Army of lovers
Istanbul hatirasi by Sezen Aksu
text by Ilyas Odman inspired from the diary Il mestiere di vivere by Cesare Pavese
photos: Aynur Yildirim
thanks to Virginia Woolf (The Hours), Mr. Septimus, Meryl Streep, Sarah Kane (Crave) and Sevim Burak