Alexander Vantournhout (BE) / not standing
Opening: Foreshadow
How do you break down the walls that life creates?
To the soundtrack of experimental rock music, eight acrobat dancers encounter their physical limits through a huge vertical obstacle. What if this six-metre-high wall cuts the stage in half and the remaining space is too small for the eight of them? Is the wall an annoying obstacle or does it create new opportunities? Foreshadow is the opening performance of Julidans 2023.
Opening Julidans
Main programme
WORLDPREMIÈRE
run time 75 minutes
location Internationaal Theater Amsterdam
venue Rabozaal
After talk with Alexander Vantournhout 3 July
A wall that is almost impossible to cross evokes all sorts of associations. But a wall is also used by dancers, yoga practitioners and martial artists to practise not falling.
In Foreshadow, the wall is used in a protracted investigation into gravity: how can a vertical fall be converted to oblique, diagonal or horizontal? How can the fall be slowed down by the sliding resistance of the wall? Flemish choreographer Alexander Vantournhout, labelled a "movement magician" by De Standaard, drew inspiration for his choreography from the animal world, in particular the adhesive power of reptiles such as lizards and geckos. -|- 'Foreshadowing' in novels and films gives a hint of what will happen later in the story. This builds tension, and sometimes also evokes a sense of unease. In the performance, the title refers to the continuous attempt to break down the wall. But what if that can only fail? Then the struggle of these performers is reminiscent of the myth of Sisyphus, who is punished with the impossible task of pushing a boulder up a mountain.
Thus, Vantournhout's work challenges not only our notions of gravity and spatiality, but also those of our purely human potential – against the odds.
CREDITS
Concept & choreography Alexander Vantournhout
Created and performed by Noémi Devaux, Axel Guérin, Patryk Kłos, Nick Robaey, Josse Roger, Emmi Väisänen/Margaux Lissandre, Esse Vanderbruggen & Alexander Vantournhout
Dramaturgy Rudi Laermans & Sébastien Hendrickx
Rehearsal director Sandy Williams
Outside eye Julien Monty
Costumes Patty Eggerickx, Assisted by Isabelle Airaud
Light design Bert Van Dijck
Music This Heat
Sound Ruben Nachtergaele
Diffusion Frans Brood Productions
Company management Esther Maas
Technique Rinus Samyn & Bram Vandeghinste
Realized with the support of the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government, via Flanders Tax Shelter.
Alexander Vantournhout is artist-in-residence at Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER in Ghent and associate artist of le CENTQUATRE Paris. -|-
Production & tourmanagement Barbara Falter, Aïda Gabriëls & Kiki Verschueren
Production not standing
Coproduction le CENTQUATRE, Parijs (FR), Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER, Gent (BE), Julidans, Amsterdam (NL), Biennale de la Danse, Lyon (FR), Le Maillon, Strasbourg (FR), De Hallen van Schaarbeek (BE), MA scène nationale – Pays de Montbéliard (FR), La Passerelle, scène nationale de Saint-Brieuc (FR), Theater Freiburg (DE) & Le Carreau Scène nationale de Forbach et de l'Est mosellan (FR).
With thanks to De Grote Post, Oostende (BE), Plateforme 2 Pôles Cirque en Normandie / La Brèche à Cherbourg & le Cirque-Théâtre d’Elbeuf (FR), Maison de la Danse, Lyon (FR), Urte Groblyte, Bjorn Verlinde & Katherina Lindekens
Alexander Vantournhout is cultural ambassador of the City of Roeselare and is supported by the Flemish government and Fondation BNP Paribas for the development of his projects.