WORK
TWOTFAM
'The works of the flesh are manifest'
COLLABORATION WITH ANNA DUJARDIN
IN A ROOM, WHOSE DOOR MUST REMAIN OPEN, ANNA D. PLAYS (WITH) HERSELF…
And so she
claims
Caresses
Distorts
Disarms
shares
and exposes it.
TWOTFAM delves into the challenges individuals with disabilities confront regularly, including their sexual agency, autonomy and social perceptions. Dujardin shines a light on the lack of sexual freedom experienced by disabled individuals. Her unique perspective provides a voice for those whose experiences are often overlooked and encourages greater understanding and empathy for these complex and multifaceted issues.
'The Works of the Flesh Are Manifest' (TWOTFAM) focuses on the creation of intimacy on stage and the power relations that it carries forward. The solo departs from Anna D.'s diary entries, illustrations and poetry which will be staged through movement.
TWOTFAM is an invitation to honour one's erotic self through interconnectedness. It is a carnal celebration of movement, music and speech as an antidote to invisibilization and humiliation. It is a party, but climaxes are neither the goal nor the end of the evening because 'it's my party and I cry or come if I want to...
TWOTFAM is a relaxed performance. It is therefore accessible to everyone who benefits from a flexible atmosphere and proceeds in a caring and relaxed environment where everyone can freely express their emotions without concern. Any vocalisations, gestures or even movements from the audience during the show are accepted and kindly received. Chill-out spaces are provided for audience members who may need to take a break.
'A BIGGER THING'
COLLABORATION WITH
PLATFORM K & OBV (VONK)
Argentine tangos fill the opera hall of Ghent, which for the occasion has been transformed into a majestic ballroom.
What does it mean to dance together? How do you build a community? Do you have to share the same values? The Argentinian choreographer Lisi Estaras will be working for a year with a diverse group of fifty dancers from Ghent around encounter, intimacy and understanding. Their identities and backgrounds form the basis for this large-scale dance theatre performance. For the occasion, the Ghent opera hall will be converted into a spectacular ballroom in which the at times stirring, then melancholic, tangos of the Argentinian composer Eduardo Rovira lead the dance. This undeservedly unknown tango innovator mingles musical influences from the most diverse styles in his compositions. That is precisely why they are the perfect soundtrack for the highly diverse stories that the inhabitants of the city of Ghent carry with them. A new society as a hybrid construction: the foundation for A Bigger Thing.
more info: www.operaballet.be
In the Middle Ages, people with disabilities were taken out of the city onto so-called ships of fools and left to die on the open sea. Some 600 years later, the fools take to the stage and refuse to continue playing the roles assigned to them by society. In this play, people with disabilities tell a contradictory story of self-empowerment and liberation. The production questions conventional notions of physicality and intimacy while playing with the insecurity that this creates. Reduced to a bizarre feast, the performance group Monster Truck, in collaboration with Platform-K, generates an confounding new interpretation full of drastic ambivalence, humour and style-conscious cross-references to the Love Parade.
One thing becomes clear: ships of fools, on which social participation is offered as an exclusive journey and people with disabilities continue to be treated as third-class passengers, can only sink in perspective.
more info: www.monstertrucker.de https.platform-k.be
(c) Michiel Devijver
ANT AND..
COLLABORATION WITH VANIA D'ANGELO GENT BOUGEMENT
Imagine creatures without a head or other body parts. Yet, these creatures are capable of stirring up emotions as if they were humans or they may appear mysteriously before you as animals. Ant and.. presents us with a visual performance which triggers the imagination. Two figures move through the landscape, providing it with colour and at other times even converging with it. Through their movements, their appearances are transformed; one image evolves into another, anteaters become cylinders, cylinders become caterpillars and so on. It makes you wonder where the creature ends and the landscape begins. Ant and.. is a graceful play for people of all ages which keeps reinventing itself because of its ongoing adaptation to the changing surroundings.
To clarify:
In Ant and.. dancers in costume free themselves of the human physical appearance. While playing with different shapes and motions, these dancers create a surrealistic landscape. This performance generates different abstract forms and in doing so, it immerses the audience in an unknown world in which a series of varying situations develops. In this, the interaction between the dancers and their surroundings is crucial. This graceful play for people of all ages is always performed in harmony with the setting. A watchful observer may ask himself when the creature ceases to exist and the landscape begins.
more info: www.gentbougement.be
(c)rudycarlier
KOPP
In a desolate sphere,
Two beings ritualise what is left of time. Their movements are synchronized, almost as if they are dancing to the rhythm of the universe itself. As they continue their ritual, a sense of peace and connection fills the empty space around them.
Knocked out of the course of banality, they find solace in the simplicity of their shared existence, transcending the boundaries of their physical forms to become one with the cosmic energy that surrounds them. The desolation of their surroundings fades away, replaced by a profound sense of unity and purpose.
They can only remember in motion.
Who knows each other?
Concept & performance: Vania D'Angelo en Fanny Vandesande Coaching: Ido Batash Dramaturgy: Bo Alfaro Decreton Production: TALK Costume: Joanna Reuse – Collectief Textiel
Thanks to: Danspunt - De Belgische Dansvitrine Gent, Les ballets C de la B - Dag van de Dans, Vooruit, Gent Bougement, Campo, CC De Ververij, KUNSTENWERKPLAATS Pianofabriek
(c) Lore Stessel
LAM GODS
COLLABORATION WITH MILO RAU
NTGENT
In Lam Gods, Rau connects the everyday with the spiritual, just as the Van Eyck brothers did: just as the altarpiece consists of different layers that overlap, just as the real mixes with the symbolic, so people from Ghent will tell about their lives on stage. In a casting that was filmed over many months, this project plunges into the here and now of a city community: who is the Cain of Ghent, who is the Abel? Who plays Adam and who plays Eve? Who are the martyrs of the 21st century? The crusaders and the just judges? The patrons? What do they tell us about the themes of this painting, about original sin and human suffering, about faith and tragedy, death and redemption?
more info: https.www.ntgent.be
(c) Michiel Devijver