Protecting Time

Featuring César Brodermann Words by Nastasia Khmelnitski

Protecting Time is a new online durational performance by César Brodermann, to be premiered on February 27, Saturday, at 8 pm (GMT +2). The performance was created for Batsheva Dancers Create part of Batsheva Dance Company. In this 55-59 minute show, Guy Davidson and Gianni Notarnicola propose an innovative representation of distance and breaking distance. This journey is repetitive and takes place several times throughout the performance breaking down our understanding of time and space as with each replication the time lessens, the tempo changes to a quicker pace, and the emotional background is transformed. As César explains, “Within this protective shield that we create, we destroy it as the performance occurs in the pursuit of freedom.”

César Brodermann is a multidisciplinary artist, contemporary dancer, photographer, and artistic director, originally from Mexico City, currently based in Tel Aviv and working with Batsheva Dance Company. In this interview we discuss the upcoming show with César, Guy, and Gianni, touching on the challenges the durational performance puts on the artists.

We speak about César’s ongoing research on the infinite, the relation that is built between the audience and the creator/performers, and the notion of time and distance/closeness. Guy shares his experience, “As the tempo changes, everything intensifies, the exhaustion builds up, the mental capacity is reaching its limit, time is running out, and the challenge of staying together becomes amplified through the time and space between us.” And Gianni proposes his take on the performance, “We go through an overwhelming experience of emotions, through coexisting and surviving together into this journey where time, distance, and physicality are deeply challenging us.“

Created by César Brodermann Performers Guy Davidson Gianni Notarnicola Music Composer Jordan T. Chiolis Costume Designer Tal Maslavi Created for Batsheva Dancers Create and Batsheva Dance Company

Watch the performance

‘I don’t specifically want to define what the audience will take away from my art, rather I want to invoke visceral feelings, such as feeling protected inside the space, observing the destruction of the ground, and going on a journey with the performers.’

— César Brodermann

What is the main idea you want the audience to walk away with after viewing Protecting Time?

CB

I don’t specifically want to define what the audience will take away from my art, rather I want to invoke visceral feelings, such as feeling protected inside the space, observing the destruction of the ground, and going on a journey with the performers. One of my main motives as an artist and creator is to challenge the distance between audience and performer. When it comes to working in a digital format, the challenge becomes even more intense.

I wish for the audience to understand that when things get repeated, they will never be the same, to reflect on our relationship to distance, and how when things end, they don’t necessarily end. Principally and philosophically, I believe that things never truly end; everything is endless and infinite.

What questions do you want them to ask themselves?

CB

How can we see that something that separates us can also bring us together? By being in the present moment, can we lose the sense of time and let it disappear? Can moments of isolation make us feel more proximity to ourselves and, therefore, others? What do we see when we see our own reflection in someone else’s eyes?

‘One of the goals for the performance is for Gianni and Guy to attempt to go through the same journey as time lessens. To understand that each repetition they do will bring different challenges; how to push through those to 'accomplish' this whole journey.’

— César Brodermann

The bubble wrap comes as a protective shield between the performers and the outside world, which moves in a different tempo. However, the audience has a unique opportunity to join the inside of the bubble and view the story from several angles filmed live. While bringing the audience and the performers closer, there’s still a vast distance from everything outside of the bubble, which impedes the physical ability to approach and the ability to see. Tell us about the research of distance and breaking the distance between the characters involved. 

CB

I have been researching distance for about three years now in my work. It’s endless research. I constantly ask myself these questions: How far can we go? How close can we be?

We enter this journey in a certain mental and physical state that allows the performers to research their physical limits and pass beyond them. Within this protective shield that we create, we destroy it as the performance occurs in the pursuit of freedom. The performers pop the bubbles on the ground, which is a form of breaking down the distance between themselves. I believe, by the end of the performance, they can feel how something inside them was destroyed, therefore making them feel reborn.

One of the goals for the performance is for Gianni and Guy to attempt to go through the same journey as time lessens. To understand that each repetition they do will bring different challenges; how to push through those to 'accomplish' this whole journey. Understanding that with time the journey will bring them closer together until eventually being able to touch, allowing the distance to finally disappear.

In a time when distance seems so relevant, I really wanted to have a clear notion of what it would feel like to be able to lose the distance completely by the end of the performance. There is a constant frustration and desperation that we find ourselves in at the moment, where those we care about seem so far away, hoping for the day we may encounter them again and finally embrace. I'm really interested in time, the duration of a performance, how can we keep going forever, accepting that there are no real endings. Despite this performance having a clear ending, I believe they could keep going and restart just to find this journey of freedom again. In past durational performances I've experienced, there is a moment when one feels like they can not continue, and then something happens to the body. You surrender to your exhaustion, to your sweat, you are just alive in the moment. The distance between your mind and body disappears. I want Gianni and Guy to find this while they are performing; to have each other to be there for one another, to surrender into each other's eyes and trust completely, to feel safest in this protective shield where they can lose reality, to go into a deep connection to their own self until almost forgetting who they are.

‘I'm interested in creating a world in which we use bubble wrap to create a safe space and the measuring tape to have a clear border, ultimately to understand that even with limitation, we can be free.’

— César Brodermann

I want to touch on the topic of choreography, the work with one’s body movements and with the gaze so intense. What is the theme or idea the dancers need to keep in mind to transmit this tension? 

CC

I'm interested in creating a world in which we use bubble wrap to create a safe space and the measuring tape to have a clear border, ultimately to understand that even with limitation, we can be free. The movement is based on limits relating to the distance, which allows the performers to make choices between restriction and freedom. We talk about this 99% percent physical and mindset where they are constantly in a state of climax, keeping the tension until it has to stop. As time passes, maintaining this state of totality gets more challenging, they lose time but gain closeness.

The physical research of going deeper than touch is a constant in the work. They are never allowed to touch a body part to their own bodies until the end where they accept becoming one fully. The gaze comes from trying to see yourself in someone else's eyes, discovering that you are them and they are you and that you need each other to survive. To be a mirror to one another. How much do you have to open all your senses to fully connect to your body and the body of someone else? Can you feel heartbreak at the same time as the other person does?

We talk a lot about what happens when you reach a limit and how the only option (if you can’t go further) is to go the other way. Can meeting a limit actually just bring you to a totally different limit? No matter where the other person goes, no matter if the tempo increases, no matter how challenging it gets, you will be there fully to protect yourself and to protect them. Even when there is a stop, they never stop moving.

‘There have been rehearsals where I felt that I just couldn't break through it. This sometimes creates very strong negative feelings of frustration, anger, emotional exhaustion, and much more. I go inside myself, and oftentimes it brings dark thoughts.’

— Guy Davidson

Some elements impact the dancers’ and the audience’s emotional background: the speeding up of the tempo, the costumes, the gradual breaking of the distance, and the repetition. What emotions are most prominent during the performance (that the dancers experience)? 

GD

There are a lot of emotions and sensations that I go through during this performance. They vary in levels of intensity and depth, and they constantly change from moment to moment. Some experiences are more mental and emotional, and some are physical. Firstly, at the beginning of the piece, I feel the struggle to get into this world. The information is so overwhelming that I have to climb a wall, mentally, to enter the world. There is so much to comprehend, to do, and relate to at the same time. 

There have been rehearsals where I felt that I just couldn't break through it. This sometimes creates very strong negative feelings of frustration, anger, emotional exhaustion, and much more. I go inside myself, and oftentimes it brings dark thoughts. The next struggle is to stay in this constantly changing world. Of course, the structure of the performance changes because of the tempo, the bubble wrap changing shape, and the decreasing distance between us. But, much more is happening in each moment: the small distances inside our bodies and between them, isolations, the constant grabbing of our muscles, the limitations we find and need to break through, the need to keep eye contact but without physical contact.

The thought of dying in a way that is pathetic highly affects my day-to-day. I am very cautious not to die in a way that will bring a certain memory or a shadow on all my life, all my experiences. And this fear of death brings me to control my daily life, not allowing me to be free, as all the time I’m worried about this beauty that should happen. 

The true challenge is that you can never rest, neither mentally nor physically, because every moment is so completely different. In this world, with all the beauty of this medium, which makes us break our limits, comes great destruction and not just physical. Sometimes I feel like I'm physically grabbing my mind and heart. I know my body is exhausted and destroyed and that I can't go out of this world because the journey would be even harder, so I use whatever is left in me to become total, so much so that I start to just shiver. The togetherness of Gianni and I is a very strong engine that we both use to get through this journey. In these moments comes the most amazing feeling of joy, just pure joy that I rarely get to experience, if at all. I always enjoy moving, but these moments are on a completely different emotional and physical level. As the tempo changes, everything intensifies, the exhaustion builds up, the mental capacity is reaching its limit, time is running out, and the challenge of staying together becomes amplified through the time and space between us. It all accumulates until we reach our climax, which is where the journey is done. It's a painful joy to perform it and a real pleasure to go through every moment of it.