Composers, performers and creators in the performing arts, Aurora Bauza and Pere Jou take us on a journey of sound and light. In March 2023 at Barcelona's Auditori, they present A BEGINNING #16161D, a performance about the limits of individual and collective identity, straddling the line between musical and choreographic composition, diluting the boundary that separates them, or rather inhabiting that boundary.

A BEGINNING #16161D is what's left of color when you're plunged into darkness, and this is the experience that Aurora Bauza and Pere Jou propose to us.

A BEGINNING #16161D traces a poetic path from darkness to light through voice and movement.
In darkness, the performers sing and move, exploring the potentialities of what we cannot see and treating light as an object that illuminates voices rather than bodies.
Here, darkness is not something dark, but the promise of fantasy.
In darkness, notions of space and time are altered, and the boundaries between the performers' bodies and those of the audience are diluted: the choreographic and lighting design of the show reinforces this perceptual alteration of space and bodies, until the individuals converge into a single collective body.
At the same time, the vocal, sound and choreographic designs that invade the audience space unveil a 360° immersive sound experience, reinforcing the sensory and emotional impact of this proposition.

A BEGINNING_expanded version - AURORA BAUZÀ & PERE JOU (teaser) from Aurora Bauzà & Pere Jou on Vimeo.

A BEGINNING #16161D is an invitation to redefine how we behave, how we relate to each other and how we attempt to establish the boundaries of what we call "individual" and "collective".

The sung voice is the expressive and dramaturgical driving force behind the entire piece. Vocally, the piece evolves through a score that alternates between a vocal work from the classical repertoire and two original vocal works, incorporating passages of conventional improvisation. More specifically, the piece includes fragments from Allegri's Miserere, as well as two vocal pieces composed for four voices: I don't cry and After the end.
In addition to the performers' vocal score, A BEGINNING #16161D features a sound design that mixes live sound works and amplified voices, with a speaker system around the audience to enhance the immersive experience.

Darkness is the space where anything is possible.
Light, on the other hand, concretizes and determines reality.
Thus, for much of the piece, the lighting design focuses more on what it doesn't show rather than what it does, and is generated mainly by small portable lights controlled and manipulated by the performers and connected to a light table.
Singing and moving around, the performers link voice and light in various ways in a unique journey of sound and light that reinforces the emotional impact and the appearance of images of great poetic force.

Created and directed by Aurora Bauzà & Pere Jou
Performers: Elena Tarrats, Maider Lasa, Isaac Baró, Diana Pop, Pere Jou
Music and sound: Aurora Bauzà
Choreography: Pere Jou
Lighting: Jou Serra, Marieta Rojo
Costumes: Mariona Signes
Dramatic and choreographic collaboration: Alessandro Sciarroni
Choreographic assistance: Claudi Solano Watson
Production and support : Ariadna Miquel
Coproduction: L'Auditori de Barcelone, Centre Chorégraphique National D'Orléans
With the support of : Paysages Humains, Graner Centre De Création, L'Estruch, CC Barceloneta, Castell de Montjuïc

Since 2019, Aurora Bauza and Pere Jou have been residents at Graner (Centre de Creació - Barcelona), Can Gassol (Mataró), L'Estruch (Sabadell), and Festival TNT (Terrassa). During this period, they created the piece I AM (T)HERE at the Festival Grec en 2020, then presented it at Festival Eufònic, Dansa Metropolitana, Casal Solleric de Mallorca, Centre d'Arts Santa Mònica, Festival Mixtur, Festival In-Sonora at CentroCentro de Madrid, Centro de Cultura Contemporánea Conde Duque, Festival OFF-Liceu de Barcelona, Festival Cádiz en Danza.

A beginning #16161D was awarded the Prix de la Critique for the best dance show in Catalonia on March 18, 2024, organized by the Recomona platform.

Photos © Aurora Bauza