Symptoms of influenza mean the last days in the life of the Austrian painter Egon Schiele (1890-1918) seem to be played out beyond the confines of a set time and space. His stylised portraits come to live and edge him further towards death. Choreographer Stuart has transformed his images into a transparent movement language that by turns follows and ignores the music by Alexander von Zemlinsky. The rawly expressive and confrontational imagery reflects the powerful effect of Schiele’s drawings and paintings.

“Egon was my first dance film but despite the different vocabulary the process was totally organic right from the start. That’s because it was always only about the ‘Egon feeling’. It turned out that the combination of dance and film is simply the most direct way of conveying the emotion in Egon Schiele’s work.”

Michiel van Jaarsveld

 

“Point Taken gave me an opportunity to make a long-held wish come true: to make a short dance film about Egon Schiele, the Viennese expressionist I so admire. The medium of film allowed me to choreograph fragments, and this suited Schiele’s work better than a narrative ballet solo would have done – although the fragments do tell a story when combined. Working together with Michiel Jaarsveld was crucial in this regard. I was primarily taken up with the movement idiom and wanted to work with just one dancer, but he convinced me of the importance of the narrative component. And the fantastic outcome of it all is that the film can be viewed and understood by audiences outside dance and Schiele circles. Egon was also really valuable to me because dance is so fleeting, while film is a permanent document.”

Thom Stuart

Director Michiel Van Jaarsveld Choreography Thom Stuart With Youri Jongenelen, Gloria Benedikt, Richèl Wieles Sound designer Evelien Van Der Molen Editor Teun Rietveld Director of photography Ton Peters Production design Roland Mylanus  Visual effects Framelab|Jitte Hoekstra Line producer Guusje Van Deuren|Duveken Holl Costume Design Janneke De Ruiter Make up Joan Tjon A Hie  Commissioning editor NTR Joost Van Krieken Producer Dutch Mountain Movies (Roen Kiewik, René Huybrechtse).

Egon is supported by the Dutch Cultural Media Fund, the Performing Arts Fund NL and NTR in cooperation with Cinedans. © NTR 2013. All rights reserved.