August 2022 | Valencia
TALK TALK TALK
TO DIE
After 36 hours of rehearsal, the international collaborative physical theatre piece TALK TALK TALK TO DIE completed its try out and it must be said that it was an intense and rewarding artistic encounter.
" is Theatre" International Festival is an art project that started in 2021, organised by Just Art Association (independent art organisation based in Spain) with funding support from VertebrART (independent art organisation based in Shanghai and Spain). Its main aim is to keep up with the current issues, to explore the limits and possibilities of the concept of theatre. The themes for 2021 and 2022 are "OPEN" and "DIFFERENCE" respectively.
The festival is a collaboration between cross-culture artists for short-term residencies and is also an experiment for future mature theatre projects. During this try out process, extensive fieldwork and research is carried out in the early stages, and the rehearsals examine various aspects: the feasibility of the concept, the creative approach, and the communication between artists from different cultural backgrounds. There will also be frequent interactions and exchanges with the public and professionals in a variety of ways.
The second work of "DIFFERENCE is Theatre" International Festival, TALK TALK TALK TALK TO DIE, we use the expressions "crazy" and "extreme" to talk about "open relationships", "talk" between humans and voices, effective communication and the meanings of communication etc.
We would like to ask the public to answer the following questions, which can be sent to us in a private message. This is in line with our intention to create a piece that pays close attention to the feelings of every individual living in today's world.
1. Have you experienced or heard of open relationships? How do you feel about it?
2. What are the difficulties of everyday communication between people?
3. Do you think language is the only important way to communicate, given its dominant role in communication? Why?
About The Play
TALK TALK TALK TO DIE is the second project of Just Art Association's "DIFFERENCE is Theatre International Festival 2022". It is an experimental performance art project created by Chinese and Spanish artists during their artistic residency. In general, it can be regarded as a rebellion against certainty, and destruction of security, it is a work that questions the validity of language as an everyday means of communication. At the same time, it uses communication between people and voices to maximize and conceptualize the differences between people.
In this play, the woman uses body movements, voice, and minimal language... The man exists in the form of voice, not a real actor. The rupture of the communicative habit of language has caused the actress Noelia Liñana and the sound artist David Alarcón to adjust their knowledge and understanding of all the information transmitted by their partner, and use their own "performances" to adapt to this new "talk".
The audience needs to listen more closely to the “sound” and draw their own conclusions based on their own feelings and experience, which gives each audience member the greatest room for imagination. The audience may notice that the actress Noelia's reaction to the same “sound” is different from theirs. The actor becomes a bridge or mirror for the audience, which is a vivid reflection of individual differences. There is no simple judgment of right or wrong, only difference.
Language is the most used form of our daily communication. We often " talk" in our daily lives. Of course, language is effective in conveying specific information, but it is other things that really make people acquire cognition and confidence, such as body movements, self-awareness, and intention (e.g., "love").
But people rely on language because it is a habit. Giving up a habit is the hardest thing in the world. Even to the extent that when we are faced with a real dilemma in life or a challenge that touches our soul, we still choose to “talk”, even if it is in vain.
Max Weber said, " Man is an animal suspended in webs of significance that he himself has spun". All the conclusions we draw originate from ourselves, not from the truth. So, what is the meaning of “talk”? Is that the more you talk, the heavier the obsession, and the quicker the soul goes to "death" than the body?
Ideas & Director: Qianpeng Li (China)
Choreography & Performance: Noelia Liñana Palmi (Spain)
Sound Design: David Alarcón Folgado (Spain)
Dramaturgy : Sanshui (China)
Lighting design: Isidro Wang (China)
Film & Photography: Marc Martínez (Spain)
Producer: Serena Leong (Malaysia)
Production Assistants: Valeria Matveeva (Russia) & Fei Li (China)
Promotion: Wei Lin (China)
Organizer: Just Art Association
Sponsor: VertebrART
About The Artists
Qianpeng Li (China)
Director, Performance Art Instructor, East-West Theatre Researcher, Curator, Artistic Director
She has been teaching performing arts at Shanghai Theatre Academy for 21 years, meanwhile she is a researcher of Eastern and Western theatre who has visited many festivals, schools and theatre companies around the world. She has curated for several performance unit for various international arts festivals She is the founder and artistic director of VertebrART, an independent international arts organization based in China and Spain, known in China as the only organization dedicated to cross-cultural collaborative theatre projects that has worked with dozens of international artists. She is also the founder and artistic director of Just Art Association in Spain, she has curated the " is Theatre" programme. As a director she has directed plays such as "The Effect". Currently based in Valencia.
Noelia Liñana (Spain)
Choreographer, Performer and Educator
Base in Valencia. She has studied dance in both Valencia and London and has been awarded several scholarships. She has almost 20 years of experience as a professional dance performer and has worked with dance companies such as Gelabert-Azzopardi in Barcelona. As a choreographer, she has created several works such as Sucre, Miradas and Tari and has received numerous invitations to create works for museums, festivals and musical productions. In 2019, she worked with IVC on a performance-integrated education project dedicated to the inclusion of young performers on stage. She has been also working with different public and private institutions to develop dance-related educational programs.
David Alarcón Folgado (Spain)
Composer and lecturer
Base in Valencia. He has composed a large number of soundtracks and remixes and has performed in several countries. He has been invited to compose for organisations or institutions such as the Valencia Biennial, the Bologna Film Gallery, the San Sebastián International Film Festival, the Granada Music and Dance Festival, and the Spanish and French Ministries of Culture. He has also composed soundtracks for theatre, dance, film, documentaries and installations, collaborating with a number of theatres including the Gran Teatro de Valencia. He has been a teacher and technician in the electroacoustic laboratory of the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Valencia and has also given courses at the Polytechnic University of Valencia.
Yang Wang (China)
Lighting Designer
In 2016, he participated in the Nanluoguxiang Theatre Festival in Beijing as a lighting designer for the theatre production “My Secret Life”; he then followed the team to France for the 71st Avignon Theatre Festival in France. 2017, he participated in the Wuzhen Theatre Festival as an assistant lighting designer for “Rampage”. Recently, she has worked as lighting designer for the Beijing Youth Theatre Festival production “The Little Mermaid’ and the Shanghai International Dance Festival production ”Next Door“.
Marc Martínez (Spain)
Photographer, Filmmaker, Visual Artist, Founder and Artistic Director of Sesia Estudio
Base is based in Valencia and has extensive experience of working in visual arts related work. He has held key positions in the production work of several film and television projects. Passionate about exploring the experimental and pluralistic nature of audiovisual language and collaborating with other disciplines across borders, he founded the studio Sesia Estudio in Valencia in 2020 and holds the position of Artistic Director. 2021 he worked as a director on the documentary ESTHER - DIÁ LOGOS INTERRUMPIDOS for the renowned Spanish performance artist ESTHER FERRER, which was broadcast on Spanish rtve national television.
Time & Location
August 2022 | Valencia
TALK TALK TO DIE TEASER
Video & Photos by Marc Martínez