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Holland Festival: The Very Last Northern White Rhino

Gaston Core (AR)
Fri 21 Jun ’24 - Sun 23 Jun ’24
Solo dance inspired by the very last surviving white rhinos.
Fri 21 Jun ’24
-
Sun 23 Jun ’24

There are only two white rhinos left throughout the entire world. The New York Times wrote about them, and choreographer Gaston Core translated this story of the very last white rhinos into a hypnotic one man-dance.

Inspired by The New York Times article, Core developed an own dance language together with dancer Oulouy that is a mix of urban dance with strong African influences. We see a man dancing because he has found out that, as French poet Paul Valéry wrote, ‘we have too much energy for our needs’. Dancing until the end, because maybe it can no longer be helped. But also dancing from darkness to the light.

The focus of the piece is entirely on dancer Oulouy, both as an individual and as a symbol of the nearly extinct animal. His presence challenges us, not least because he is connected to the concept of the perishable creature from the piece’s title. Are we not a bit like this surviving mother and daughter rhino, listlessly waiting for the end ourselves?

  • Duration: 52 min.
Part of

Credits

concept Gaston Core director Gaston Core choreography Gaston Core, Oulouy performer Oulouy collaboration Aina Alegre design film production Alice Brazzit photography Alice Brazzit music Jorge da Rocha lights Ivan Cascon styling Eva Bernal technical coordination Manu Ordenavia production Mayte Luque co-production Sala Hiroshima, Festival GREC of Barcelona with the support of Centre Cívic Barceloneta

About the maker

Gaston Core (Buenos Aires, 1979) trained as a performer and studied audio-visual communication at the University of Buenos Aires. He established himself in Europe in 2001 and completed the Dramaturgy and Direction programme in Barcelona. From 2008, he worked with various companies as a cultural manager. Between 2012 and 2021 he chose to devote himself exclusively to the Sala Hiroshima project, in which he focussed on supporting, producing and exhibiting the most innovative trends of the international contemporary scene.

In 2018, he took part in a master’s programme in Contemporary Philosophy at the University of Barcelona. Afterwards, he returned as director, playwright and choreographer of the Diptych of the Desert, comprising a solo work (The Very Last Northern White Rhino) and a group work (Chorus).

Holland Festival 2024