El Colegio del Cuerpo performs Flowers for Kazuo Ohno (and L

[MarieM]

A few days ago this extraordinary video performance by El Colegio del Cuerpo entitled Flowers for Kazuo Ohno (and Leonard Cohen) was posted on Vimeo. It contains excerpts of various Cohen songs. It is so beautiful I couldn't help but wish we could see one or two of the performances in full.

https://vimeo.com/120147198

And like magic, a day or two later a full rehearsal of the performance was posted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou7y56bw-TA

These performances are so compelling and it is so special to experience Leonard's songs in this manner.

[mutti]

Marie I find these performers with their dance and Leonard's music so compelling and almost spellbinding. Very beautiful and touches me deeply. Wow!
Thank you for posting the links here as I want to watch it again.
Leslie

[MarieM]

Apparently, these video made it to Leonard according to an article in El Universal.

http://www.eluniversal.com.co/cultural/ ... witterfeed

"Ella quedó encantada. Ahora sabemos que 'Leonard está muy tocado y conmovido', le ha escribió Robert Kory a Álvaro Restrepo. 'Dice que el trabajo es excelente. Rara vez se expresa con tantos elogios como ahora....'"

Google translation:

"We now know that 'Leonard is very touched and moved,' Robert Kory has written Alvaro Restrepo. 'He says the work is excellent. Rarely has he expressed as much praise as this....'"

[UKsylvie]

Hi everyone, Sylvie Simmons here. I have seen this ballet in person and it is very, very special. The choreographer Alvaro Restrepo first wrote to me about it almost exactly a year ago. And this January, when Iwas in Cartagena, Colombia for the Hay Literary Festival of the Americas, to talk about my Leonard Cohen book (the Spanish version: Soy Tu Hombre: La Vida de Leonard Cohen) and sing, Alvaro arranged a special performance for me and a small handful of friends at the Colegio del Cuerpo dance company's rehearsal studios, way outside the city.

It was stunning - sensual, mysterious and deeply moving, just like Leonard Cohen's songs. My fingers are firmly crossed that Alvaro is able to take this work around the world.

Right now, from what I understand, he is going through the horrible process of trying to get permissions to use the songs (these difficulties have nothing to do with Leonard personally, I should add, but with the publishing companies who handle the rights of many of the songs and can either say no, you can't use that song, or charge a fortune for it that no-one can afford - I have had some experience in dealing with permissions to use words from songs in 'I'm Your Man: The Life Of Leonard Cohen' so I know how tough and expensive it can be!)

(By the way, if any are Colombians reading this, I'm going back to Colombia at the end of this month - Bogota this time - to do an event at the Bogota Book Fair on May 1 and perform a concert - Leonard's songs and my own! - on May 2.)