Valbarena

Valbarena is played out on uncertain ground. The stage becomes a sinking ship; the ensemble a crew on a stormy sea. In Sabine Böing’s sets they are at the mercy of wind and weather, rain and hurricane; the ground is ripped from under their feet, and as the water rises we are submerged deep into the experience of our own emotional world. Theatrical images unfold like pages of a book, some graceful and elegant, some absurd and comic, some tragic and painful.
Valbarena is a homage to those we have lost, to those who have left us and those we carry within us still. Valbarena seeks to connect with humanity. It is the image of a landscape I can dive into, melt into, leaving me vulnerable and tender, empowered and aroused.
Rebecca Egeling, dramatic advisor

With Valbarena, Norbert Servos and his co-choreographer Jorge Morro have created a beautifully moving piece of dance theatre – at times poetic, lost in thought; sometimes flaring forcefully up; at other moments screamingly funny. The subject is the eponymous ship, sunk in a hurricane near Havana – and other storms of life, remembrance and awakening. […]
Gino Abet and David Roßteutscher perform a poignant pas de deux : two men reach out to reconnoitre each other; yet at each touch, the other’s body recoils. They wrestle and romp, affectionate, fascinated – but held at arm’s length. The sailor Querelle on the Valbarena. Ego and anti-ego.
Braunschweiger Zeitung, May  -  2010

Scene shifters begin to remove the planks – revealing water beneath them. As they come and go, the stage hands’ anxiety conveys the growing danger magnificently. The dancers call alternately to each other across the diminishing stage, then they plunge into the water: downfall.
And resurgence: this fascinating pair, standing, caressing, in the water. One cries; then a sudden slap, like the impetus needed to wake up, to carry on living, even in grief. Such images of conflicting emotions are enthralling in Servos’ hands. While a woman jumps and plays in the water, a man muses in the background, sailing a paper ship: both find new strength to live. […]
Servos und Morro weave their unforced, contemporary language of movements together with text, music and imagery into a cosmos of diverse stimulations. And I have never seen such freedom and rich colour in the Braunschweig ensemble’s dancing. This is the way forward!
Tanznetz, May 2010