What if while looking in the eyes of disaster we could still tell each other beautiful stories and play games?
The future is difficult to imagine. Models and paradigms are failing.
Let me explain to you what is going on.
Let me help you to look into the future.
I need you to listen cause I need to understand myself what are the perspectives and what are we facing.
I need to understand so that I can explain it to my daughter.
Are we confronted with a possible collapse of our society or of our civilization?
Will the collapse shut down the future ahead? Or open an infinity of others?
Are the eyes of an octopus green?
Am I the mother I want to be?
Can a robot tell a story?
How could I prepare my daughter for the unknown?
Which color do I prefer? Blue or pink?
So let’s start from the beginning, from nothing, from point zero.
Let’s give it a try and play again and again and again etc.
In her original piece, together with Lukáš Karásek, French performer and dancer Cécile Da Costa answers her nine-year-old daughter Thelma’s questions, which can be both childishly naive and surprisingly serious.
Family friendly performance is suitable for children aged eight and over.
Post-show playground
Adults and parents, we all know the unpleasant situation of an urgent work to do, important emails to be sent while having our children requiring our full attention. When each needs to express their own priorities and feelings, where is the point of balance?
Come and share a playful moment with your children through games and movements. It will take
place in the atmosphere and set up of the performance Zero etc. after it ́s finished. We will give you and your children the possibility to express yourself and discover basic principles of physical theatre.
Length: 20 minutes
Lectors: Cécile Da Costa, Lukáš Karásek and Thelma Anouk Da Costa
Premiere: 26th February 2022
Duration: 60 minutes (performance+post-show playground)
Creator, performer, choreographer: Cécile Da Costa
Performer, choreographer: Lukáš Karásek
Performer: Thelma Anouk Da Costa
Dramaturgy, sound designer: Ondřej Holba
Musician: Martin Janíček
Scenographer: Dragan Stojčevski
Lighting designer: Jiří Šmirk
Costume scenographer: Dorota Krátká
Video designer: Dominik Žižka
Photography: Vojtěch Brtnický
Producer: ProFitArt
Co-producer: Tanec Praha z.ú. / PONEC – dance venue
Partners: Cirqueon, Uhelný mlýn
Support: City of Prague, Ministry of Culture of Czech Republic, State Fund of Culture of Czech Republic
Performers: Cécile Da Costa, Thelma Anouk Da Costa, Lukáš Karásek
Reviews
“Da Costa uses the notorious situation where parents are forced to respond to the constant questions of their ever smarter branches, and plays a banal comic on stage, but it does not lack magic. (…) The production is presented in the name of the intended orientation towards the uncertain future of humanity, in a futuristic style.The simple scene, bright colors, simple costumes that do not inhibit, but exactly fulfill their role.The musical accompaniment, which is present on the stage and creates the sound live, works perfectly, is so embedded in the whole event that it is impossible to recall on its own. Finally, it is also possible to call such a form of accompaniment music (…) Zero etc. is definitely more “etc.” than “zero”, both in terms of quality and content. The new production of Cécile Da Costa could thus become quite an exceptional achievement on the contemporary dance scene and be a gateway to the performance art for school kids.”
Michaela Kessler, Opera plus, March 4th, 2022
“On the subject of the apocalyptic vision, the artists created a space for the concurrence of many meanings, for the flow of ambiguity with reality and adult beliefs to encounter children’s immediacy. (…) The 40-minute apocalypse performance created many of its own ideas, triggered an associative “what if” stream, and was not satisfied with a lack of “why” answers. The piece, attacking the primary centers of the human instinct for self-preservation, the creators framed in a realistic situation, which could be loosely called an excerpt from family life in a marginal situation, which, however, denies its extremes with regard to the child (or at least pretends that it is not so borderline) (…) Experienced choreographer and charismatic performer Cécile Da Costa consistently held precise gestures and promptly switched between roles, including an authentically conceived mother play with her own daughter. “
Hana Strejčková, Taneční aktuality, March 17th, 2022
