Sounds behind the Closed Window (Afternoon tea and a memory)

I.

I made myself a tea, sat down

and wanted to have a peaceful time

to follow all my messy thoughts.

But when I sat down,

there were no thoughts.

My mind stood silent.

***

I heard the sounds behind the closed window

distant like life has been from me.

That white dust hardly reminds me of the snow

as I remember it from my childhood´s memory.

I stood up to draw in the curtains

and now the world outside

becomes as distant

as I myself have been from life.

II.

I am waking up the next day,

opening the curtains, looking from out of the window

I see that the world there has changed.

The white dust has turned into real snow.

Little fire is waking up in me,

lighting up an old, nearly forgotten memory.

III.

The night was magical,

sleeping world covered in snow;

my memory finally came into reality –

suddenly hitting the walls of my mind.

And I saw it as an image

slightly changed under the dust of years,

bringing nuanced feelings

like I never felt it before.

Is it me who has changed?

In this very moment

I am feeling alive,

truest me – adult and child embraced.

In this very moment

when snow has given peace

to my disturbed soul.

Dorota Matejová, 2017

The poem, originally named Afternoon tea and a memory, served as an inspiration for creating a physical-music theatre piece Sounds behind the Closed Window (therefore, I later changed the original name of the poem).

Sounds behind the Closed Window is an intimate performance organically connecting words, live classical and improvised music, movement and analog projection creating an abstract story told by three performers. During this -30 minutes long- piece “the abstract” of the music and movement blends together with “the concrete” of the words. However “the concrete” of the words is now losing its usual direct meaning by being brought out in its more abstract and sensual form and presented in a more physical and musical way.

The piece was initiated by me and created in collaboration with the Taiwanese percussionist Yung-Tuan Ku and the Brasilian violinist Lucas Bernardo da Silva with the artistic supervision by Ide van Heiningen (founder MAPA) and Virág Dezső (artistic director MAPA), and it was born within the Production Facility Lab of Studio MAPA Nederland (http://www.mapa.nl/).

Sounds behind the Closed Window was premiered on April 8th 2017 in Studio MAPA Nederland. This production marks an important moment for me, when I realized this is the direction I want to follow and explore further on my creative journey.

photos by Virág Dezsö ©, Studio MAPA Nederland, 2017

SOUNDS BEHIND THE CLOSED WINDOW production:

PERFORMERS: Dorota Matejová: words, flauto traverso │ Yung-Tuan Ku: words, percussion │ Lucas Bernardo: violin

LIGHTS: Che-Sheng Wu │ARTISTIC COACHES: Virág Dezső, Ide van Heiningen (MAPA)

TEXT SLIDES: Machteld Aardse (MAPA) │SCENOGRAPHY: Studio MAPA Nederland │ANALOG PROJECTION: Ide van Heiningen

MUSIC: excerpts from music by E. Ysaye, J.S. Bach, M. Ravel and live improvised music by the performers