Room in Our House
An age-old promise of peace takes on a new form in Room in Our House: an intense duet about history, trauma and the possibility of healing.
Festival Julidans
Programme section Julidans On Stage/ Julidans NL
World premiere
Location Podium Mozaïek
Run time TBC
Genre Dance
Language English
Room in Our House
Choreographer Nicole Beutler brings together two dancers, each embodying their own world and tradition. Their encounter resonates with colonial history, loss and trauma. At the same time, the performance opens up a different perspective: what might healing look like, and how can we learn to live in harmony again?
Four hundred years ago, Dutch ships sailed up the Hudson River and encountered the Haudenosaunee, the original inhabitants of North America. A special pact was agreed between the two groups, enshrined in the Two Row Wampum: two lines travelling side by side across the river of life, one for the Haudenosaunee in their canoe, the other one for the Dutch in their ship. Living together in peace, without dominating one another.
-|-The narrative voice of Haudenosaunee representative Michelle Schenandoah guides the audience through stories, history and Indigenous wisdom. Dance, music and text intertwine to form a ritual in which memory and hope coexist.
Room in Our House is the first chapter of CLOSE ENCOUNTER / Future Stories, a new series by Nicole Beutler Projects, centred on encounters with different perspectives on the world. A performance about peace – not as a given, but as something that must be continually reinvented.
Nicole Beutler Projects
Nicole Beutler Projects is the Amsterdam-based company of choreographer and theatre-maker Nicole Beutler. In her work, dance, music, theatre and visual art come together in powerful, all-encompassing performances. Beutler often creates grand, almost ritualistic performances in which groups of performers, live music and striking imagery collectively evoke an entire world. Her work raises questions about our relationship with one another, with nature and with the future. Recent productions include GINKGO, ATMEN and NOW WE ARE EARTH. With her idiosyncratic, visionary style, Nicole Beutler has become one of the most remarkable and captivating creators in the Dutch performing arts.
Credits
Concept and direction Michelle Schenandoah (Oneida), Nicole Beutler (NL/D)
Choreography Nicole Beutler
Created in collaboration with dancers Montana Summers (Oneida) and Rob Polmann (NL)
Storyteller Michelle Schenandoah
Text Ty Defoe (Ojibwe/Oneida)
Music composition Gary Shepherd (GB/NL)
Flute Ty Defoe
Voice + drumming Ada Schenandoah (Oneida)
Costume Tisha Thompson (Mohawk) & Jessica Helbach (NL)
Set design Jessica Helbach
Dramaturgy Justa ter Haar (NL), Neal Powless (Onondaga), Igor Dobriçic (SRB/NL)
Cultural consultants Diane Schenandoah (Oneida), Momma Bear (Mohawk) -|-
Light design Hendrik Walter t.b.d. (NL)
Lighting technique Durante van Kuijk (NL)
Sound technique Maurits Thiel t.b.d. (NL)
Production manager Nikki Kracht (NL)
PR and marketing Lieke Scholten (NL)
Business management Maria Heidemann (NL/D)
Room in Our House is a co-production of Rematriation & Nicole Beutler Projects
Support USA Syracuse Stage, The Treman Center, Dutch Consulate New York, Netherland America Foundation
Support NL Dutch Fund for the Arts, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts
