„Yeah. Rational mind knows, but the emotional mind can be in denial.“
(Aurora Winter for GriefCoachAcademy)

Duet of a dancer (Peter Šavel) and pianist (Kamil Mihalov). Emotional movement interpretation of a grief and sorrow in the interaction with Goldberg variations of Johann Sebastian Bach.Shifts is a play within discrepancy between the rational structure and its
consequential emotional imprints. Two performers doing their best to fulfill the tasks. Keeping the distance, playing it cool. To what level – if any – is that possible? The only strategy which seems to be at hand is to pursue the constant shifting from variation to variation. The very strategy which inevitably results in frustration.

„I feel too much. That’s what’s going on.’ ‘Do you think one can feel too much? Or just feel in
the wrong ways?’ ‘My insides don’t match up with my outsides.’ ‘Do anyone’s insides and
outsides match up?’ ‘I don’t know. I’m only me.’ ‘Maybe that’s what a person’s personality is:
the difference between the inside and outside.’ ‘But it’s worse for me.’ ‘I wonder if everyone
thinks it’s worse for him.’ ‘Probably. But it really is worse for me.“
Nine-year-old Oskar Schell
(from a novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer)

Topic and choreography: Peter Šavel
Concept: Peter Šavel, Kamil Mihalov
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach: Golbergove Variácie BWV 988
Uri Caine Ensamble – Goldberg Variations (2000)
Scene and costumes: Peter Šavel
Coproduction: STUK Leuven (Belgium); Charleroi Danses, Bruxelles (Belgium); Stanica Žilina-Záriečie (Slovakia)
With support: Vooruit Gent (Belgium); P.A.R.T.S./departs, Bruxelles (Belgium); The Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic

Premiere: 27. 3. 2013 Move Me festival, STUK Leuven (Belgicko)

Shifts - trailer from Peter Savel on Vimeo.