Christian Rizzo Sakinan Göze Çöp Batar (An over-protected eye always gets sand in it)
Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival
A meditation on exile.
First presented in 2012, this solo from Christian Rizzo is the result of a collaboration with Turkish dancer Kerem Gelebek.
A man is sitting on a wooden container. A blue cap and a rucksack give him the look of a traveller. At the end of the path, he takes his shoes off and dances. Sakinan Göze Çöp Batar is a proverb on exile, on the solitude of the explorer.
Rizzo, Director of the Montpellier–Occitanie ICI-CCN, was last seen at Sadler’s Wells in 2022 with une maison as part of the previous Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival.
When I approached Kerem for a solo performance, my first desire was to concentrate on melancholy and exile. The concept of exile no longer confines to a territory but to the self: exiling oneself from oneself. Melancholy, however, remains obligatory. Kerem manipulates the space on stage and lays down danced fragments such as haikus, sketches, or notes that, together, form a collection of thoughts born from movement.
Christian Rizzo
Part of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival
Co-presented by Sadler’s Wells and Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels
Header image description: A solo performer lies on their side, facing away from the camera. One leg is bent while the other is stretched out. They have one arm raised above their head and are wearing jeans, boots, and a red checkered shirt.
Header image © Marc Domage
A proverb in Turkish, Sakinan Göze Çöp Batar loosely means: “An over-protected eye always gets sand in it”. Or, in other words: it is by protecting yourself that you most risk hurting yourself.
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