In our everyday lives we often dance on a knife-edge. Carl Knif's Red is an intimate portrait of an individual struggling with an inner red alert. Knif is an exceptional dancer and his singular movement quality is poetically combined with spoken word. Red is a performance about extremes – not always dramatic, but full of personal courage.
“I thought that a colour as the starting point to a performance would give me great freedom and countless possibilities for exploring and researching. Although this is true, during the process I noticed, to my surprise, that the colour also challenges, steers and draws guidelines. So I’ve travelled from the original idea, an architectonic space with abstract movement and explicit lighting, towards personal themes, a private space, far back to a time of memories and experiences.
The performance is about extremes. You could call them emergencies of emotion. At times, it’s about life and death but mostly about life. I look at this performance as a map. I’ve taken a red marker pen and pointed out some moments in my life that have felt really meaningful, or the opposite, lost all their meaning. These moments are not always dramatic. Sometimes I feel that in our everyday lives we always dance on a knife-edge. Above all, the red colour symbolises willpower, authority and courage. And this is why, in this performance, I want to bring up themes that feel sore.”
Choreography & performance: Carl Knif
Lighting Design: Jukka Huitila
Sound Design: Janne Hast
Costume Design: Karoliina Koiso-Kanttila
Production: Carl Knif Company/ Zodiak-Center for New Dance
Supported by: Arts Promotion Centre Finland, The Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland
