With enigmatic and provocative titles like “Daddy, I’ve seen this piece six times and I still don’t know why they’re hurting each other,” South African choreographer Robyn Orlin has sparked more curiosity worldwide than anybody in the dance scene since Trisha Brown during the 1960s. After several hit performances in this capital in recent years, Orlin will be back in town for the Paris Quartier d’Eté festival, performing “We must eat our suckers with the wrappers on.”
Orlin is a rebel with many causes. Her highly political performance pieces aim to be both subversive and funny. Using humor, sexual innuendoes and seemingly incongruous everyday objects — she explores themes dealing with intolerance, colonialism, racism and sexism. Her long titles don’t necessarily directly relate to her projects, which “stokes” much of her mystique.
Describing her work she says, “What’s interesting about ‘We must eat our suckers with the wrappers on,’ is that it’s a very serious and fulfilling piece. It’s what South Africa is about. It’s really a requiem for AIDs, a memoriam to all those who suffer. I cut past the political stuff and tried to remember the people who are dying. Unlike my usual critical or flippant self, I let the emotional side out. But sometimes I wonder, did I let out too much or not enough?”
Orlin divides her time between South Africa and Germany where she lives with her husband. “I always go back to South Africa — because my dancers are there, and my family — for one project a year, since I'm funded by the South African government. But, now I want to start working in film, not just dance. There are limitations in the dance world.”
“We must eat our suckers with the wrappers on” Chor. Robyn Orlin (City Theatre & Dance Group — Johannesburg, South Africa), July 28-31 at 10pm, Paris Quartier d'Eté Festival Palais Royal, Cours d’Orléans Paris, 1er, M° Palais Royal, tel: 01 44 94 98 00 www.quartierdete.com
