source: vimeo

For the first collaboration work between Gui Garrido*Hermann Heisig*Nuno Lucas*Pieter Ampe & CAMPO, that will premiere in May 2012, we started our research project with a travel only the 4 of us. We went through several locations and landscapes, mood swings and different constellations, we took photos and videos, we sang and wrote, we were silent and euphoric, etc…
This was the first meeting, a humble encounter, a wanting to know how long can we stick together and to the plan, what simple action can happen when we’re in the same place together, what are the roles that we can assume and if the stories can make any sense and oh so much more that is still to come.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
source: tanzforumberlinde

Was passiert, wenn zwei Performerpaare, die in dieser Form noch nie gemeinsam gearbeitet haben, unbedingt ein Stück zusammen machen wollen, davon erzählt »a coming community«. Pieter Ampe und Guilherme Garrido, noch in bester Erinnerung durch ihr brachial komisches »Still Standing You«, haben sich gemeinsam mit Hermann Heisig und Nuno Lucas – den Schöpfern der skurrilen Annäherungsstudie »Pongo Land« – in die kreative Wüste zurückgezogen, um einander näherzukommen. Ob es den vier unverwechselbaren Charakteren gelungen ist, zu einer Gemeinschaft zusammenzuwachsen? Eine Erfahrung, bei der Kunst und Leben verschmelzen.

Robert Steijn, who is connected with the performance as an outside eye, about »a coming community«:
»(T)he four men of ›a coming community‹ agreed easily on the description: rough poetry. There was no discussion about it. But what does it exactly mean, this rough poetry, and how will it occur in the new performance? After visiting some rehearsals I imagine that a kind of rough poetry will appear especially in how the four men relate to each other on stage. (…)
At first glance, it doesn’t seem an easy meeting between the four men who are present on stage. However, the desire to make a performance together is clearly felt. There is a big common drive to go for it. None of them gives up when it gets difficult. But there is a clear distinction between the four in how they are creative on stage. It seems there could be a big potential for conflicts and endless debates, but their poetic approach of being together on stage takes the heat out of the moment and emphasizes the sensorial experiences of being in such a situation. (…) Their theatrical poetry does something with time, it slows down the dramatic tensions, unravels them and opens a situation in different ways of looking at something and even into different ways of reflecting. ›a coming community‹ plays with multi-layered ways of perceiving of how we can create something together, without losing the reality of being different. (…)
Like in good poetry, we must focus on insignificant details to make our view more complex, to get into other perspectives. Poetry plays with details that at first glance have no direct meaning, but start to work deep under the skin at the moment when one discovers them (…).«

Pieter Ampe (born in 1982) studied at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in 2002-2003 and at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels from 2004-2008. During this training he created the solo performance »On Stage« (2006) and »Still Difficult Duet« (2007) together with Guilherme Garrido. With Simon Mayer he presented the duet »O feather of lead« (2008). In 2006 Pieter took part in the scholarship program danceWEB at ImPulsTanz in Vienna. Out of this emerged the artists’ network Sweet & Tender Collaborations, towards which Pieter still contributes. For the twentieth birthday of Vooruit Arts Centre in Ghent, Pieter created »Kiezen is Verliezen« (2003-2004). As a dancer he appeared in Cirque Danton by the stage director Jan Decorte and The Song by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker & Rosas. He collaborated with the performance duo United Sorry (Frans Poelstra & Robert Steijn), with the artist Roland Seidel, choreographer Anne Juren and the noise rock quartet The Germans. Since 2009 Pieter Ampe has been artist in residence at CAMPO in Gent. In 2011, he created »Jake and Pete’s Big Reconciliation Attempt For The Disputes From The Past« together with his brother Jakob Ampe and mentor Alain Platel. This piece, as well as »Still Standing You«, is still touring all around the world.

Guilherme Garrido’s (born in 1983) artistic work and education are connected to dance, choreography and fine arts. Between 2007-2009, he was the curator of »Show Rooms« within the frame of the annual Dance Festival A Fábrica in Porto. In 2008 he was the co-artistic director of the project Skite/Sweet & Tender Collaborations Porto 2008, together with António Pedro Lopes and Jean Marc-Adolphe. As a dancer he worked for Maria Clara Villa-Lobos, Ibrahim Quraishi and for Tommy Noonan/PVC company Stadttheater Freiburg. Since October 2007 he has been touring all around Europe with »Still Difficult Duet«. He is still working with Antonio Pedro Lopes in »I WANT MORE FANS YOU WANT MORE STAGE« (work in progress). Together with Mia Habib he created a duet called »A couple dance«. He premiered his first solo work, »GO JOHN«, in 2011 at Fresh Festival, BUDA (Kortrijk, BE), and in 2012 he premiered »BEST BEAST«, his first group piece as choreographer at HAU Berlin.

Pieter Ampe and Guilherme Garrido met at P.A.R.T.S. In 2007, they created the duet »Still Difficult Duet«, which is still touring all over Europe. The successor, »Still Standing You« (2010), was selected for Circuit X of the Belgian Theaterfestival 2012.

Hermann Heisig (born in 1981 in Germany) started with contemporary dance in 1997 when taking part in the »best dance solo« competition at euro scene Leipzig Festival for the first time. Even before and during his studies at Die Etage in Berlin, he created various dance solos in clubs and galleries, and collaborated with musicians and artists such as Anja Müller, Marina Quesada, Diana Wesser and Brockdorff Klang Labor. In 2007 he participated in the program for choreography ex.e.r.ce 07 at CCN Montpellier. Together with the other participants he initiated KAF = Knowledge & Fun, an open platform for young choreographers to exchange their work in the context of Tanz im August 2007. As a dancer he has worked with Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods, Meg Stuart/Frank Castorf, Martin Nachbar/Martine Pisani, Corinna Harfouch and Begüm Erciyas. In 2009 Hermann was invited by Meg Stuart to participate in Connections, a mentorship program for the performing arts initiated by Spielart Festival, München. In this context he created »Themselves already Hop!«, a piece for four performers. In collaboration with Elpida Orfanidou he created the duet »united states«, premiered in 2011 in Zagreb.

Nuno Lucas (born in 1980 in Portugal), choreographer and performer, began to show his ability to perform comedy at the age of five, imitating public figures, typical characters, singers and voices of animals. Between 1989-1991 he lived in Madeira where he began his studies of music (mandolin, acoustic guitar, electric and voice). In 1998 he moved to Lisbon where he obtained a degree in Economics at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. In 2001 he participated in his first dance workshop and had his debut as a performer with the choreographer Miguel Pereira at Teatro Nacional D. Maria II. He got his professional training at The Choreographic Course of Creation and Research in Forum Dança and the ex.e.r.ce program at CCN Montpellier for which he received a scholarship of Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. In 2003 he was invited by João Fiadeiro to develop his first choreographical sketches in LAB10. He created two solos: »Self portrait as a dancer« and »What can be shown cannot be said« (2007). His collaboration with Márcia Lança, »Trompe le Monde«, premiered in Culturgest, Lisbon (2010). Recently he has been teaching at the Superior School for Technology and Arts of Lisbon.

Hermann Heisig and Nuno Lucas met during ex.e.r.ce 07. Together they created the duet »Pongo Land« (2008) and, with Irina Müller, »What comes up, must go up« (2009).
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
source: nxtstpeu

Pieter Ampe, Guilherme Garrido, Hermann Heisig & Nuno Lucas Ghent
a coming community
Over the last ten years, Pieter Ampe, Guilherme Garrido, Hermann Heisig and Nuno Lucas met in different combinations and various circumstances. The striking similarities and contradictions in both their work and their personal lives made them dream of establishing something as a quartet. a coming community will thus be the first production they will make together. How does the social need to belong to something correspond with our individual desires? The four boys search for ways to relate and present themselves as a team in order to inhabit new territories. By doing so, inventing a group becomes a craft, and they’ll drag you softly along their world of fantasy and imagination. They have the ambition to make something fabulous out of something ordinarily mundane. Still not knowing where this common journey will take them, they are ready to give everything so that history can happen.

NXTSTP partners: Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), Alkantara Festival (Lisbon), Göteborgs Dans & Teater Festival.
.
.
.
.
.
.
source: tanzforumberlinde

Was passiert, wenn zwei Performerpaare, die in dieser Form noch nie gemeinsam gearbeitet haben, unbedingt ein Stück zusammen machen wollen, davon erzählt »a coming community«. Pieter Ampe und Guilherme Garrido, noch in bester Erinnerung durch ihr brachial komisches »Still Standing You«, haben sich gemeinsam mit Hermann Heisig und Nuno Lucas – den Schöpfern der skurrilen Annäherungsstudie »Pongo Land« – in die kreative Wüste zurückgezogen, um einander näherzukommen. Ob es den vier unverwechselbaren Charakteren gelungen ist, zu einer Gemeinschaft zusammenzuwachsen? Eine Erfahrung, bei der Kunst und Leben verschmelzen.

Robert Steijn, who is connected with the performance as an outside eye, about »a coming community«:
»(T)he four men of ›a coming community‹ agreed easily on the description: rough poetry. There was no discussion about it. But what does it exactly mean, this rough poetry, and how will it occur in the new performance? After visiting some rehearsals I imagine that a kind of rough poetry will appear especially in how the four men relate to each other on stage. (…)
At first glance, it doesn’t seem an easy meeting between the four men who are present on stage. However, the desire to make a performance together is clearly felt. There is a big common drive to go for it. None of them gives up when it gets difficult. But there is a clear distinction between the four in how they are creative on stage. It seems there could be a big potential for conflicts and endless debates, but their poetic approach of being together on stage takes the heat out of the moment and emphasizes the sensorial experiences of being in such a situation. (…) Their theatrical poetry does something with time, it slows down the dramatic tensions, unravels them and opens a situation in different ways of looking at something and even into different ways of reflecting. ›a coming community‹ plays with multi-layered ways of perceiving of how we can create something together, without losing the reality of being different. (…)
Like in good poetry, we must focus on insignificant details to make our view more complex, to get into other perspectives. Poetry plays with details that at first glance have no direct meaning, but start to work deep under the skin at the moment when one discovers them (…).«

Pieter Ampe (born in 1982) studied at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in 2002-2003 and at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels from 2004-2008. During this training he created the solo performance »On Stage« (2006) and »Still Difficult Duet« (2007) together with Guilherme Garrido. With Simon Mayer he presented the duet »O feather of lead« (2008). In 2006 Pieter took part in the scholarship program danceWEB at ImPulsTanz in Vienna. Out of this emerged the artists’ network Sweet & Tender Collaborations, towards which Pieter still contributes. For the twentieth birthday of Vooruit Arts Centre in Ghent, Pieter created »Kiezen is Verliezen« (2003-2004). As a dancer he appeared in Cirque Danton by the stage director Jan Decorte and The Song by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker & Rosas. He collaborated with the performance duo United Sorry (Frans Poelstra & Robert Steijn), with the artist Roland Seidel, choreographer Anne Juren and the noise rock quartet The Germans. Since 2009 Pieter Ampe has been artist in residence at CAMPO in Gent. In 2011, he created »Jake and Pete’s Big Reconciliation Attempt For The Disputes From The Past« together with his brother Jakob Ampe and mentor Alain Platel. This piece, as well as »Still Standing You«, is still touring all around the world.

Guilherme Garrido’s (born in 1983) artistic work and education are connected to dance, choreography and fine arts. Between 2007-2009, he was the curator of »Show Rooms« within the frame of the annual Dance Festival A Fábrica in Porto. In 2008 he was the co-artistic director of the project Skite/Sweet & Tender Collaborations Porto 2008, together with António Pedro Lopes and Jean Marc-Adolphe. As a dancer he worked for Maria Clara Villa-Lobos, Ibrahim Quraishi and for Tommy Noonan/PVC company Stadttheater Freiburg. Since October 2007 he has been touring all around Europe with »Still Difficult Duet«. He is still working with Antonio Pedro Lopes in »I WANT MORE FANS YOU WANT MORE STAGE« (work in progress). Together with Mia Habib he created a duet called »A couple dance«. He premiered his first solo work, »GO JOHN«, in 2011 at Fresh Festival, BUDA (Kortrijk, BE), and in 2012 he premiered »BEST BEAST«, his first group piece as choreographer at HAU Berlin.

Pieter Ampe and Guilherme Garrido met at P.A.R.T.S. In 2007, they created the duet »Still Difficult Duet«, which is still touring all over Europe. The successor, »Still Standing You« (2010), was selected for Circuit X of the Belgian Theaterfestival 2012.

Hermann Heisig (born in 1981 in Germany) started with contemporary dance in 1997 when taking part in the »best dance solo« competition at euro scene Leipzig Festival for the first time. Even before and during his studies at Die Etage in Berlin, he created various dance solos in clubs and galleries, and collaborated with musicians and artists such as Anja Müller, Marina Quesada, Diana Wesser and Brockdorff Klang Labor. In 2007 he participated in the program for choreography ex.e.r.ce 07 at CCN Montpellier. Together with the other participants he initiated KAF = Knowledge & Fun, an open platform for young choreographers to exchange their work in the context of Tanz im August 2007. As a dancer he has worked with Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods, Meg Stuart/Frank Castorf, Martin Nachbar/Martine Pisani, Corinna Harfouch and Begüm Erciyas. In 2009 Hermann was invited by Meg Stuart to participate in Connections, a mentorship program for the performing arts initiated by Spielart Festival, München. In this context he created »Themselves already Hop!«, a piece for four performers. In collaboration with Elpida Orfanidou he created the duet »united states«, premiered in 2011 in Zagreb.

Nuno Lucas (born in 1980 in Portugal), choreographer and performer, began to show his ability to perform comedy at the age of five, imitating public figures, typical characters, singers and voices of animals. Between 1989-1991 he lived in Madeira where he began his studies of music (mandolin, acoustic guitar, electric and voice). In 1998 he moved to Lisbon where he obtained a degree in Economics at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. In 2001 he participated in his first dance workshop and had his debut as a performer with the choreographer Miguel Pereira at Teatro Nacional D. Maria II. He got his professional training at The Choreographic Course of Creation and Research in Forum Dança and the ex.e.r.ce program at CCN Montpellier for which he received a scholarship of Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. In 2003 he was invited by João Fiadeiro to develop his first choreographical sketches in LAB10. He created two solos: »Self portrait as a dancer« and »What can be shown cannot be said« (2007). His collaboration with Márcia Lança, »Trompe le Monde«, premiered in Culturgest, Lisbon (2010). Recently he has been teaching at the Superior School for Technology and Arts of Lisbon.

Hermann Heisig and Nuno Lucas met during ex.e.r.ce 07. Together they created the duet »Pongo Land« (2008) and, with Irina Müller, »What comes up, must go up« (2009).