Run Riot Interviews choreographer Erik Kaiel, we discuss the choreographic approaches to his work as well as the relavance and poignancy of his latest piece 'O Snap' ahead of its showing at the Unicorn Theatre on the 22-23 May.

Erik has been making dances for over 20 years for both adult and young audiences. He has travelled the world making work in a range of different settings Including subway stations, sculpture gardens, empty swimming pools, abandoned warehouses and city streets and his ongoing street art practice strongly influences the work he makes for the stage.

He dances, choreographs, and teaches in the Netherlands, Europe, and around the world. He has worked extensively with festivals for young audiences. His current work 'O Snap' is performed internationally over a hundred times a year.

Run Riot: How did you come up with the concept for O Snap?

Erik Kaiel: I was interested in making a work about friendship. At any age, loneliness is the malady of our age, but especially in our teen years, as we shift from child to adult, it is especially prevalent. Unsure of who we are becoming, we long to belong - and yet there is a tension, as we both want to belong, and we want to be our deepest selves, but can we trust those around us, do we risk revealing who we truly are? The work doesn’t necessarily give the answers, but it deepens the questions and not only for young eyes - adults also see themselves in the work.　　

Run Riot: What are the key messages you wanted to explore within the piece and why?

Erik Kaiel: See above. I am not really interested in giving a message. These days, too much art work is devoted to pointing out problems. I think that’s not enough - the problems are visible to all of us. A work must be courageous. It must dare to propose potential solutions. In this work, an ever-shifting intimacy is built between the three characters, we see their togetherness, their camaraderie, and we want to be part of it. The stage is a special place,because it allows you to focus the attention of your public on something that might otherwise be unseen. In this case, the work is a strain of hip hop tanztheater that provides a highly physical extended meditation on what it means to belong.　

Run Riot: Why do you think O Snap has had such a profound effect on its audiences?

Erik Kaiel: Because it is real. The performers can do exquisite virtuosic dance one minute, and ridiculous things the next. We can really relate to the characters. They have strengths and weaknesses - mostly they care for each other, but also there is some cruelty, and often a passive desire to dominate or steer the group. Also, because the work shifts back and forth between mimesis and abstraction, we pay attention to the emotional undercurrents of how the performers constantly negotiate their relationship to each other. Abstract movement also provides a space in which each of us sees different things. There isn’t a correct interpretation of the piece – O Snapis a lens through which we can see our own issues from a different angle and because it is wordless, and seems to tap into our universal need to belong, teenagers around the world have been enthusiastic about the work. Lastly, there is joy in O Snap- not clever, not conceptual, not intellectualized imagery of　"pleasure", but pure joy in its raw form. The world needs more joy. And the soundtrack is full of brilliant original tracks - we are lucky to dance to it each show.

Run Riot: You make work for both adult and young audiences, why is this important for your own work and development?　

Erik Kaiel: I don’t make a distinction. I make the best work I can, and then show it to audiences of differing ages. I come from a family of firemen, hairdressers, and schoolteachers - so when I make work, I always consider the spectator who is coming to watch for the first time. Art for other artists is important, but when it becomes a self-contained system, it loses its valency in the world. Sharing art is a practical act, every time I make a new work, throughout my process; I consider whether the work offers richness of experience both to the viewer who comes for the first time, and the long time theatre-goer. This means that there is often a simple line through the work, with additional overtones. If one considers how proscribed the world has become, whether one is student or worker, I don’t want to just provide windows to freedom as empty propositions, but to tap into the lifeblood of culture, draw from both popular and esoteric sources, and weave them into a coherent whole. Interpret the reality we are living in, not posit whimsy from the safety of the ivory tower.　

Run Riot: Do you find that your choreographic devices differ when working with different audiences, if so how?

Erik Kaiel: Sure. Different cultures find different things funny, but if you can tap into universal themes, the devices work every time. Abstraction also gives space for cultural interpretation.

Run Riot: What makes a good audience and how can that feed the performance?

Erik Kaiel: A good audience is engaged. That doesn’t necessarily mean sitting silently, sometimes young audiences need to verbally process the work while watching - we don’t mind that, as long as they are engaged in the show. Laughter, concentration, these are things the performers feel, and it boosts their energy and the show.　

Run Riot: What space do you turn to when seeking new ideas?

Erik Kaiel: Public space. We started doing performed work in public spaces, and the codes are completely different from stage conventions. The more we can bring what we have learned in street theater work, and apply it to the stage, the more alive the work is. Also, just by observing contemporary culture - to be both within it, and　observing　it from　the outside, gives ideas for new work. In our creation processes, we are never busy with what we are trying to say, but what we are exploring. In this way we can build a living system that evolves over the touring life of the piece. Not the same every time, but something alive that shifts and changes and grows.

Run Riot: You have travelled the world making work in a range of different settings, what was the most unexpected place you decided to make work in and why?

Erik Kaiel: I made a public space performance in a fishing village in senegal with local dancers. seeing fellow senegalese bodies doing a mix of parcour/contemporary dance/african dance in public space, interacting with the architecture, was truly transgressive for their fellow senegalese. people would laugh, but it was the laughter of truly being shocked, not simply pleasantly amused. this idea that work could refer to a discourse that had no precedent within that cultural context was fascinating - the public was deeply curious about what they were doing, but there were no smiles. there was a need to know what this thing was.

Run Riot: If you could give one piece of advice for someone trying to engage in that creative space, what would you say?

Erik Kaiel: Don’t dictate the conditions. Work collaboratively with local people to build a shared spectacle. The more the performers have ownership and freedom, the more resonance the work can have. Then it is no longer just physical, but something more - something that invites those who see it to participate in the collective daydream of the work.　

Run Riot: Finally, what are your plans for the rest of 2014?

Erik Kaiel: We are doing a lot of touring around the world. I will also be setting one of my older dances on a company in Malmo, Sweden, and making a public space performance as part of a city festival in Ghent. I find it most satisfying to do a mix of making new work, touring existing repertory, and teaching. Each process feeds the others and gives new input and inspiration.

Thank you very much to Erik Kaiel for chatting to Run Riot, you can see his latest piece 'O Snap' at the Unicorn Theatre on May 22-23

Unicorn Theatre