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New project: ‘Finding Grace’

Funded by The Dutch Embassy in the United Kingdom.

#EsterNatzijlprojects has been commissioned (funded) by the Embassy of the Netherlands in the United Kingdom to create ‘Finding Grace’. A multidisciplinary dance theatre performance about, well, finding grace. 

So what does this mean? It means I’m  going to find out how to emulate an animal, a puppet and a God, preferably all at once! And as such I hope to find eternal beauty, happiness, peace, love, health, wealth and success for ever and ever and always in a world that is basically totally wasted. Yes I will find silence in noise and relief in pain. It’s all happening. Grace is right there right now right inside you. We don’t know this yet but I will try to find the path to it. 

Grace is the unicorn inside you radiating a rainbow all around you. 

‘Grace appears most purely in that human form which either has no consciousness or an infinite consciousness. That is, in the puppet, the animalistic or in the god.’ (Heinrich von Kleist in On the Marionette Theatre*)

Follow us:  #findgrace #findinggrace #grace #senseinasenselessworld #religion #spirituality #kleist #onthemarionettetheatre #dance #puppetry #marionette #hybrid #halleluja #andmore 

With @janzalud @juliancaddy @harrietstroet @embassyofthenetherlandsintheunitedkingdom @southeastdance @Loucope

* German poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer. Heinrich von Kleist is the author of an essay on puppet theatre, titled Über das Marionettentheater (On the Marionette Theatre), which remains one of the milestones in the theory of the theatre in general and of the marionette in particular. The essay was published in Berlin in the Berliner Abendblätter (Berlin Evening Paper, December 12-15, 1810). It is presented as a simulated dialogue between a fictional dancer and a narrator. In the essay, Kleist has one of the interlocutors comment that marionettes possess a grace humans do not.

Press release: Brighton Fringe, 9-12 and 26 May at the Old Courtroom

Ester Natzijl Projects (Netherlands) presents

Flying Solo Festival Manchester, South East Dance &

Amsterdam Fringe-winning performance:

WATCHING, ceci n’est pas de deux

WATCHING, Ceci n’est pas de deux is a unique solo-duet with a life-size foam puppet created and performed by dancer and puppeteer, Ester Natzijl (formerly of Netherlands Dance Theatre, and puppeteer with Duda Paiva and Ulrike Quade Companies). A fascinating mix of puppetry, theatre and dance, the performance is about a woman faced with her fears and desires, carving out a tender, entrancing performance of horror and humour, with an animated and sometimes extremely evil avatar.

“This stunning performance redefines our opinion of what puppetry actually means but beyond that it also redefines the possibilities for both theatre and dance in a performance that will long in both the memory and the soul.” ★★★★★ Reviews Hub

“An experience that lingers long after the performance is over” Exeunt Magazine

“A mesmerizing, beautifully produced performance. Sublime, surreal and superb.” Amsterdam Fringe Festival Jury

“Ester Natzijl performs with a life size foam puppet, choreographed so well that after a while it seems that the puppet is alive and Ester is the puppet. Sound complements the performance perfectly, initially a mix of medical and industrial, developing over the piece to orchestral. What is so impressive is the way that Ester creates the movement of the puppet in tune with her own movements. (…) The piece builds and becomes more physical, faster, more aggressive, technically amazing. At one point the puppet seems to be the only one alive. This is a wonderful engaging piece.” Flying Solo

For more information and tickets, contact Julian Caddy at jdccaddy@gmail.com see the Brighton Fringe website or visit www.esternatzijl.com

Performance details:

Venue: The Old Courtroom, 118 Church Street (side entrance), BN1 1UD