Walk the Walk is written for four performers, treadmills, objects, light and smoke. The starting point for the performance is the act of walking: One of the simplest actions that can take place on a theatre stage, but also inherently musical and inseparable from the notions of pulse, speed, rhythm, direction, synchronicity, and kinetic energy. Walking can define a space, carry semantics and expectations, and is not without reason a historically favourite theme of comedians on stage, film and TV, ranging from understatement to slapstick. Inspired by the experimental settings and documentation of early movement researchers, Simon Steen-Andersen sets out to deconstruct the phenomenon of walking as theatrical and musical material in a virtuosic game of causality and stage mechanics.
We asked the composer a few questions about the work. Scroll for a Danish version of the interview below.
How did you come up with the idea for Walk the Walk?
"The first idea emerged during an energetic trot on a treadmill on one of my rare visits to a gym. Through the sounds of the motors, my own and fellow walker’s steps in slightly offset tempi, and the singing squeaks from the rubbing of my shoes against the surface when I didn’t lift my feet properly, I was lulled into fantasies about dreamlike music-theatre scenes with treadmills as the central element.
When I looked to the side at a fellow walker, I could picture myself in the classic film situation where the camera follows a walking person from the side at the same pace – the so-called “lateral follow-shot”. From this grew the central idea of a scenic “translation” of everything we associate with the film medium, everything that is born out of and only makes sense on film, everything that can really only be done on film: camera movement, editing, loops, perspective shifts, blooper-reels, Hollywood clichés, sound effects, voice-dubbing, and so on …"
What is it about the act of walking as a physical and cultural phenomenon that fascinates you?
"It is first and foremost the simple, neutral and everyday-like, the unspectacular. And thus the opportunity to make a rhythmic movement-choreography, without immediately making associations with dance or theatre."
How did you collaborate with the ensemble on the development of Walk the Walk?
"Based on just a few concrete ideas and a couple of cheap treadmills, I developed the performance during a series of “practical” workshops with the ensemble as well as an extensive development and rehearsal process with the technical team, including a carpenter, up to the premiere. This allowed me to “compose” with all elements at once in interaction with each other, as well as to integrate the musicians’ physiques, personalities, and other characteristics, such as their accents, into the storyline and choreography.
The practical interaction between the different elements was essential, but at times also super frustrating – not least for the performers – almost like assembling a paradox puzzle where the first piece cannot be laid until the last piece is in place: the scenography could for example, only be completed when the entire choreography was done, but the choreography could only be fully developed when the stage-set was in place, and so on."
How do you work with the interplay between the visual and the auditory in a work like Walk the Walk?
"As always, I try to integrate the different elements as much as possible – the sound/music, the stage-set, the choreography and narrative – so that they can no longer be separated or meaningfully considered separately. My goal is that one can no longer say with certainty what has motivated what: For example, was it the stage-mechanical properties that came first, or the sounds that occur when these are operated? In addition to developing the different elements in parallel, in exchange with each other, I also work with different “perspectives” on these elements – for example, by composing a musical cadenza for the stage mechanics, so that at some point we experience the stage itself as a colossal instrument…"
You haven’t included any traditional instruments in Walk the Walk. What lies behind that choice?
"I think it provides more space for an undefined borderland between sound or “sound design” and music, and of course I also do this to let the music emerge in unexpected ways. I find it exciting to let the format emerge naturally from the ideas (instead of the other way around) and in the case of Walk the Walk it has resulted in me actually not quite knowing exactly what kind of thing it is I have created and how to categorize the performance. This, as well as the fact that the four excellent musicians basically do not play a single note in the traditional sense, is also thematized and reflected in the actions and text of the performance. However, a few “real” instruments are included, but this is primarily in order to have something recognizable, that can later be given a surreal twist."
What should the audience look forward to?
"A sound-theatre performance, a film recording without cameras and projectors, a dance performance without dance and dancers, a stroll in a vivid dream, a climb up and down a meta-ladder and not least a lecture about and a tribute to the French scientist and inventor Étienne-Jules Marey, a pioneer in motion studies, cinematography, cardiology and aerodynamics…"
Find more information and tickets for the performance here >>
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Hvordan opstod idéen til Walk the Walk?
"Den første idé opstod i raskt trav på et løbebånd under et af mine sjældne besøg i et fitness studie. Igennem lydene fra motorerne, mine og mine med-gængernes skridt i let forskudte tempi og de syngende piv fra mine skos gnidning mod overfladen, når jeg ikke løftede fødderne ordentligt, blev jeg lullet ind i fantasier om drømmeagtige musikteater-scener med løbebånd som centralt element. Når jeg kiggede til siden på en med-gænger, kunne jeg bilde mig selv ind, af jeg befandt mig i den klassiske film-situation, hvor kameraet følger en gående person fra siden i samme tempo – det såkaldte “lateral follow-shot”. Derudaf voksede den centrale idé om en scenisk “oversættelse” af alt det, vi forbinder med filmmediet, alt det som er født ud af og kun giver mening på film, alt det som egentlig kun kan lade sig gøre på film: Kameraføring, klipning, loops, perspektivskift, blooper-reels, hollywood-clichéer, lydeffekter, voice-dubbing, og så videre …"
Hvad er det ved gangen som fysisk og kulturelt fænomen, der fascinerer dig?
"Det er først og fremmest det simple, neutrale og hverdags-agtige, det uspektakulære. Og dermed muligheden for at lave en rytmisk bevægelseskoreografi, uden med det samme at lede tankerne over imod dans eller teater."
Hvordan har du samarbejdet med ensemblet om udviklingen af Walk the Walk?
"Med udgangspunkt i ganske få konkrete ideer og et par billige løbebånd udviklede jeg forestillingen under en række “praktiske” workshops med ensemblet og et længere udviklings- og prøveforløb med det tekniske team inkl. snedker op til premieren. Dette gav mig mulighed for at “komponere”med alle elementerne samtidig, i udveksling med hinanden, samt at integrere musikernes fysik, personligheder og andre særkender, som for eksempel deres accenter, i handlingen og koreografien. Den praktiske udveksling mellem de forskellige elementer var essentiel, men til tider også super frustrerende - ikke mindst for de medvirkende - næsten som at samle et paradoks-puzzlespil, hvor den første brik ikke kan lægges, før den sidste brik er på plads: Scenografien kunne for eksempel først færdigudvikles, når hele koreografien var på plads, men koreografien kunne først færdigudvikles, når scenen var på plads, og så videre."
Hvordan arbejder du med samspillet mellem det visuelle og det auditive i et værk som Walk the Walk?
"Som altid forsøger at jeg at integrere de forskellige elementer mest muligt - lyden/musikken, scenen, koreografien og narrativet - så de ikke længere kan skilles ad eller meningsfuldt betragtes adskilt. Mit mål er, at man ikke længere med sikkerhed kan sige, hvad der har motiveret hvad: Var det for eksempel de scene-mekaniske egenskaber, der kom først, eller de lyde, der opstår, når disse betjenes? Udover at udvikle de forskellige elementer parallelt, i udveksling med hinanden, arbejder jeg også med skiftende “perspektiver” på disse elementer – for eksempel ved at komponere en musikalsk kadence for scene-mekanikken, så vi på et tidspunkt oplever scenen som et kæmpemæssigt instrument…"
Så vidt jeg har forstået, er der ingen “traditionelle” instrumenter i brug i Walk the Walk - Hvilke tanker ligger bag det valg?
"Jeg tror, at det kan give mere plads til et udefineret grænseland mellem lyd eller “sound-design” og musik, og naturligvis gør jeg det også, for at lade musikken opstå ad uventede veje. Jeg synes det er spændende at lade formatet opstå naturligt ud fra ideerne (i stedet for omvendt) og i Walk the Walk har det resulteret i, at jeg faktisk ikke helt ved, hvad det helt præcist er for en størrelse, jeg har lavet, og hvordan jeg skal kategorisere forestillingen. Dette, samt det faktum at de fire fremragende musikere stort set ikke spiller en tone i traditionnel forstand, tematiseres og reflekteres også i forestillingens handling og tekst. Der indgår dog enkelte “rigtige” instrumenter, og her er det primært for at have noget genkendeligt, som senere kan gives et surrealistisk twist."
Hvad kan man som publikum særligt se frem til i oplevelsen af Walk the Walk?
"En lydteaterforestilling, en filmoptagelse uden kameraer og projektorer, en danseforestilling uden dans og dansere, en spadsergang i en drøm, en klatretur op og ned at meta-stigen og ikke mindst et foredrag om og en hommage til den franske videnskabsmand og opfinder Étienne-Jules Marey, pionér inden for motion-studies, cinematografi, kardiologi og aerodynamik…"