Equipped with inexhaustible zeal Križaj/Wehrli/Gisler jump into the bushes. They make up movement rhymes, sing catchy tunes to bewitching synthesizer sounds and recite their own poems. Nature Poetry celebrates the coming together of stage and audience, creating a world that just is and has nothing to do.

"May I dissolve into your flow
into my own nature
may my breath be in sync with yours
join with trees, don’t be a stranger

May I let my muscles soften
my joints rebound
may I be still in my actions
may I be clean in my mind

It’s easy and it’s not
to have this human nature
it’s crowded and empty at the top
of the chain of creature

For sure there are those
who see me but I don’t see them
for sure many that hear me
but I don’t hear them

Long is the path of human
But even longer is yours
through billions of years
for life you are opening doors

May I be grateful
may I find grace
may my mortality leave a trace"

Dramaturgical thoughts on “Nature Poetry” by Robert Stejn

Nature is, just is, nothing more. Nature does not hide, it has no hidden agenda, no pretention to be more than it is, it only wants to expand, to flow, to grow, it wants to live and yes also die. No filter, no censoring. Nature as in the nature of things, the nature of being human, the nature of falling and being in love. The nature of being together. The nature of performing. The nature of making theatre together. The nature of togetherness.

Poetry. We are educated in having a narrative mind, we make stories of everything we do, of everything we see around us, it is our way of understanding ourselves, and the world we live in. Shall we celebrate having a poetic mind, a mind that allows us not to make anything into a storyline, a plot, a destiny. A poetic mind, that leaves open spaces between the words, that gives space to a creativity that awakens the sensitivity of our senses, emotions and associative thoughts. No longer we give anything we do a place within a logic construct of already known meanings. We need a mind that leaves space for the unknown. 

nature poetry why does everyone leave the performance with a smile on his, her, their face and with a warm heart. And a feeling of hope. A feeling of humanity. A feeling of being happy to be human together with other humans. Why do we get so happy when we see a performance, with no filter, just simple songs, simple choreographies, choreographies without a hidden agenda, singing just for the joy of singing, for the joy of celebrating life, and yes to celebrate the feeling of love. Love rules in this performance, although we can not define what it is. This kind of love does not ask anything, the performers don’t seduce the audience to love them. They just perform what they want to perform. The audience can feel and think what it wants to feel and think. The audience is free. Free as during a long walk in the mountains. Mountains!

“I love you
from the depth adore you
you give me shape
without you I would be just water
I love you
from far await you
You are my structure my highest goal
I love you
I’m often wild for you
I take you under me
And you receive me patently
I push you and rub you and eat you and scrub you
I devavour you
you do nothing
You stand / mostly you stay
but when you give up
when you give in - to me
then I am with you
you are in me
is this intimacy?"

Credits:

Choreography, music, text, clothes, performance: Jasmina Križaj, Simon Wehrli, Daniel Gisler

Dramaturgy: Robert Steijn

Light & stage: Sonda 5 in collaboration with Križaj/Wehrli/Gisler

Photography: Leylah Fra, Saman Afkhami

Residencies: Tanzhaus Zurich (CH), Grand Studio Brussels (B), Plesna Izba Maribor (SI), Narodni Dom Maribor (SI), Tanzraum Herisau (CH), Theater am Gleis Winterthur (CH)

Production: Verein lil (life is life)

Coproduction: Theater am Gleis,TanzPlan Ost, Plesna Izba Maribor, Platforma Festival Maribor

Supported by: City of Winterthur, Fachstelle Kultur Kanton Zürich, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, City of Maribor, Ministry of culture Slovenia