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LUVOS migrations by Editta BRAUN and Thierry ZABOITZEFF :
Metaphor for a humanity resilient to its own devastating civilisation?
13 July 2023 Philippe Perrichon Articles and Interviews, Reviews
LUVOS migrations: Editta BRAUN and Thierry ZABOITZEFF

Metaphor for a humanity resilient to its own devastating civilisation?

Premiered on 22 November 2022 in Salzburg, LUVOS migrations brings together two strong and atypical sources of inspiration, whose originality and sometimes strangeness capture the audience's attention: LUVOS migrations, like the previous works by this luminous duo, marks the perfect osmosis between the resolutely innovative, sculptural and moving style of Austrian choreographer Editta BRAUN and the highly personal musical palette of French composer Thierry ZABOITZEFF.

The joint work of Editta BRAUN and Thierry ZABOITZEFF is the story of a collaboration spanning several decades: in 1997, they co-produced one of their first joint shows, Heartbeat, which was directed by Stéphane Vérité (Szenefestival Salzburg, 1997). The number of collaborations has continued ever since, culminating in Eurydike in 2004, König Artus in 2010, and Hydráos in 2020 with the incredible dancer Anna Maria MÜLLER - a show which, in addition to the ever-fascinating music of Thierry ZABOITZEFF, also 'summons' BEETHOVEN, SCHUMANN and DEBUSSY.

The theme of Hydráos is aptly related to the issues raised by widespread confinement, which suggests avenues of development, whether desired or endured, especially at the psychological or even phantasmagorical level, when the constraints associated with confinement for health reasons lead to profound societal and individual upheavals - interference of the imaginary, anxiety or the dream dimension in our daily lives.

Although Thierry ZABOITZEFF is well known to our readers as co-founder of ART ZOYD, his career as a composer outside this well-known context dates back more than twenty-five years (cf. his recent 3-CD anthology)! Born in 1953, Thierry ZABOITZEFF, an innovative multi-instrumentalist, has been charting a solo or collaborative course around the world since 1995. Since then, he has recorded twenty-eight albums. His website, www.zaboitzeff.org, is a goldmine for anyone wishing to discover or rediscover the richness of his exceptional career.

Born in 1958 in Austria, Editta BRAUN is rightly regarded as a pioneer of contemporary choreography. With a university degree in sports science and German language and literature (University of Salzburg), Editta BRAUN studied dance in Paris and New York. She teaches at the University of Salzburg and at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz. She has created over 30 productions (physical theatre, dance) and toured the world with her company. Her career is peppered with intercultural collaborations, against a backdrop of political commitment: she takes a resolutely feminist view of society and the theatre.

She was awarded the International Arts and Culture Prize of the City of Salzburg in 2014, as well as the Grand Arts Prize of the Salzburg Region in 2017.

The purpose of LUVOS migrations, a 19-minute film-choreography

With LUVOS migrations, Editta BRAUN uses a fantastic choreography, with faceless bodies and attitudes that are certainly alive, but not conforming to familiar gestures, to evoke the evolution in time, space and landscapes defined by civilisation, of a strange population, half-humanoid, half-animal, making its way indefinitely on the ruins of a collapsed, frozen or depopulated world. Is this a dreamlike projection of a world exhausted by humans? A mysterious post-cataclysmic future for an emerging and fragile species? A hypothetical biological survival following the shipwreck of civilisation? This strange choreographic aesthetic is interwoven with the deep, crystalline colours of Thierry ZABOITZEFF's chiselled music, the originality of which fits perfectly with the highly innovative dimension of Editta BRAUN's choreographic show. The Cairo Breaking Walls Festival made no mistake in awarding it the Special Jury Prize in January 2023.

LUVOS migrations also won Best Dance Film in January 2023 and third place in May 2023 at the Florence-Dance-On-Screen Festival. It has also been shown successively in Salzburg, Cairo, Trostberg in Germany, Pittsburgh in the United States (at the Constructed Sights Dance Film Festival) and was also screened in Cologne at the Moovy Dance Film Festival and in London, etc.

The film was directed and choreographed by Editta BRAUN and Menie WEISSBACHER, who was also behind the camera and in charge of post-production. The music was recorded, composed, performed and mixed by Thierry ZABOITZEFF, and the four dancers Martyna LORENC, Anna Maria MÜLLER, Sonia BORKOWICZ and Berta RAMÍREZ gave magnificent performances.

The production of this remarkable film, with its innovative aesthetic, was financed thanks to the support of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Arts and Culture as well as the City of Salzburg and the Federal State of Salzburg.

Editta BRAUN: "LUVOS was created in our home town of Salzburg and has now successfully begun its journey through 40 cities in 20 countries. Everywhere, we are met with astonishment and standing ovations, whatever the cultural origin of the audience. Whether in Senegal or Bulgaria, Estonia, Scotland, Greece, Cyprus, Israel or Ireland - a LUVOS production attracts a lot of attention and wins awards, as it has just done at one of Egypt's biggest theatre festivals, the Cairo International Festival of Experimental 

But what is LUVOS?

We - that is, my specialist dancers and myself - create beings that oscillate between animals and plants, with extremely mobile, embracing female bodies, most of which are naked. The completely depersonalised bodies of the dancers (their faces and breasts are never visible) make us forget that they are human beings. The illusion is thus created of moving in a unique world, a universe called LUVOS. [The specific colour of this universe is] largely determined and inspired by Thierry ZABOITZEFF's compositions and Thomas HINTERBERGER's precise lighting design (*).

Thirty-seven (!) years ago, in 1985, this particular aesthetic was launched by Kollektiv Vorgänge (around Beda PERCHT and myself) with a short piece, filmed by ORF and awarded at the most important European choreographic competition of the time in Paris.

From 2001 onwards, I developed very different feature films with generations of dancers that we took into the world of dance and theatre. The physical and technical requirements that LUVOS dancers have to bring with them are so specific that over the years a highly specialised ensemble has emerged. In the meantime, LUVOSmove® has become a certified dance technique, which I teach at university and which is the subject of scientific research.

At the start of 2021, when international stage performances are still out of the question because of the pandemic, the desire to develop the theme further arises: what new things can be told about the LUVOS universe through cinematic means? Together with photographer and film-maker Menie WEISSBACHER and the specialist LUVOS team, we plunged into the adventure!"

The musical angle of LUVOS migrations: interview with Thierry ZABOITZEFF
How did your collaboration with the Editta Braun Company come about?

TZ: It goes back to 1997, the year we met. I had just left ART ZOYD and we were putting together a duo: Heartbeat, a dance and live music project that confirmed our desire to continue our special and artistic relationship.

The following year, Editta invited me to write and record the original soundtrack for the show India for the company (1998)...

Is there a precession of music, choreography or purpose in determining a project like LUVOS migrations?

TZ: In the case of LUVOS migrations, the choreography and images were created before the music. In some cases during the filming, Editta used music or atmospheres (not necessarily my own) to create a certain atmosphere. But in the end everything was composed on the final images, including the sound effects and ambiences outside the music that I recreated and synchronised. At the very end, there were obviously some alterations to the images and music (length, dynamics etc.).

Is this the usual way you work together?

TZ: Not usually! But we sometimes use this method, and the creative processes are very varied and always very exciting. For example, on each project, we often decide, or Editta asks me, for a particular type of instrumentarium... On Nebensonnen, everything had to be based around the piano... On the first project, Luvos, everything would be electronic, with the dramaturgical demands complementing my electro-acoustic and instrumental palettes.

I suppose that, as is often the case, you are the only person in charge of the musical project? Composition, interpretation, mixing...

TZ: No, I propose sound options following our preliminary discussions, we debate them a bit and then I recast all the sound and compositional material so as to be as close as possible to Editta's and his company's requirements, while retaining my own mix and when everything seems defined, I replay, re-record and remix with my studio know-how.

There is obviously a philosophical or at least a political and societal message behind the choreographies of the Editta Braun Company. Is there a deliberate continuity of purpose between the successive films produced by the company?

TZ: With its choreographic work, Editta essentially follows two impulses: on the one hand, the imaginative exploration of the human body in movement, undressed, in its diverted abstraction (Luvos series, play with the illusion of the body) and, on the other, the possibilities of confronting social and political dysfunction through a vital artistic discourse that professes emotion and profound humanity. Internationality as mutual perception and inspiration, and a particular focus on the situation of women, have characterised her work from the outset to the present day.

Institutional support in Austria seems to indicate that the work of the Compagnie Editta Braun (ECB) is well known and recognised. Do you think that France is lagging behind in this kind of interest in artistic activities?

TZ: Austrian support has obviously existed since the creation of the Editta Braun Company and has developed over time. We can't say that France is lagging behind, I don't know. These are slow processes, often with institutions in very different countries. As far as France is concerned, nothing serious has been initiated or undertaken to date, but that's not a problem.

Do you have any other projects in the pipeline with Editta BRAUN?

TZ: There's a second film project in the pipeline, and the first shoots will take place in August, but I can't tell you any more about it at the moment.

When will there be a compilation of your musical work summing up these decades of cooperation?

TZ: I'm thinking about it, but it will take some time before I can produce this kind of compilation, because we won't have the image and that means we'll have to reconsider the cuts, lengths and mixes, while preserving the original identity of each project.

Article produced and interview by Philippe Perrichon

The soundtrack for LUVOS Migrations is available here : 
https://thierryzaboitzeff.bandcamp.com/album/luvos-migrations-ep

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