Burning Prayers

Direction, performance, video, and costume by Jil Guyon

Dance and choreography by Eugene van den Boom

Lighting design by Andreas Ryba

Photography: Laurent Ziegler

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In Burning Prayers the tradition of the African-American spiritual and its concern with the struggle and transience of life serves as the central theme around which video projection and live performance are constructed. The structure of the performance evening consists of a series of recordings wherein each song is presented as a complete performance unto itself. These spirituals, which convert a life of oppression into a rich language of deep emotion, are given further voice through their interplay with video and live solo performance—creating a shifting tableaux of visually and emotionally intense stage pictures.

 

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