Production Details / Press Releases
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.
Cast & Credits
Concept, choreography: Lisbeth Gruwez
Composition, sound design: Maarten Van Cauwenberghe
With: Mercedes Dassy, Anne Charlotte Bisoux, Lisbeth Gruwez, Vicente Arlandis Recuerda, Lucius Romeo Fromm
Stylist: Catherine Van Bree
Dramaturgy: Bart Meuleman
Light design: Harry Cole
Assistant lighting: Caroline Mathieu
Production management: Liesbeth Stas
Production: Voetvolk vzw
Coproduction: Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis, Next Festival, Theater In the pump house, Théâtre d’Arras / TANDEM ARRAS-DOUAI, Steam locomotive Bern, Le Triangle scène conventionnée pour la danse-Rennes, Théâtre de La Bastille, Les Brigittines, AndWhatBeside (s) Death, MA Scène nationale – Pays de de Montbéliard and Troubleyn Jan Fabre
With the support of: NONA, Provincie Antwerp and De Vlaamse Gemeenschap, International Sales Key Performance Residences Troubleyn | Jan Fabre, KVS, Les Brigittines, BUDA Kortrijk
Tanz im August 2016
Artistic director: Virve Sutinen
Executive Producer: Sven Neumann
Production: Isa Köhler, Andreas Skjönberg, Andrea Niederbuchner
Assistance of Artistic Director / Production: Marie Schmieder
Tanz im August is a festival by HAU Hebbel am Ufer, funded by the the Capital Culture Fund and the Governing Mayor of Berlin – Senate Chancellery – Cultural Affairs.
HAU Hebbel am Ufer (HAU1)
Stresemannstr. 29
10963 Berlin
Tickets: +49 (0)30 259 004 27
tickets@hebbel-am-ufer.de
Video Documentation
The video documentation is produced on behalf of the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. The purpose of this contract is to document productions in the field of contemporary dance in Berlin. The master recordings are archived by the University Library of the Berlin University of Arts. Copies of the recordings on DVD are available for viewing exclusively in the reference collections of the following archives (at media desks in these institutions):
University Library of the Berlin University of Arts
Mediathek für Tanz und Theater des Internationalen Theaterinstituts / Mime Centrum Berlin
Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin (HZT)