Conception and performance: Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion | Co-production: Dance Umbrella London | Supported by: Arts Council England and the Jonathan Burrows Group | Thanks: Dance 4 Nottingham

Jonathan Burrows (1960) started his career as a soloist with the Royal Ballet in London but formed the Jonathan Burrows Group in 1988 to present his own work. The company gained an international reputation with pieces such as Stoics (1991), Very (1992), Our (1994), The Stop Quartet (1996) and Things I Don't Know (1997).  In 2001 he presented Weak Dance Strong Questions, collaboration with Dutch theatre director Jan Ritsema, which toured to 14 countries. Since 2002 he has collaborated with the composer Matteo Fargion on a trilogy of duets, Both Sitting Duet (2002), The Quiet Dance (2005) and Speaking Dance (2006). The duo have now given over 150 performances of this work in 37 countries, including winning a 2004 New York Dance And Performance "Bessie" Award.  Other collaborators include Sylvie Guillem's performance of his choreography in Adam Robert's film Blue Yellow in 1996, and his invitation in 1997 to choreograph for William Forsythe's Ballet Frankfurt. In 2008 he was Associate Director on Peter Handke's The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other for the National Theatre, London. In 2002 Jonathan was given an award by the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts In New York, in recognition for his ongoing contributions to contemporary dance. He is a visiting member of faculty at P.A.R.T.S (Brussels), and is also a Visiting Professor for the Department of Drama and Theatre at Royal Holloway, University Of London.

Matteo Fargion (1961) studied composition with Kevin Volans at the University of Natal, South Africa, and later with Howard Skempton in London. He met Jonathan Burrows in 1988, and has since written music for many of his pieces, including Dull Morning, Stoics, Very, Our, Hands, The Stop Quartet (with Kevin Volans) and Things I Don't Know, in which he also performed Donna Che Beve for 3 amplified cardboard boxes. Matteo has also written music for theatre including an oratorio (Das Kontingent) commissioned by and performed at the Schaubühne Berlin and TAT Frankfurt, a chamber opera (Le Bellezze d'Hortensia) at the Theaterhaus in Stuttgart, as well as incidental music for many productions at the Residenz Theater Munich. In 2004 he wrote music for Thomas Ostermeier's prize winning production of Jon Fosse's new play The Girl on the Sofa shown at the Edinburgh International Festival, and in 2005 he collaborated and performed in Canadian choreographer Lynda Gaudreau's Document 4 in Gent, Belgium. His piece Duets, written in collaboration with Kevin Volans, is released on Black Box Records. Matteo also runs composition workshops at PARTS, the school of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker in Brussels.

 
Further Reading:

 Jonathan Burrows_Londondance

Jonathan Burrows Interview­_Criticaldance

Both Sitting or Brecht Might Have Liked It_Tim Etchells

Speaking Dance_Ramsay Burt

Differce and Repetition in Both Sitting Duet Birginshaw (.PDF)

Jonathan Burrows Dectring Dance Texts (.PDF)

Jonathan Burrows Fifty Cont. (.PDF)

Jonathan Weak Dance Strong Questions (.PDF)

Jonnattan Burrows RamseyBurt (.PDF)