May

The 7 Fingers

Passagers | May 2 - May 3

mix of theater, modern dance, virtuoso acrobatics, clowning, slapstick and poetry, topped with an appropriate soundtrack

Stephen Shropshire

About miss Julie | May 6

Written in 1888, August Strindberg’s naturalistic tragedy Miss Julie is a fatal discourse on class, sexual politics and the inequalities inherent in a patriarchal system. These themes, which Strindberg plotted to motivate Miss Julie’s tragic end, resonate still today and reflect imbalances that continue to divide contemporary society. The story of Miss Julie follows the bored daughter of a wealthy count who escalates an affair with her father’s valet to devastating results. Set in the kitchen of a Swedish manor house on Midsummer’s Eve, the action is presided over by the valet’s intended fiancé (her father’s cook), who acts as moral surrogate in the unfolding tragedy.

Wubkje Kuindersma & Anthony Fiumara / Korzo Producties

Bitcrusher | May 8

“Remember that name”, wrote de Volkskrant early this year after her choreography for the Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet. In recent years, the name of Wubkje Kuindersma sings in the Dutch dance scene. She is furthering her career abroad as well, receiving invitations from many renowned companies. For her first full-length creation this top talent will engage in an exciting partnership with Anthony Fiumara, one of the most celebrated composers in the Dutch contemporary music scene. The point of departure for Bitcrusher is the pixelization of the world: Digital reality is taking increasing precedence over analogue reality.

Rosas / Ictus Ensemble

Bartók/Beethoven | May 9

On this repertoire evening, Rosas brings together three early works by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. In 1986, De Keersmaeker first ventured into the terrain of early 20th-century classical music with Bartók’s Fourth String Quartet. In a choreography punctuated by both playful and combative accents, De Keersmaeker took on the task of distilling a dance score out of Bartók’s complex rhythms and layered harmonies. In Die Grosse Fuge (1992), De Keersmaeker sets out to find a male vocabulary, with the dancers of Rosas challenging gravity in a piece that sought to provide a physical translation of Beethoven’s ingenious use of counterpoint. The final piece of the evening, Verklärte Nacht (1995), presents a shamelessly romantic love story.

Georgia Vardarou

Why Should it (..) | May 9

‘Why should it be more desirable for green fire balls to exist than not?’ is a solo dance piece in collaboration with visual artist David Bergé. Images and movements imbricated with each other, create a space for the audience to read between the projections, the dance and their ephemeral relation to each other. How playful can contextualization of an image be by the means of the language of dance? Do meanings become malleable next to a body moving? What is happening in the space between the performer’s and the audience’s perception? This space between our different perceptions is perhaps where dance is happening.

Mette Ingvartsen

Moving | May 14

After the Red Pieces series which probed deep into the question of sexuality, Mette Ingvartsen once again sets in motion a physical laboratory. In the expanding universe which unfurls, bodies, matter, movements and sounds interact, in a way which makes us think about the contemporary individual’s fundamentally “connected” status. The work of the choreographer Mette Ingvartsen proceeds in cycles, following a long-term path which enables her to investigate a particular issue by delving into its blind-spots and grey areas. Following on from 7 pleasures and 21 pornographies from the Red Pieces series – which took us deep into the intricacies of a body racked by the question of sexuality -, her latest creation comes back to issues similar to those raised in The Artificial Nature Project.

Jasper van Luijk / SHIFFT

SHOT | May 15

SHOT is a relentless game between dancer and photographer, a dance search for their inexhaustible addiction to images. SHOT investigates how contemporary visual culture influences the way we look. Lifesize live photos of dancer Robin Nimanong are fired at the audience and show a unique perspective on the relationship between him and photographer Menno van der Meulen. Who has the power over the image created?, the photographer who determines the perspective, or the dancer who can offer and take it away? And how does this constant power game influence the relationship between these people? SHOT takes you into a world where photography becomes physical

Opera Zuid

A midsummer night's dream | May 23

The opera experience of 2020

Conny Janssen Danst

SO HERE WE ARE | May 18 - May 12

Dance performance by Conny Janssen Danst in the Van Nelle Factory

Muziektheater Transparant / Annelies van Parys

Usher | May 27

House composer Annelies Van Parys and author Gaia Schoeters 'complete' an unfinished opera by Debussy based on a horror story of Edgar Allen Poe. Claude Debussy never finished his opera La chute. Composer Annelies Van Parys now ‘completes’ it as a dialogue between his musical language and her own. Debussy’s complex vocal style makes it quite a challenge. Debussy focussed his reading of Edgar Allen Poe’s horror story Fall of the House of Usher on the way in which paranoia drives people mad. Writer Gaea Schoeters adapts the unfinished libretto to a contemporary context: fear as a perfect tool for social control.