concept & choreography Lisbeth Gruwez
composition, sound design & assistance Maarten Van Cauwenberghe
dance Mercedes Dassy, Anne-Charlotte Bisoux, Lisbeth Gruwez, Vicente Arlandis Recuerda, Lucius Romeo-Fromm
stylist Catherine Van Bree
artistic advisor Bart Meuleman
lightdesign Harry Cole
light assistance Caroline Mathieu
contributor production Liesbeth Stas
Woetvolk vzw
coproduction Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis, Next Festival, Theater Im Pumpenhaus, Théâtre d’Arras / TANDEM ARRAS-DOUAI, Dampfzentrale, Le Triangle – scène conventionnée pour la danse-Rennes, Théâtre La Bastille, Les Brigittines, AndWhatBeside(s)Death, MA – Scène nationale de Montbéliard and Troubleyn | Jan Fabre
residencies Troubleyn | Jan Fabre, KVS, Les Brigittines
supported by NONA, Provincie Antwerpen and De Vlaamse Gemeenschap
international distribution Key Performance
Running time: 1 h
National Première
During almost ten years dancer for Jan Fabre, who created for her Quando l’uomo principale è una donna (When a leading man turns out to be a woman) presented at ‘Le Vie dei Festival’ in 2004, nominated at Cannes for her role in Lost Persons Area by Caroline Strubbe, Lisbeth Gruwez comes back to Modena with her latest performance AH/HA. The Belgian dancer, choreographer and actress founded the company Voetvolk in 2006 together with Maarten Van Cauwenberghe: the word, which literally means ‘infantry’, reflects a method that requires the dancers’ “bodies to be thrown into battle without technical tricks” as stated by the same Gruwez. If the company has investigated with It’s going to get worse and worse and worse, my friends the relationship between body and language, with this performance the Belgian artist investigates the body in ecstasy.
Five bodies meet at a local without a name, perhaps even in the middle of the night. On the rhythm of the circumstances they slowly grow towards one another, the way trash sometimes gathers in a deserted street. But their synergy confers unexpected power on them. They coalesce in one of the most expressive manifestations of humankind: the laughter. Resulting in an encounter that becomes a dangerous feast of shared ecstasy.
AH/HA explores the wealth of plastic variations of the laughing body, making its physical and psychic impact tangible for the spectator.
www.voetvolk.be
Lisbeth Gruwez
Lisbeth Gruwez (Kortrijk, Belgium 1977) started classical ballet at the age of 6 and in 1991 she was admitted at the ‘Stedelijk Instituut voor Ballet’ in Antwerp where she could combine a professional dance education with high school. Afterwards she studied contemporary dance at P.A.R.T.S. .
She started her professional career with Ultima Vez, in the Pasolini Project Of Heaven and Hell and Away From Sleeping Dogs with Iztock Kova. Since 1999 Lisbeth Gruwez has been working with Jan Fabre, performing in As Long As the World Needs a Warrior’s Soul, followed by Je suis sang, the production for the Cour d’Honneur in Avignon. In 2001 she starred in Pierre Coulibeuf’s film Les Guerriers de la beauté about Jan Fabre’s work. In 2002 she starred in Images of Affection for Needcompany|Jan Lauwers. A year later Lisbeth worked with Grace Ellen Barkey in Few Things and Cry Me a River by Riina Saastamoinen. Still in 2003 she danced in Foi, which was a production by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. In 2004 Jan Fabre created for and with her Quando l’uomo principale è una donna. She also participated in the installation Origine along with Peter Verhelst.
Together with Maarten Van Cauwenberghe she founded Voetvolk in 2006 and in 2007 they premièred with their first creation Forever Overhead. In 2008 Lisbeth danced with Melanie Lane in I!2, a creation by Arco Renz. That year she also had a leading role in Lost Persons Area, a movie by Caroline Strubbe. This motion picture was nominated for the Cannes filmfestival and for her role she was nominated as Best Female Actress at the Flemisch Movie Awards. Again in 2008 she created Birth of Prey, a performance which is still touring. In 2009 she choreographed and danced together with Juliette Lewis in a videoclip for her band Juliette & the Licks. In 2010 Lisbeth created her first groupperformance HeroNeroZero and played the leading roll in a short movie by Silvia Defranc. In 2011 she created the performances L’Origine and It’s going to get worse and worse and worse, my friend which is currently on tour.