
"When I Left the Room"
a research dance performance.

"When I Left the Room" a research performance.
‘’When I left the Room’’ is a research dance performance of four bodies that acknowledge their inter-dependency. A reflection on identity, culture, and human relationships. Inside a “room” the bodies negotiate possibilities of being in togetherness and physically experimenting, exploring notions of adaptation, agency, and connectedness. Intensively physical, playing out on/in shifting spaces, boxes, rooms. The work is interested in how we understand and perceive the world around us and how it impacts on our relationships, given one’s constantly changing point in space/time. A movement exploration and translation of today's internal, social, and relational conflicts on human bonds in a modern society, where human bonds have become light and lose.
“When I Left the Room” is inspired by studies and research on identity and relationships by the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman’s concept of “liquid modernity, globalized world, and human relationships”. Bauman’s wide-ranging work touches on both classical sociological themes like rationalization and modernity and extends social theory to address the most contemporary of social issues such as human relationships. We are all bodies manifesting into different forms according to our different ways of experiencing and living in this world. The relation between memory and imagination/ past and present is explored and inspired by the philosopher Gaston Bachelard’s ideas of poetically exploring the experience of spaces, time and how houses shape our memories and thoughts.
What does mean to leave a room physically, emotionally, and spiritually?
When I Left the Room goes beyond leaving a physical space – leaving a physical room. It’s about taking yourself on a far journey; questioning, observing, and facing the darkness to come to a new world – through a choreographic creation process. Who are you today? It’s about finding yourself through movement and choreography, leaving behind your old-self and all the labels that society has taught, demanded, and given to you.

Adam Claussen
“When I Left the Room has opened a world of opportunity for me as a composer. When Anderson and I met for the first-time last December, I had never written a note of music for a dancer, let alone a 20-minute performance such as this. The way that dancers translate music into movement is fundamentally different from where I’m coming from as a saxophonist or film composer. Compared to film, dance is so abstract an art form, and yet contained within every bodily movement of a dancer is a detailed story which music can help to draw out.” - Adam Claussen
For more, visit www.adamclaussen.com
Guest performance
Elvis Sibeko Studios
Imbewu “The Seed” A Quest of Rhythm Identity
Dancers are on the quest to use South African dance styles to discover their rhythm identity.
CHOREOGRAPHER
Elvis Sibeko
MUSIC
Composed and mixed by Elvis Sibeko
DANCERS
Performed by Jazzart Dance Theatre Professional Company.
Abigail Overmeyer
Chesney Stanfield
Emile Petersen
Keagan Damons
Lisakhanya Nongqongqo
Phikolwethu Luke
Rian Jansen
Savannah Petrus





THE DREAM TEAM
"When I Left the Room" a research dance performance
"When I Left the Room"
a research dance performance.
PERFORMANCE DATES
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA
19th & 20th May 2022
Venue: Joseph Stone Auditorium
Athlone, Cape Town - South Africa
@19:30hrs
Tickets: R 150
Booking through Quicket
Featuring a guest performance by Elvis Sibeko Studios
KIGALI, RWANDA
Ubumuntu Arts Festival 2022
15th July 2022
BRAZIL
Date to be confirmed
