Tango de Soledad (Tango of Solitude) is a 5 minute dance solo choreographed by Billy Cowie and danced by Amy Hollingsworth.

'Tango de Soledad is a terrific piece of work. A stereoscopic video installation, featuring the athletic Amy Hollingsworth performing a solo tango against a background, and a literal ground, drawn by Silke Mansholt. 3D glasses put the life-sized dancer solidly into the drawn, room-sized space in front of you. Everything about it is perfectly judged.'
Aidan Dunne  The Irish Times  22 July 2011

You can get to very close quarters with the solo dancers in the film installations by Billy Cowie – and if you wear the little stereoscopic glasses that he provides, the performers will look as if they’re there, performing just for you. There’s wonderful craft in Cowie’s illusions, but in the solitary dancing of Amy Hollingsworth in Tango de Soledad there is a profound reflection on the rituals we revisit when love, or a tango partner, has gone. And maybe we feel like that absent partner, voyeuristically observing the lonely beauty, the elegant resolve of a dancer who is, in every sense, out of our reach.
Mary Brennan, Glasgow Herald 27 Aug 2011


‘the installation is full of passion and poetry… a brilliant dancer in a new universe’
Christina Molander, Director Moderna Dansteatern, Stockholm

‘The quirky, lyrical, imaginative, arresting, romantic fantasies of Billy Cowie deeply impressed me.’ 
Mikhail Baryshnikov

‘another wonderful work from Billy Cowie, Tango de Soledad is short, tender and melancholic. It is danced by Amy Hollingsworth with truth and simplicity. You just want to see it again, right away.’
Emma Gladstone, Producer Sadler's Wells

‘The work gets better and better, deeper and deeper’
Bob Lockyer

‘Seldom do we get something that exceeds on all levels, gorgeous.’
Lynette Kestler, Director Dance Camera West LA

‘Absolutely beautiful – moving, deeply yet without sentimentality – vulnerable without rawness . Leaves a soft melancholy and a memory of a fantastically strong woman’s presence.’
Helene Lesterine, Dance Curator EMPAC, New York State



It is a life sized stereoscopic installation. The dance is based around Cowie’s Tango No 3 for Cello and Piano (played by himself and Wei-Tsen Lin) and his poem Tango de Soledad which is recited in Spanish by Clara Garcia Fraile. The piece is performed against specially constructed drawings (by Silke Mansholt) and uses similar techniques to In the Flesh to give the viewer the impression that they are sharing the space with a real life sized solid dancer.



Tango de Soledad

one two
count without thinking
three four
move without stepping
five six
hold without touching
seven eight
love without…

how clearly
I remember
your instructions
and I know
you would have been pleased
that finally
in your absence
we dance perfectly
as one

one two
cry without tears
three four
turn without moving
five six
miss without grieving
seven eight
love without…
          

Credits

choreography - Billy Cowie
dancer - Amy Hollingsworth
cello - Wei-Tsen Lin
voice - Clara Garcia Fraile
drawings - Silke Mansholt
costume – Holly Murray
lighting – Adam Hooper
production manager – Victoria Melody
directed – Billy Cowie
filmed at the Nightingale, Brighton 2010

commissioned by South East Dance with support from Jerwood Charitable Foundation and Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and Arts Council England



                           

          


         


Installed at
Premiere, Danca em Foco, Rio de Janeiro 2010
Düsseldorf Tanzmesse 2010
Danca em Foco Sao Paulo 2010
Romanian National Theatre Festival 2010
Rome British Council opening 2010
Kochi Art Museum Japan Nov 2010
Lighthouse Brighton Dec 2010
IMZ Amsterdam Dec 2010
Baryshnikov Centre New York Jan 2011
Sampled Sadler’s Wells London Jan 2011
Ten Days on the Island Tasmania March 2011
Dance Massive Melbourne March 2011
International Theatre Festival Bulgaria June 2011
Galway Arts Festival Ireland July 2011
Danca Em Foco Sao Paulo Brazil July 2011
British Council Showcase Edinburgh Festival August 2011
ARCIS Festival Santiago Chile October 2011

Edinburgh, Dance:Film11 Nov 2011
Brighton, Cinedans Nov 2011
London, British Dance Edition Feb 2012
Brighton Festival, Caravan Showcase May 2012
Zagreb, 29th Dance Week Festival May 2012
Torino, Festival a Corte July 2012
Rivoli, Art Museum July 2012
Kyoto, Kyoto Experiment Festival Sep/Oct 2012
Gothenburg, Shoot Festival Nov 2012

Amy Hollingsworth was born in Australia and danced with the Royal New Zealand Ballet before joining Rambert Dance Company in 2000. She won the National Dance Awards for Most Outstanding Female Artist in both 2004 and 2009 and has worked with many outstanding choreographers including Christopher Bruce, Michael Clark, Javier de Frutos, Wayne MacGregor, Kryztof Pastor, Douglas Wright, Matz Ek, Jiri Kylian, Rafael Bonachela and Hofesh Shechter.


Technical Setup for Installation Version
HD Media Player (which we provide) with HDMI output and stereo phono sound output
Video projector (high definition 1920x1080 native) venue provides with HDMI input.
Stereo sound system venue provides
A room with smooth white wall (4.5 metres by 2.5 metres for life size – can be smaller) or white screen with no light coming in to the room.
Audience wear cyan/red glasses which we provide.
The piece can also be presented on a large (at least 1m) high def LCD or plasma screen (1920x1080)