Performing arts in autumn: Say yes to performance!

☞  THE FUTURE IS FEMINIST - PERFORMING ARTS PROGRAM

29 & 30 September - Belgian premiere: Jaamil Olawale Kosoko (US/NI) - #negrophobia - performance
Kosoko explores the conflicting feelings of (erotic) desire for and fear of the black body and confronts the spectator with its dormant prejudices. #negrophobia effortlessly evolves from a look in the mirror to lecture-performance and from slam poetry to ritual séance. Through a Ku Klux Klan hymn to an essay by James Baldwin: the piece analyses racism in an almost scientific way. more info

6 & 7 October - Belgian premiere: Eisa Jocson (PH) - Princess - dance
Choreographer Eisa Jocson, who lives in Manila, observes this seemingly universal happiness from a particular perspective: Disneyland Hong Kong is the largest employer for Philippine dancers in that region. Because of their skin colour, though, they are only cast in meaningless shadow roles. more info 

13 & 14 October - Florentina Holzinger (AT) - Apollon Musagète - performance/dance
Dancer-choreographer Florentina Holzinger is known as a very physical and particularly explosive performer. Inspiration for her often brutal productions is drawn from disciplines such as kickboxing, circus, striptease or yoga. This time she works with neoclassical ballet and with a fully female cast. George Balanchine, one of the greatest choreographers of the twentieth century, is her inspiration for Apollon Musagète. more info

27 & 28 October - Belgian premiere: Dana Michel - Yellow Towel - performance/dance
In this intriguing work you will witness a strange creature which emerges on stage into different guises. If you saw Mercurius George in our theatre earlier this year, you know you can expect a fascinating performance by one of the most emerging artists of the Canadian underground dance scene. This performance was rewarded with the The Silver Lion for innovation in Dance in this year's Biennale in Venice. more info

24 & 25 November, premiere: Rósa Ómarsdottir - Traces - dance
Ómarsdóttir investigates whether and how anthropomorphic practices (involving human qualities being attributed to animals, plants or objects) may affect their own environment. To this end, she builds a decor referring to varying landscapes. On the basis of rituals, she tries to ‘change’ the decor. The spectators and dancers find themselves in a magical, dynamic and ever changing landscape where, over time, it is not clear any more whether the scenography controls the dancers or vice versa. more info

1 & 2 December, double bill:
Bryana Fritz - Indispensible blue - performance
If software exerts a choreographic force on the user, how can she employ dance as a means to escape its clutch? Fritz tries to escape the pre-programmed patterns in which software controls our daily computer actions. We all use it daily in a functional way. Can one abandon all functionality and turn digital algorithms into poetry in a playful manner? more info
& 
Ana Pi - premiere: NoirBLUE - dance
If we take a moment to examine the field of dance, we find that the colour black is present, as the only colour somehow. What gestures would emerge in a choreography where the same etymological procedure was applied? What does a blue dance look like, that arises as a derivative from a dance that can be regard as black? From a sacred, traditional and popular form to the contemporary manifestations, related to black population in Africa and the Diaspora? more info

8 & 9 December - premiere: Antonia Baehr - Normal Dance - dance
‘Normal Dance’ is a dance trio that strives to integrate itself into the avant-garde of contemporary dance. Baehr has invited two friends to dance who have much in common with her. Unlike Antonia Baehr, they do not habitually view contemporary stage dance, however the three of them do share the fact that their bodies are not trained for the type of activity usually required by it. The three of them share the embodiment of female masculinity: firm grips, grounded supports, strength, bigness. It’s a trio for three butches who are butches, but at the same time they are many other things. more info

14 & 15 December - Alma Söderberg - Nadita - performance/dance
Music and a musical experimental interpretation of voice are essential elements and a main theme throughout the oeuvre of the Swedish performer Alma Söderberg. That is why she is called the human sound and dance machine. more info 

21 & 22 december - avant-premiere: Aurelie di Marino - If there weren’t any blacks you’d have to invent them - theatre
If there weren’t any black you’d have to invent them is a 1968 film by Johnny Speight. Almost exactly 50 years after this film was released, 5 actors play themselves to pieces in a re-enactment by taking on no less than 16 roles!  more info

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