choreography
Sol León & Paul Lightfoot
assistant to the choreographers
Jorge Nozal
music
Max Richter: 'Ocean House Mirror', 'Powder Pills Truth', 'He is Here', 'Everything is Burning', 'On the Shore', 'End Title', 'How to Die in Oregon', published by Mute Song Limited ;
'Sorrow Atoms', 'Monologue', 'A Lover's Complaint', courtesy of Atlantic Screen Composers ;
'November', published by IMAGEM UK LTD.
lights
Tom Bevoort
set
Sol León & Paul Lightfoot
costumes
Joke Visser, Hermien Hollander
video concept
Sol León & Paul Lightfoot
camera & direction
Rahi Rezvani
camera & editing
Dicky Schuttel
special thanks to
Stefan Zeromski,
Saura Lightfoot-León,
Hector the kestrel
with
8 dancers
duration
34 minutes
premiere
29 January 2014, Lucent Danstheater, The Hague (NL)
full video
(password required)
STOP-MOTION
For Saura
The critically acclaimed Stop-Motion was created by house choreographers Sol León en Paul Lightfoot for the NDT 1 repertoire. The ballet premiered on January 29, 2014. On melancholic music by Max Richter seven dancers depict a process of farewell and transformation. As ephemeral as the dust, they grace the stage like ghosts or spirits; lighting up in and fading out. In this way, many elements in Stop-Motion address the notions of past and future and how they merge into the present. This is reinforced by large screens that show delayed video projections, which include their daughter Saura.
PRESS
“Stop-Motion is a lovely gain (…) Beautiful variation between narrow interlockings and lonely poses.” De Volkskrant, 2014
“Beautiful images of mind-blowing dance (…) Dance as a visual poem in which design and music determine the iambic and where the dancers bring metaphors and emotions to live.” Trouw, 2014
“Skilful choreography (…) An important addition to the repertoire.” De Telegraaf, 2014
“Of astonishing beauty.” HDC Media, 2014
SOL LEÓN & PAUL LIGHTFOOT
Sol León (Córdoba, Spain) and Paul Lightfoot (Kingsley, England) started creating as a duo for NDT more than 26 years ago. Together they won prestigious awards, such as the Benois de la Danse and the Herald Archangel. They have been NDT’s house choreographers since 2002 and together they created more than fifty ballets.
Sol León joined NDT 2 after graduating from the National Ballet Academy of Madrid in 1987. Two years later she joined NDT 1 and danced masterpieces of Jiří Kylián, Hans van Manen, Mats Ek and Ohad Naharin. She continued to dance up until 2003, when she decided to fully devote herself to choreography. León became artistic advisor for NDT in 2012.
Paul Lightfoot studies at the Royal Ballet School in London. He joined NDT 2 and moved to NDT 1 two years later, where he danced until 2008. During his dancing career, Lightfoot started choreographing and together with Sol León created many pieces for NDT. Lightfoot became artistic director of NDT in 2011.