NOW WE ARE EARTH / An Orchestra

With eight dancers/singers and a locally composed city choir in each city of play, NOW WE ARE EARTH / An Orchestra is an immersive and striking all-encompassing experience. Award-winning choreographer and theatre producer Nicole Beutler fuses movement and sound while blurring the lines between the stage and the audience.

In the first part, GINKGO, we bid farewell to the man-made world – a tale without a happy ending. In ATMEN (Breathing), Beutler allows Earth to catch her breath again, while plants take over the theatre. NOW WE ARE EARTH is the third phase: a proposal for a new society of humans, animals, plants, fungus and technology.

The performance sets the stage for a symphony of voices, bodies, objects and sounds: like a unified body, supported by a choir scattered among the audience, in harmony with everything around us - from the theatre lights to the invisible fungi.
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Bodies and voices are building a constantly changing network of sounds and movements. Performers create new structures, like a fractal that repeats and forms a complex web of connections. The theatre space becomes a living ecosystem.

NOW WE ARE EARTH is inspired by the alchemical transformation from lead to gold, known as the ‘rubedo’ phase, when everything comes together. After destruction and restoration, it is time for rebirth, fuelled by the sun's infinite energy.

With her work, Nicole Beutler wants to convey the notion that together we can transform the world. ‘In a time full of doomsday scenarios, theatre offers something we need: imagination. What if we didn't linger in fear, but instead saw new possibilities? We can change if only we are willing and daring.’

concept, direction, choreography Nicole Beutler
performers Felix Schellekens, Timo Tembuyser, Margarida Constantino, Hillary Blake Firestone, C'Cesirhe Sedney, Abigail Vrede, Anna Herrmann (Dance On Ensemble), Lia Witjes Poole (Dance On Ensemble)
stage Estéban Obregon, Roos Krijgsman
music Gary Shepherd
vocal composition Timo Tembuyser
choir lokale stadskoren
choir recruitment Belgium Opera Ballet Vlaanderen
choir recruitment, rehearsal Nederland Opera2Day
choir leader tour Tristan Knelange
text coach, advice, editing & fragments Peter Verhelst
house dramaturgy Justa ter Haar
dramaturgy Igor Dobričić
dramaturgy advice Tom Swaak (OBV)
decor Lena Newton, Noa Helder
light Minna Tiikkainen
costume Jessica Helbach
repeater Catarina Ferreira da Silva
direction assistant Kaya Korabiowska-Dean
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outside eye Richard Kofi
technical coordinator Durante van Kuijk, Jonas de Vries, Koen Fischer
technical preparer Jonas de Vries
light operator Maarten van Dorp
sound design, techniek Maurits van Thiel
project leader VONK/Opera Ballet Vlaanderen Lise Thomas
production leader NBP Raïssa Pater
production leader OBV Inge den Adel
production Nicole Beutler Projects
co production Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Opera2Day,Dance On Ensemble/Büro Ritter, O. Festival for Opera. Music. Theatre.
residences Grand Theater Groningen, Opera Antwerpen, Opera Gent
with support of Fonds Podiumkunsten, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunsten, Ammodo, Fonds 21
thanks to Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, Het Goethe-Institut Amsterdam,Maarten Boussery, Kris Mohammed Adem, Magne van den Berg, Mattheus Moreira, Inez Almeida, Charles Hens, Aleksandar Grujić, Selina Hauptmann