Age of Content
All eyes are on (LA)HORDE, the Parisian collective that has been directing Ballet National de Marseille since 2019 and has made the frayed southern French port a focal point of contemporary dance. Age of Content is an impressive example of (La)HORDE’s post-internet dance': poetic, post-punk and politically engaged, packed with influences from fashion, video games, and club culture.
The title Age of Content is a pun on the age of majority at which a person is considered legally competent to consent to sexual acts. But to what extent do we have control, consent, over our physical presence in the virtual world?
Festival Julidans
Programme section Julidans On Stage
Dutch premiere
Location Internationaal Theater Amsterdam
Venue Rabozaal
Run time 75 minutes
Genre Dance
Language Language no problem
Age of Content
Sixteen dancers from Ballet de Marseille move through a video game: past Instagram filters, TikTok dances, OnlyFans horniness, and action movie stunts. Trapped in an alternative metaverse, somewhere between an aircraft hangar and a club setting, the dancers come face to face with potential versions of themselves: their avatars. These individuals, artificial or otherwise, clash, fight, defend, flee, embrace, desire, and celebrate life.
Social media have spawned a host of new forms of choreographic styles, for example jumpstyle, a rebellious anti-dance to hardcore techno. Grist to the mill for (LA)HORDE, for whom dance should be both a sensitive and a political place where social questions around racism, sexuality and power can – nay must – be addressed.
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A dizzying multitude of dance moves from the virtual world pass by: besides jumpstyle, these include twerking, musical-comedy moves, vogueing, and postmodern dance of the 1970s’ New York avant-garde. All woven together into a blood-curdling dance hybrid 2.0.
That pop icon Madonna asked (La)HORDE to be the artistic director for part of her Celebration tour says a lot about the hype surrounding the collective of Marine Brutti, Jonathan Debrouwer, and Arthur Harel. The trio know each other from the Parisian underground scene and their name is everywhere – in fashion, film, theatre – as a voice of the new era.
'Age of Content is a pompous post-postmodern, post-Barbie and post-#MeToo opera' - Resmusica.com
About (LA) HORDE
(LA)HORDE has united artists Marine Brutti, Jonathan Debrouwer and Arthur Harel since 2013. This collective of choreographers and artists, which undertook the direction of the Ballet National de Marseille in 2019, has continuously developed a collaborative project with different online communities that has led to several multidisciplinary and cross-community creations. Through films and performances (Novaciéries, 2015; The Master's Tools, 2017; Cultes, 2019 ; Ghosts, 2021), and choreographic pieces (Night Owl, 2016 ; To Da Bone, 2017; Marry Me in Bassiani, 2019; Room With A View, 2020), (LA)HORDE interrogates the political component of dance and maps various choreographic forms of popular rebellion, from raves to traditional dances, as well as jumpstyle. Their investigation into the new dynamics of circulation and representation of dance and body online led to the concept of “post-internet dance.”
Credits
artistic concept and direction (LA)HORDE-Marine Brutti, Jonathan Debrouwer, Arthur Harel
choreography (LA)HORDE in collaboration with the dancers and rehearsal coaches of the Ballet national de Marseille
artistic collaborators choreography Valentina Pace, Jacquelyn Elder, Angel Martinez Hernandez, Julien Monty
with the dancers of the Ballet national de Marseille Nina-Laura Auerbach, Alida Bergakker, João Castro, Titouan Crozier, Myrto Georgiadi, Nathan Gombert, Eddie Hookham, Nonoka Kato, Yoshiko Kinoshita, Amy Lim, Jonatan Myhre Jørgensen, Aya Sato, Paula Tato Horcajo, Elena Valls Garcia, Nahimana Vandenbussche, Antoine Vander Linden, Jimenez Gorostizu
stage design Julien Peissel
music Avia, Gabber Eleganza, Philip Glass
lighting design Eric Wurtz
costume stylist Salomé Poloudenny
hair direction Charlie Le Mindu
backdrop visual Frederik Heyman
artistic assistant Nadia El Hakim
general stage manager Rémi D’Apolito
stage managers Julien Parra, Matthias Vollerin, Louisa Mercier
sound engineer Jonathan Cesaroni
light assistants Gaspard Juan, Vincent Ribes
costume assistants Nicole Murru, Sandra Pomponio, Minok Terre
stunt coaching and advise Stunt Workshop International - Amedeo Cazzella, Alex Vu, Malik Diouf, Yann Brouet, Jonathan Bernard, Patrick Tang
vocal coaching Deborah Bookbinder
research and documentation Laure Bruno, Timothée Engasser
stage constructions les sateliers de la MC2 : Maison de la Culture de Grenoble scène Nationale, Sud Side les ateliers spectaculaires/Marseille, Atelier Contrevent, Soudure Duret
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with the participation of Julien Parra, Dimitri Bovas, Théophile Eschenauer, Christophe Lanes, Sébastien Mathé, Milan Petrucci, Kostia Pozniakoff
low rider programming Luís Parra
decoration Cristian Zurita
special thanks to the permanent and intermittent team of the Ballet national de Marseille
production Ballet national de Marseille
coproduction MC2 Maison de la Culture de Grenoble, scène nationale – Biennale de la danse de Lyon 2023 – International Summerfestival Kampnagel, Hambourg – Théâtre de la Ville-Paris – Théâtre du Châtelet – Créteil-Maison des arts, scène nationale – Maison de la culture, scène nationale d’Amiens – La Comédie, scène nationale de Clermont-Ferrand – L’Équinoxe, scène nationale de Châteauroux – Charleroi Danse, centre chorégraphique de Wallonie, en partenariat avec le Palais des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi – Grand Théâtre de Provence - Espace des Arts, scène nationale de Chalon-sur-Saône – Opéra de Dijon – Teatro Rivoli de Porto.
with the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels
in partnership with DIESEL
residencies hosts MC2 Maison de la Culture de Grenoble, scène nationale et International Summerfestival Kampnagel, Hambourg. Avec le soutien de Lieux Publics-CNAREP (centre national des arts de la rue et de l’espace public) et pôle européen de production, et le soutien de la Cité des arts de la rue