{"id":21,"date":"2003-01-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-01-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.idanca.net\/2003\/01\/01\/no-coracao-da-conversa\/"},"modified":"2008-06-03T15:15:30","modified_gmt":"2008-06-03T18:15:30","slug":"no-coracao-da-conversa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idanca.net\/no-coracao-da-conversa\/","title":{"rendered":"No cora\u00e7\u00e3o da conversa | The heart of the chatter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Este texto \u00e9 oferecido em portugu\u00eas pelo British Council.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Traduzido por Simone Gumar\u00e3es.<\/p>\n

Keith Watson \u00e9 cr\u00edtico de dan\u00e7a para a London Metro.<\/p>\n

O que realmente assusta ao se escrever um perfil de Nigel Charnock \u00e9 saber que ele sempre poderia faz\u00ea-lo melhor. Pois raramente um dan\u00e7arino (e no caso dele, o termo \u00e9 inadequado) tem-se mostrado t\u00e3o capaz de levar para o palco n\u00edvel t\u00e3o extraordin\u00e1rio de articula\u00e7\u00e3o verbal e f\u00edsica.<\/p>\n

Seja atuando com o DV8 ou em apresenta\u00e7\u00f5es solo, ou ainda, como escritor\/diretor para seus pares na Volcano, sua pr\u00f3pria companhia, ou, mais recentemente, para a Helsinki City Dance Theatre, o trabalho de Charnock se constr\u00f3i sobre uma combina\u00e7\u00e3o fatal de estrita honestidade e mal\u00edcia, aliada a um tra\u00e7o masoquista que percorre sua espinha dorsal. \u00c9 brutal, irreverente e capaz de arrancar umas boas risadas, em geral, tudo ao mesmo tempo.<\/p>\n

O que fez de Charnock um dos talentos mais atraentes e originais no panorama da dan\u00e7a brit\u00e2nica nos \u00faltimos vinte anos \u00e9 precisamente a sua versatilidade e a recusa veemente em adaptar-se ao padr\u00e3o estereotipado de core\u00f3grafo, comediante, dan\u00e7arino, diretor ou escritor (ou, ainda, de cozinheiro de um bom curry). Embora venha sendo escandalosamente subestimado e alarmantemente mal compreendido pela imprensa especializada em dan\u00e7a, a maior parte da qual nutre profundas suspeitas de qualquer um que ouse lan\u00e7ar uma piada, Charnock continua um criador de movimento que excede a capacidade de ser inteiramente absorvido pelos mundos seja do teatro, seja da com\u00e9dia. A vida, dizem, \u00e9 uma mulher de maus h\u00e1bitos.<\/p>\n

Desde as suas primeiras apresenta\u00e7\u00f5es com o Extemporary Dance Theatre, ao qual se incorporou em 1984, vindo diretamente da London School of Contemporary Dance, ficou claro que se tratava de um artista que levava para o palco um n\u00edvel \u00edmpar de intensidade el\u00e9trica. Deixou uma impress\u00e3o marcante em uma pe\u00e7a na qual representava um boxeador que parecia querer se nocautear a si pr\u00f3prio: Charnock nunca foi daqueles que se movem para o fundo do palco.<\/p>\n

Mas foi com My Sex, Our Dance, o surpreendente dueto com que ele e Lloyd Newson fizeram o d\u00e9but do DV8 Physical Theatre, em 1986, que deu-se a verdadeira chegada de Charnock. No que tornou-se merecidamente um marco, Charnock e Newson criaram um padr\u00e3o para uma linha de trabalho f\u00edsico e emocional de alta densidade que deixou perplexa a oposi\u00e7\u00e3o. Exigente e absorvente, mas pleno de inspira\u00e7\u00e3o, capturava perfeitamente a paran\u00f3ia de uma gera\u00e7\u00e3o que descobre as alegrias do amor com o espectro da AIDS despontando no cen\u00e1rio.<\/p>\n

Em seus primeiros anos, o DV8 foi em tudo e por tudo tanto Nigel Charnock como Lloyd Newson, um ponto, ali\u00e1s, assinalado pelo desempenho mesmerizante de Charnock em Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men (1990), uma rea\u00e7\u00e3o e reflex\u00e3o extremamente pungente sobre a hist\u00f3ria do assassino serial Dennis Nilsen. Embora seja algo injusto destacar algu\u00e9m em meio a aquele fant\u00e1stico elenco (que inclu\u00eda Newson, Russell Maliphant and Douglas Wright), Charnock captou especialmente o entorpecimento e a vulnerabilidade daquelas mariposas humanas atra\u00eddas pela mortal luz de Nilsen.<\/p>\n

At\u00e9 ent\u00e3o, desempenhos extenuantes do ponto de vista emocional. O que as primeiras representa\u00e7\u00f5es de Charnock indicavam era uma presen\u00e7a de palco de temperatura m\u00e1xima, de algu\u00e9m mais do que disposto a se arriscar por sua arte. Assim, foi de certo modo inesperadamente que desabrochou o potencial c\u00f4mico, ao juntar-se Charnock com Wendy Houston, sua companheira de DV8, em 1991, na Cheap and Nasty, trabalho de dupla a ser em boa medida entendido como uma rea\u00e7\u00e3o \u00e0 atividade anterior emocionalmente muito desgastante.<\/p>\n

Heart Attack, infelizmente a \u00fanica apresenta\u00e7\u00e3o da Cheap and Nasty, era uma del\u00edcia irreverente que criticava perversamente as pretens\u00f5es da dan\u00e7a moderna. A chave estava no carisma dos artistas \u2013 compareci para entrevistar Charnock e Houston a t\u00edtulo de pr\u00e9-apresenta\u00e7\u00e3o da pe\u00e7a e me vi, ao inv\u00e9s, confrontado com Ken e Emma, personagens que n\u00e3o sa\u00edram de cena ao longo da conversa. Que isso o resultado tenha sido cativante, ao contr\u00e1rio de profundamente irritante, diz tudo.<\/p>\n

Era tamb\u00e9m um sinal de que Charnock estava pronto para libertar-se da asa protetora do DV8, no qual seus talentos inigual\u00e1veis come\u00e7avam a entrar em desacordo com a \u00e9tica do grupo. Isso, por\u00e9m, n\u00e3o se deu antes que ele tivesse o que, na minha mem\u00f3ria, ficou registrado como um dos mais comoventes desempenhos jamais exibidos em pe\u00e7as de teatro dan\u00e7ado. O desejo desesperado de agradar o outro, que Charnock demonstrou em Strange Fish (1992), revelou-se um dos mais memor\u00e1veis elementos de uma obra que, de imediato, se tornou cl\u00e1ssica. Tocante ao ponto de ser quase insuport\u00e1vel, com a marca do confessional em sua hist\u00f3ria, foi um desempenho t\u00e3o verdadeiro que provocou l\u00e1grimas nas pessoas.<\/p>\n

Que esta pe\u00e7a tenha sido criada ao mesmo tempo que Ressurrection, a primeira de uma trilogia solo, que incluiu Original Sin (1993) e Hell Bent (1994), \u00e9 ainda mais not\u00e1vel. Foi aqui que a fant\u00e1stica intensidade de Charnock enquanto artista produziu seus melhores frutos. Usando sua roupagem de c\u00e3o como instrumento para uma sucess\u00e3o de revela\u00e7\u00f5es autobiogr\u00e1ficas (segundo supomos) angustiantes, tanto f\u00edsica como emocionalmente, mostrou-se no palco como um homem que n\u00e3o poupa os prisioneiros. A franqueza teria sido demasiadamente dolorosa de suportar se n\u00e3o fosse permeada por uma veia de humor delirantemente negro.<\/p>\n

Bastaria Ressurrection para consagrar Charnock como um grande talento. Reinventando-se como uma expressiva diva do soul, Charnock nos conduz por uma viagem atrav\u00e9s das indecis\u00f5es e inseguran\u00e7as dos amantes, do amargo di\u00e1logo de uma alma c\u00ednica com suas pr\u00f3prias pontes suspensas e um homem vestido como uma camisola que, positivamente, n\u00e3o est\u00e1 ali em busca do riso f\u00e1cil. Em uma hora percorre mais caminhos da emo\u00e7\u00e3o do que muitos em toda uma carreira.<\/p>\n

E, no entanto, ao final, Charnock, que n\u00e3o p\u00e1ra de cantar e brincar, al\u00e9m de fisicamente se assemelhar a um contorcionista, cria um arremedo de riso, parecido a um Bandaid para colocar sobre as feridas abertas. Chega mesmo a exibir o seu lado de artista do showbiz, com um chamado otimista no final que poderia ser puro Hollywood, se n\u00e3o tiv\u00e9ssemos a certeza de que a estrela do show iria para casa de \u00f4nibus.<\/p>\n

Original Sin e Hell Bent deram continuidade \u00e0 mesma veia forte e sang\u00fc\u00ednea, com sua mistura vulc\u00e2nica de show de comediante, dan\u00e7a contorcionista e pretens\u00f5es a diva tendo novos seguimentos em Heroine (1995), inspirada na vida de Billie Holiday, e em Fever (1998), uma luta livre de duas quedas, duas desist\u00eancias ou um nocaute com os Sonetos de Shakespeare. E agora, em Frank (2003), a mais recente investida de cabe\u00e7a de Charnock em se expor, digamos, francamente. Como ele mesmo admite, livremente (embora esteja se vendendo barato): “Num certo sentido, estou sempre fazendo o mesmo show, porque sou sempre eu! Eu! Eu!”<\/p>\n

A soma total da experi\u00eancia solo de Charnock eq\u00fcivale a ver algu\u00e9m exorcizar seus dem\u00f4nios em p\u00fablico, um tipo de terapia de performance ao vivo com o p\u00fablico no papel dos psiquiatras. Trata-se de uma analogia que veio \u00e0 tona quando Charnock escreveu Asylum (2000), uma pe\u00e7a musical desconcertantemente ambiciosa com um movimento que percorria as fronteiras da sanidade.<\/p>\n

Afastando-se do papel de artista no palco, Charnock deu, em Asylum, r\u00e9dea solta aos seus talentos liter\u00e1rios. Inspirado por um mergulho em Freud, Jung e R.D.Laing, ele tentou com esta pe\u00e7a manter um distanciamento da a\u00e7\u00e3o. Sabia, por\u00e9m, que era um esfor\u00e7o em v\u00e3o: “\u00c9 claro que tamb\u00e9m \u00e9 sobre mim e as minhas obsess\u00f5es: sexo, relacionamentos, culpa, sexo. O que acontece \u00e9 que as hist\u00f3rias dos que representam para o p\u00fablico e as minhas experi\u00eancias se filtram umas pelas outras e terminam de volta no palco.”<\/p>\n

Parte da raz\u00e3o para isso \u00e9 o sentimento que incomoda Charnock por n\u00e3o ser levado a s\u00e9rio como escritor, j\u00e1 que seu vi\u00e9s tem sido em entretenimento e humor. Ele se at\u00e9m a um ponto: tem produzido um material fant\u00e1stico, com uma espontaneidade a toda prova que contesta os esp\u00edritos cr\u00edticos \u00e0 espreita. Um mon\u00f3logo, Never Enough, \u00e9 a descri\u00e7\u00e3o mais profunda da inadequa\u00e7\u00e3o humana que algu\u00e9m poderia temer ouvir.<\/p>\n

Na \u00e9poca do lan\u00e7amento de Asylum, fez a seguinte observa\u00e7\u00e3o: “Na verdade, n\u00e3o fiz an\u00e1lise, mas meus amigos acham que eu deveria. Soa meio como piada, mas digo a mim mesmo que simplesmente n\u00e3o tenho tempo para terapia.” As palavras t\u00eam o h\u00e1bito de voltar para nos assombrar e assim foi com Charnock, tr\u00eas anos depois, quando falou de The Intelligence of The Heart (2002), seu primeiro trabalho como diretor do Helsinki City Dance Theatre: estava claro que o terreno era diferente.<\/p>\n

Com uma franqueza que desarma, Charnock admite ter dado uma virada em sua atitude em rela\u00e7\u00e3o \u00e0 autoconsci\u00eancia: “Minha vida foi parar num buraco negro: Asylum foi arrasada pela cr\u00edtica e quase levou \u00e0 fal\u00eancia toda a companhia. E isso aconteceu ao mesmo tempo em que descobri que meu companheiro vinha me passando para tr\u00e1s h\u00e1 seis meses. Tudo em volta de mim estava desabando. Aos 40, voc\u00ea j\u00e1 olha para a sua vida como se tudo estivesse fracassando, mas a\u00ed tem que arranjar um jeito de aceitar as coisas como s\u00e3o. De modo que mergulhei fundo em leituras sobre religi\u00e3o e psicologia, que me levaram a explorar os fil\u00f3sofos orientais e a perceber, por outro lado, que precisava de ajuda! Tentei uma terapia chamada psicoss\u00edntese j\u00e1 que, n\u00e3o importa qu\u00e3o c\u00e9tico voc\u00ea seja, n\u00e3o h\u00e1 raz\u00e3o para n\u00e3o dar uma chance a abordagens diferentes. E devo dizer que me ajudou. Descobri que tenho um dom para Reiki e estou me preparando para ser um terapeuta.”<\/p>\n

Muitas das quest\u00f5es surgidas com as experi\u00eancias de Charnock servem de material para The Intelligence of The Heart, uma obra cativante que aborda v\u00e1rias das preocupa\u00e7\u00f5es sempre presentes em seu trabalho, embora haja, dessa vez, um sentimento de viagem atrav\u00e9s da hist\u00f3ria \u00e0 medida que se acompanha um bando de viajantes misturados no tempo que parecem em busca de algum tipo de resposta para o sentido da vida e de tudo. Todos com uma certa ironia.<\/p>\n

“Acredito que essa nova abordagem me tenha ensinado que \u00e9 infrut\u00edfero procurar pelas coisas externas \u00e0 sua vida \u2013 procurar pelo \u00danico, se preferir \u2013, mas que, ao inv\u00e9s, voc\u00ea tem que buscar o amor dentro de si mesmo. Se existe pecado, este \u00e9 o de viver a sua vida de acordo com os outros. E, ainda por cima, ajuda a ag\u00fcentar as cr\u00edticas pesadas! Antes, eu n\u00e3o tinha um mecanismo para lidar com isso.” N\u00e3o que The Intelligence of The Heart se tenha colocado muito no caminho da imprensa ferina. No mesmo passo do astral positivo ora exibido por Charnock, sua rela\u00e7\u00e3o com o Helsinki City Dance Theatre parece um casamento no para\u00edso. Se toda essa conversa de terapia, religi\u00e3o e experi\u00eancias que mudam a vida deu a impress\u00e3o de que teria perdido a garra, definitivamente n\u00e3o \u00e9 o caso.<\/p>\n

Acrescentando corajosamente religi\u00e3o e morte \u00e0 sua lista de ingredientes, Charnock reserva ainda em The Intelligence of The Heart muito espa\u00e7o para sexo, risadas e traseiros. E cada passo do caminho foi por ele acertado com uma companhia exuberante, o ve\u00edculo perfeito para o seu estilo altamente personalizado. “Trabalhei pela primeira vez com eles em 1997 e funcionou muito bem, de modo que aproveitei assim que apareceu a chance de assumir a dire\u00e7\u00e3o. Fiquei realmente surpreso quando me pediram franqueza, porque eu estava a uma grande dist\u00e2ncia daquilo que eles vinham fazendo antes. Antes, a sua abordagem era muito mais no sentido da dan\u00e7a pura \u00c9 uma situa\u00e7\u00e3o interessante porque a companhia \u00e9 parte do que eq\u00fcivaleria, na Finl\u00e2ndia, ao nosso National Theatre e lan\u00e7a m\u00e3o de um pool compartilhado de artistas. De modo que, pela manh\u00e3, alguns dos dan\u00e7arinos ensaiam Grease, ou mesmo Cinderela, ou coisa parecida que o grupo principal esteja trabalhando e de tarde ficam soltos comigo.”<\/p>\n

\u00c9 com certeza uma f\u00f3rmula que produz encantamento, o elenco finland\u00eas \u00e0s voltas com a combina\u00e7\u00e3o que Charnock faz de m\u00fasica, humor, nudez e filosofia com certo aplomb. “\u00c9 \u00f3timo trabalhar com as mesmas pessoas. Elas realmente me fazem rir, h\u00e1 em comum um profundo senso de ironia. O padr\u00e3o do ingl\u00eas tamb\u00e9m \u00e9 surpreendente, embora, obviamente, quando as apresenta\u00e7\u00f5es s\u00e3o na Finl\u00e2ndia, \u00e9 em sua l\u00edngua \u2013 e ouvir minhas palavras soarem nessa l\u00edngua estranha \u00e9 realmente esquisito. Fizeram-me acreditar que tinham traduzido tudo certinho!”<\/p>\n

Com tal disposi\u00e7\u00e3o para falar de quest\u00f5es pessoais e dos atuais projetos, Charnock n\u00e3o se mostra t\u00e3o interessado em discutir o seu trabalho anterior. “\u00c9 como se n\u00e3o fosse eu. \u00c9 o caso de pensar: \u2018quem \u00e9 aquele cara que fez aquilo e o que ele acha que \u00e9?\u2019 Parece vindo de uma pessoa diferente e me faz sentir como algo do passado. Talvez essa seja somente uma maneira de se lidar quando se vai para a frente.”Para Charnock, trata-se sempre do agora, do momento, e \u00e9 apenas justo que lhe caiba a \u00faltima palavra. O sentimento de excita\u00e7\u00e3o e antecipa\u00e7\u00e3o que seu trabalho causa \u2013 com um efeito de formigamento \u2013 se revela na provocadora introdu\u00e7\u00e3o de The Intelligence of The Heart, a ser assimilada t\u00e3o logo se apagam as luzes: “Como voc\u00ea est\u00e1 hoje? Como se sente? E o que deseja? Do que voc\u00ea precisa? Gosta disso? Voc\u00ea se ama? Claro, claro que voc\u00ea se ama, voc\u00ea deve se amar porque voc\u00ea \u00e9 perfeitamente voc\u00ea, voc\u00ea \u00e9 uma pessoa bonita, voc\u00ea \u00e9 sexy, voc\u00ea \u00e9 uma pessoa amorosa, amada, divina. Muito obrigado por ser voc\u00ea mesma. Oh, est\u00e1 ficando mais escuro agora e voc\u00ea n\u00e3o consegue ler mais isso. Est\u00e1 acontecendo. Est\u00e1 acontecendo de novo. \u00c9 para voc\u00ea. \u00c9 tudo seu. Dez corpos e dez almas que o amam, que se amam uns aos outros, que amam isso aqui \u2013 agora.”<\/span>Keith Watson is dance critic for London Metro. <\/p>\n

The daunting thing about writing a profile of Nigel Charnock is that you know he could make a better job of it himself. Rarely has a dancer (and in his case, that really is an inadequate term) brought such an extraordinary level of verbal and physical articulacy to the stage.<\/p>\n

Whether as a performer with DV8 or in his solo shows, or as a writer\/director with the likes of Volcano, his own company or, most recently, Helsinki City Dance Theatre, Charnock\u2019s work is built around a killing combination of searing honesty and wicked wit, allied with a masochistic streak that runs right down his backbone. It\u2019s brutal, brazen and a right good laugh, usually all at the same time.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Charnock\u2019s very versatility, and his willful refusal to fit the stereotypical bill as choreographer, comedian, dancer, director or writer (he probably does a mean curry too), that has made him one of the most original and entertaining talents to hit British dance in the past twenty years. Yet he remains scandalously undervalued and blatantly misunderstood by the dance press, the majority of whom nurture deep suspicions of anyone who dares to crack a joke, while he remains too much of a movement creator to be fully embraced by the worlds of theatre or comedy. Life, as they say, is a bitch.<\/p>\n

From his first appearances with Extemporary Dance Theatre, which he joined in 1984 straight from the London School of Contemporary Dance, it was clear that here was a performer who brought a special level of electric intensity to the stage. He made a striking impression in one piece as a boxer apparently intent on knocking himself out: Charnock was never one to slink to the back of the stage.<\/p>\n

But it was in My Sex, Our Dance, the astonishing duet with which he and Lloyd Newson debuted DV8 Physical Theatre in 1986, that Charnock truly arrived. In what has deservedly become a benchmark work, Charnock and Newson set the standard for a brand of highly-charged physical and emotional work that left the opposition reeling. Demanding and draining but truly inspirational, it perfectly captured the paranoia of a generation discovering the joys of love with the spectre of AIDS looming in the background.<\/p>\n

In its early years DV8 was every bit as much Nigel Charnock as it was Lloyd Newson, a point underlined by Charnock\u2019s mesmerising performance in Dead Dreams Of Monochrome Men (1990), a deeply harrowing reaction and reflection on the story of serial killer Dennis Nilsen. Though it\u2019s slightly unfair to single out any one member of that extraordinary cast (which included Newson, Russell Maliphant and Douglas Wright), Charnock in particular captured the numbness and vulnerabilty of the human moths drawn to Nilsen\u2019s fatal light.<\/p>\n

So far, so emotionally gruelling. What Charnock\u2019s early incarnations had shown was a white light white heat stage presence more than ready to bruise for his art. What was rather more unexpected was the comic potential that first flowered when he teamed up with fellow DV8er Wendy Houstoun as Cheap And Nasty in 1991, a double act that was in no small part a reaction to the emotionally draining work that had gone before.<\/p>\n

Heart Attack, sadly Cheap And Nasty\u2019s only show, was an irreverent delight which took the pretensions of modern dance wickedly to the cleaners. The key was the charisma of the performers – turning up to interview Charnock and Houstoun by way of previewing the show, I was instead confronted by Ken and Emma, twin personae who didn\u2019t let the act drop throughout the chat. That this turned out to be engaging as opposed to deeply irritating tells its own story.<\/p>\n

It was also a sign that Charnock was ready to break away from DV8\u2019s protective wing, where his unique talents were starting to sit at odds with the group ethic. But not before he conjured up what remains to my mind one of the most moving performances ever created in a dance theatre piece. The desperately eager to please outsider he portrayed in Strange Fish (1992), was one of the most memorable elements of a work that became an instant classic. Almost unbearably poignant, with the sting of the confessional in its tale, it was a performance of such truth it moved you to tears.<\/p>\n

That it was created in tandem with Resurrection, the first of a solo trilogy that went on to include Original Sin (1993) and Hell Bent (1994) – he likes a good pun does our Nigel – is all the more remarkable. It was here that Charnock\u2019s dazzling intensity as a performer bore full fruit. Using his whippet-like frame as a conduit for a succession of punishing autobiographical (we assume) expos\u00e9s, both physical and emotional, this was a man who took no prisoners on stage. The honesty would have been too painful to bear had it not been shot through with a vein of deliriously bleak humour.<\/p>\n

Resurrection alone would have established Charnock as a major talent. Reinventing himself as a soul-bearing soul diva, Charnock took us on a trip through the dithering insecurity of lovers, the bitter dialogue of a cynical soul with his drawbridge firmly raised and a man in a nightie who is definitely not playing it for cheap laughs. It covered more emotional bases in an hour than many manage in a career.<\/p>\n

Yet, at the last, the all-singing, all joking, physically contortioning Charnock has an Elastoplast of a giggle to slap on the wounds he\u2019s opened up. He even plays to his showbiz trouper side with an optimistic rallying call of a finale that would be pure Hollywood if you weren\u2019t pretty sure the star of the show was going home on the bus.<\/p>\n

Original Sin and Hell Bent continued in the same blood-letting vein, with Charnock\u2019s volcanic mix of stand-up comedy, body-twisting dance and diva-esque ambitions given further twists with Heroine (1995), inspired by the life of Billie Holiday, and Fever (1998), a two falls, two submissions or one knockout wrestle with Shakespeare\u2019s Sonnets. And now there\u2019s Frank (2003), his latest free-wheeling foray into being, well, frank. As he freely admits (though he\u2019s selling himself short): “In a sense I\u2019m always doing the same show: because it\u2019s always me! me! me!”, he says.<\/p>\n

The sum total of the Charnock solo experience is akin to watching someone exorcise their demons in public, a kind of live performance therapy with the audience cast in the role of psychiatrists. It\u2019s an analogy that was brought into sharp focus when Charnock came to write Asylum (2000), a bewilderingly ambitious musical play with movement that roamed around the outer edges of sanity.<\/p>\n

Standing back from his role of performer, Asylum found Charnock giving full, unfettered rein to his literary talents. Inspired by delving into Freud, Jung and RD Laing in Asylum Charnock was trying to distance himself from the action. But he knew he was on a fool\u2019s errand: “Of course it\u2019s still about me and my obsessions – sex, relationships, guilt, sex \u2013 what happens is that the stories of the performers and my experiences get filtered through each other and end up back on stage.”<\/p>\n

Part of the reason for this is the feeling that nags away at Charnock that he\u2019s not been taken seriously as a writer because the accent has been on entertainment and humour. He\u2019s got a point: he\u2019s delivered some astonishing material with an off-the-cuff spontaneity that belies the piercing insights lurking beneath. One monologue, Never Enough, is the sharpest definition of human inadequacy you could ever fear to hear.<\/p>\n

At the time of Asylum he observed: “I haven\u2019t actually gone into analysis but my friends tell me I should. It\u2019s a bit of a running joke, but I tell myself I simply haven\u2019t got time for therapy.” Words have a habit of coming back to haunt you for, meeting up with Charnock three years later to talk about The Intelligence Of The Heart (2002), his first work as director of Helsinki City Dance Theatre, it\u2019s clear the ground is lying differently.<\/p>\n

With disarming candour, Charnock admits he\u2019s done an about turn on his attitude to self-awareness. <\/p>\n

“My life hit a pretty dark place: Asylum was slated and it nearly bankrupted the whole company. Which came at the same time as finding out my partner had been cheating on me behind my back for six months. Everything pretty much collapsed around me. At 40 you look at your life as it all goes belly up, but then you have to find a way of accepting things the way they are. So I got deeper into reading about religion and psychology, which led me into exploring Eastern philosophers – which in turn made me realise I needed help! I tried a therapy called psycho-synthesis for, no matter how sceptical you are, that\u2019s no reason not to give different things a go. And I have to say it helped me. I discovered I\u2019d got a gift for Reiki and I\u2019m training to be a healer.”<\/p>\n

Many of the issues raised by Charnock\u2019s experiences feed into The Intelligence Of The Heart, a captivating work that deals with many of the concerns that have been ever-present in his work, though this time there\u2019s a sense of travelling through history as we follow a band of mixed up time travellers who seem to be in search of some kind of answer to the meaning of life and everything. All with tongues firmly in cheeks.<\/p>\n

“I suppose what this new approach has taught me is that it\u2019s fruitless to look for things outside your life – looking for The One if you like – but that instead you need to look for love within yourself. If there\u2019s a sin then it\u2019s to live your life according to somebody else. And on another level it helps you deal with the bad reviews! I didn\u2019t have the mechanics for dealing with that before.”<\/p>\n

Not that The Intelligence Of The Heart has been getting much in the way of a bad press. In keeping with the positive mood Charnock is now embracing, his link up with Helsinki City Dance theatre seems a marriage made in heaven. If all this talk of therapy, religion and life-changing experiences had you fearing that Charnock has lost his bottle, then that\u2019s far from the case.<\/p>\n

Bravely adding religion and death to his list of ingredients, Charnock still has plenty of room for sex, laughs and bottoms in The Intelligence Of The Heart. And he\u2019s matched every step of the way by a bravura company who are the perfect vehicle for Charnock\u2019s highly personalised style.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019d first made a piece with them in 1997 and it went really well, so I jumped at the chance of taking on the role of director when it came up. I was really surprised to be asked to be honest, because I was a big departure from what they\u2019d been doing before. They\u2019d had very much a pure dance approach before that.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an interesting set-up because the company is part of the Finnish equivalent to our National Theatre and they use a shared pool of performers. So in the morning some of my dancers will have been rehearsing Grease, or Cinderella or whatever the main house is doing and then in the afternoon they\u2019re let loose with me.”<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly a formula that works a treat, the Finnish cast handling Charnock\u2019s mix of music, humour, stripping and philosophy with some aplomb. “It\u2019s a treat to keep working with the same people. They really make me laugh, there\u2019s a deep sense of irony that we share. The standard of English is amazing too, though obviously when they perform in Finland it\u2019s in Finnish – hearing my words come out in this strange language was really odd. I\u2019ve taken it on trust that they\u2019ve translated it right!”<\/p>\n

So willing to talk about personal issues and current projects, Charnock\u2019s not so keen to dwell on his past work. “It\u2019s like it\u2019s not me. It\u2019s a case of \u2018who the bloody hell was that and who does he think he is!\u2019 It looks to me like a different person and it feels like something from the past. Maybe that\u2019s just a way of dealing with moving on.”<\/p>\n

For Charnock, it\u2019s always about the now, the moment, and it\u2019s only fair to give him the last word. The sense of excitement and anticipation his work produces – the tingle factor – is captured in his teaser introduction to The Intelligence Of The Heart, designed for imbibing just as the lights go down:<\/p>\n

“How are you tonight? How do you feel? What do you want? What do you need? Do you like this? Do you love yourself? Yes, of course you love yourself, you must love yourself because you are perfectly you, you are beautiful, you are sexy, you are loving, you are loved, you are divine. Thank you for being you. Oh, it\u2019s getting darker now and so you can\u2019t read this anymore. It\u2019s happening. It\u2019s happening again. It\u2019s for you. Everything is yours. Ten bodies and ten souls, loving you, loving them, loving this \u2013 now.”<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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