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

At BEGINNING #16161D, it's what remains of the color when you're plunged into darkness and that's the experience that Aurora Bauza and Pere Jou offer us to traverse.

A BEGINNING #16161D traces a poetic path from darkness to light through voice and movement.
In the dark, the performers sing and move, exploring the potentialities of what we don't 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 the dark, notions of space and time are altered, the boundaries between the bodies of the performers and those of the spectators are diluted: the choreographic conception and the lighting design of the performance reinforce this perceptual alteration of space and bodies, until individuals converge into a single collective body.
At the same time, the vocal, sound and choreographic designs that invade the audience space, unveil an immersive 360° sound experience, reinforcing the sensory and emotional impact of this proposal.

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 singing voice is the expressive and dramaturgical engine that animates the entire play. Vocally, the piece evolves through a score that alternates between a vocal work from the classical repertoire and two original vocal works, integrating passages of conventional improvisation. Specifically, the piece includes fragments of Allegri's Miserere, as well as two vocal pieces composed for four voices: I don't cry and After the fin.
In addition to the performers' vocal score, A BEGINNING features #16161D sound design that blends 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 room, the lighting design focuses more on what it doesn't show rather than what it does, and is generated primarily by small, portable lights controlled and manipulated by the performers and connected to a light table.
By singing and moving, the performers connect voice and light in various ways in a unique sound and light journey that reinforces the emotional impact and the appearance of images of great poetic force.

Created and directed by: Aurora Bauzà & Pere Jou
Cast: 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
Choreography Assistant: Claudi Solano Watson
Production and accompaniment: Ariadna Miquel
Co-production: L'Auditori de Barcelona, Centre Chorégraphique National D'Orléans
With the support of: Human Landscapes, 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 premiered the piece I AM (T)HERE at the Grec Festival in 2020, then presented at the Eufònic Festival, Dansa Metropolitana, Casal Solleric de Mallorca, Santa Mònica Arts Center, Mixtur Festival, In-Sonora Festival at the CentroCentro in Madrid, Centro de Cultura Contemporánea Conde Duque, OFF-Liceu Festival in Barcelona, Cádiz en Danza Festival.

On 18 March 2024, A Beginning #16161D received the Critics' Award for the best dance performance in Catalonia organised by the Recomona platform.

Photos © Aurora Bauza