Plateau Effect

Following the successful staging of The Way Things Go (2009) for Cullberg in 2011, choreographer Jefta van Dinther was commissioned to create a new work, to premiere in Amsterdam in the summer of 2013.

In the large scale work Plateau Effect (2013) van Dinther seeks to disorient and challenge the viewer with a layering of choreography, light, sound and scenography. See-sawing between the dancers and their activities on the one hand, and the materials they interact with on the other, a ‘choreography of matter’ emerges. Rudimentary elements merge and unravel to reveal a startling grandeur, where the raw reality of materiality flips into a psychedelic space of exception. At the intersection between matter-of-fact and make-believe Plateau Effect puts to the tests our ability to transgress the here and
now.

In Plateau Effect, the dancers resemble a community that is constantly on the move in an unsettled progression through various terrains. Communicating, transporting, constructing and inhabiting morphs into choreography as they unite in a joint effort to create that which only a collective can. Through body and voice, through sound, light and material, this force of alliances directs and redirects towards and away from the audience. Immersed in the sonic landscape of David Kiers, with lighting design of Minna Tiikkainen and scenography by SIMKA, the performance races through a sequence of laborious productions, vibrating and unstoppable.

“With Plateau Effect, I want to continue my research in the areas of perception”, says van Dinther. “I want the body, light and sound to quite literally extend and reach out to the spectators, with directness and without a need for interpretation. I want to cultivate and promote a space where an
audience can spend time with the things they do not recognize. The title Plateau Effect refers to a temporary state of stable productivity, in which a leveling out occurs.” – Jefta van Dinther

In the press

“Brutal, brilliant and thrilling by Cullberg Ballet.”
“…a puzzling and intelligent ballet with a brilliant final.”
“The long beginning is purely fabulous. Vertiginous, mysteriously beautiful, providing examples of Jefta van Dinther’s choreographic trademark: the ability to, from a nearly simple concreteness, create an as intelligent as sensual associatively flow of movement.”
“Cullberg Ballet makes Plateau Effect a flowing and genuine ensemble work.””When one dancer finally manages to break out from the collective and release herself from the thing’s metamorphosis, you know that the end is near. Still, the final is as surprising as adorably brilliant.”
“…a beautiful and intelligent stage experience.”
– Dagens Nyheter

“…visual and beautiful.”
– Sveriges Radio P1, Kulturnytt

“During the world premiere of Van Dinther’s newest creation, nine dancers construct three wondrous worlds.”
“Hallucinatory, never shown before, it seems to be a film that we are looking at.”
“… it is a soft, smooth, seductive world. When the dancers finally walk upright again, they are totally transformed, creatures from another planet. Infinite energy vibrates through their undulating bodies, the generated heat streaming towards the audience. An audience that now, alas, has to leave Van Dinther’s universe.”
“…delightfully beautiful.”
– Theaterkrant

“Jefta van Dinther (SE/NL) creates an overwhelming world for the international Cullberg Ballet (Stockholm) where dance, materials, sound and light each play an equal role. The force and the effort of the dancers, in interplay with the materials, generates beautiful images on the stage. The plateau effect is felt, and certainly not uninteresting.”
“Van Dinther and Cullberg Ballet show that both the “experiment” as well as the installation go well together on the big stage.”
– Dans Magazine

Composer / Sound Design: David Kiers

Light Design: Minna Tiikkainen

Set Design: SIMKA

Rehearsal Director and Choreographer Assistant: Thomas Zamolo

Artistic Advisors: Frédéric Gies, Kristine Slettevold & Robert Steijn