Baring your teeth, your diaphragm twitching, a tremor driving you to tears: in its appropriation of the whole body, laughter borders on the violent. In “AH|HA”, choreographer and dancer Lisbeth Gruwez dissects this involuntary reflex and breaks it down into its component movements. Assembled into a ravelike, monotonous delirium, Gruwez creates a choreographic trip, an exploration of ecstasy. “AH|HA” is an estranging abstraction for five bizarrely dressed characters, which float from one state to the next, almost without volition. “AH|HA” is a behavioral study of human affects – anarchy defined by absolute control – scored to a suggestive soundtrack by composer Maarten Van Cauwenberghe. “AH|HA” is the first group piece by the Belgian collective Voetvolk, which was founded in 2007 by the choreographer and dancer Lisbeth Gruwez and the composer and musician Maarten Van Cauwenberghe. The piece was developed during their residency at the Troubleyn / Laboratorium of the Belgian director and choreographer Jan Fabre.

Lisbeth Gruwez (born in Kortrijk, Belgium, in 1977) started classical ballet at age six. In 1991 she was admitted at the Stedelijk Instituut voor Ballet in Antwerp. Afterwards she studied contemporary dance at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels. Lisbeth Gruwez started her professional career with Ultima Vez and Iztok Kovacˇ and since then has been working with Needcompany / Jan Lauwers, Grace Ellen Barkey, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Arco Renz and Riina Saastamoinen, among others. Since 1999, she has been working with Jan Fabre who in 2004 created “Quando l’uomo principale è una donna” for and with her. In 2001 Lisbeth starred in Pierre Coulibeuf’s film “Les Guerriers de la beauté” about Jan Fabre’s work. Together with Maarten Van Cauwenberghe she founded the dance/performance group Voetvolk in 2006 and in 2007 they premiered their first creation, “Forever Overhead”. The first group performance of Voetvolk, “AH|HA”, premiered in 2014 and is currently touring. This summer Voetvolk | Lisbeth Gruwez created their last performance “We’re pretty fuckin’ far from okay” for the Festival d’Avignon. In 2008 she had a leading role in “Lost Persons Area”, a movie by Caroline Strubbe; for her role Lisbeth was nominated as ‘Best Female Actress’ at the Flemish Movie Awards. In 2009 she choreographed and danced together with Juliette Lewis in a videoclip for her band Juliette & the Licks. In 2013, she also was a dance-coach for some Toneelhuis-productions (Bart Meuleman and FC Bergman) and worked together with Belgian photographer Dirk Braeckman.