Eros

Theatre maker Boukje Schweigman disrupts the senses and makes people look at the world in a different way than they are used to. In her experiential theatre, she reduces the most ordinary phenomena to their essence. The titles of her work say it all: Ground, Corner, Mirror, Fall. She turns concrete notions into tangible experiences that are viewed, reversed, explored from all sides. In this way, they break free from all self-evidence and transform into hallucinatory total experiences.

Whereas her last performance Spectrum was about colour, Eros focuses on nothing less than female sensuality. Eros, of course, is the god of love and passion. Schweigman observes that women often look with too little love at their bodies, and certainly at everything that has to do with sensuality and sexuality.
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With her five female dancers, she went in search of female sensuality. She talks about the work process: ‘It was like opening Pandora's box. Many women have a lid on their lower abdomen, so to speak, and for good reasons. Centuries of oppression and abuse have left their mark.’ They sought out and left behind those dark sides, the shame and guilt, in the safety of the rehearsal room. They wanted to cross the threshold, rediscover the joy, the eroticism of the body and the innocent, cheerful and playful zest for life.

Move that body! Can’t stand still after the performance? Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti - performer, musician, singer, artist and one of the Eros dancers - gets her DJ decks out after the show and with her energetic beats she will get you moving on up to a higher level.

In Eros, all taboos and clichés are done with: the roof is raised! Supported by the drums and percussion of Frank Rosaly and Katherina Bornefeld (The EX), it has become a catchy, high-spirited performance. Beyond shame. Or in Schweigman's own words: ‘A sizzling total experience beyond the mundane.’

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Eros is a co-production of Schweigman& and DOX. The fact that the Utrecht-based companies are joining forces leads to new dimensions in both their work: the physical-sensory, ritualistic work of Schweigman& mixed with the focus on youth culture and urban dance (theatre) of DOX.

concept Boukje Schweigman, Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti
makers/ performers Lysanne van Berlo, Fiona Dekkers,  Luana van Eekeren, Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti, Rosanna ter Steege, Goda Zukauskaite
drums and percussion Frank Rosaly, Katherina Bornefeld
direction Boukje Schweigman
music composition Frank Rosaly
scenography Theun Mosk
costume design Esmée Thomassen
casting in collaboration with Hildegard Draaijer
direction assistance Anemone Oostvriesland, Rachel Schuit
production Lise van den Hout, Vera Andeweg
technic Bart van den Heuvel, Albert-Jan ten Napel, Jorn Kortooms, Jeroen de Goei
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dramaturgical advice Loes van der Pligt
chief technician Jurr van Diggele
chief production Puck Mathot
publicity and marketing Lonneke Laurant
education Anemone Oostvriesland, Kir Robben
business director Rachel Feuchtwang
special thanks to Wennah Wilkers, alle vrijwilligers and the education teams of Schweigman& and DOX