Eight acrobatic dancers, a stable wall and experimental rock music from the British band This Heat: that’s it. From this, the Brussels-based dance shooting star Alexander Vantournhout conjures up a utopia of what the human body could become as a dancing creature. His Foreshadow figures move across the wall, supported by each other’s shoulders, feet and knees, as nimble as geckos. One movement motif merges with another, the choreography is precise like a clockwork. Together, this ensemble works like the gears of a collective body that challenges the limits of balance, the effects of its urge to move, and the laws of gravity. Vantournhout’s versatile yet singular dance language incorporates elements of martial arts, circus and yoga. Each piece tries out something different: in this case, rigorously coordinated chaotic movement patterns. The aim of this choreographic feat is to explore what is just this side of possible in the delicate interactions between body and object.
Concept and choreography: Alexander Vantournhout
Co-creation and performance: Noémi Devaux, Axel Guérin, Patryk Kłos, Nick Robaey, Josse Roger, Emmi Väisänen/Margaux Lissandre, Esse Vanderbruggen and Alexander Vantournhout/Chia-Hung Chung
Dramaturgy: Rudi Laermans & Sébastien Hendrickx
Rehearsal direction: Sandy Williams
Costume design: Patty Eggerickx assisted by: Isabelle Airaud
Music: This Heat
Lighting design: Bert Van Dijck
Sound: Ruben Nachtergaele
Tour planning: Frans Brood Productions
Company management: Esther Maas
Technical coordination: Bram Vandeghinste & Rinus Samyn
Production and tour management: Barbara Falter, Aïda Gabriëls & Kiki Verschueren
Production: not standing
Co-production: le CENTQUATRE, Paris (FR), Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER, Ghent (BE), Julidans, Amsterdam (NL), Biennale de la Danse, Lyon (FR), Le Maillon, Strasbourg (FR), Les Halles de Schaerbeek (BE), MA scène nationale – Pays de Montbéliard (FR), La Passerelle, scène nationale de Saint-Brieuc (FR), Theater Freiburg (DE) and Le Carreau Scène nationale de Forbach et de l’Est mosellan (FR)
Special thanks: De Grote Post, Ostend (BE), Plateforme 2 Pôles Cirque en Normandie / La Brèche à Cherbourg et le Cirque-Théâtre d’Elbeuf (FR), Maison de la Danse, Lyon (FR), Urte Groblyte, Julien Monty, Bjorn Verlinde and Katherina Lindekens
Created with the support of the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government, via Flanders Tax Shelter.
not standing is supported by the Flemish Government. Alexander Vantournhout is artist-in-residence at Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER in Ghent and associated artist of the CENTQUATRE-Paris. He is cultural ambassador of the city of Roeselare and supported by Fondation BNP Paribas for the development of his projects.
