SCOTT FOWLER over KID IN A CANDY STORE:
“Listening, in Jan’s work, is an active practice. His approach to a musical score has pushed the walls of our brain outward, making space for a new and highly rigorous method of musical embodiment.
Throughout his process, Jan has handed us numerous excel spreadsheets, filled with numbers, colours, and time codes—his own meticulously structured score of the music. As dancers, counting is second nature, but with one look at Jan’s score it was immediately clear that this was far from the typical 5,6,7,8, and was going to demand a new kind of listening.
The beauty of Jan’s method is that, once understood, it actually draws your attention to musical nuance—both for audience and dancer—rather than diminishing it. As a dancer, I’ve always disliked counting, especially while performing, because it draws my attention to timekeeping, rather than truly listening. With Jan, it’s a different story: his notation guides the way we listen, providing a framework for deeper musical understanding.
With the Kulenty score, he has given us extremely strict musical tasks, paired with an abundance of freedom in our movement choices. The dichotomy was at first frightening, and often still is, but as our understanding of the music deepens, the very elements that once felt frightening begin to reveal themselves as playful.”
