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
Credits
concept & direction (LA)HORDE — Marine Brutti, Jonathan Debrouwer, Arthur Harel
choreography (LA)HORDE in collaboration with the dancers and coaches of the Ballet national de Marseille
music Pierre Avia, Gabber Eleganza, Philip Glass
set design Julien Peissel
costumes Salomé Poloudenny, DIESEL
light design Eric Wurtz
hair design Charlie Le Mindu
graphic design Frederik Heyman
rehearsal team Valentina Pace, Jacquelyn Elder, Angel Martinez Hernandez, Julien Monty
