What We Can Do Together
Eight performers. Two continents. One stage. And the conviction that difference is not a barrier, but the beginning of everything. What We Can Do Together offers a space where everyone can be who they are.
Festival Julidans
Programme section Julidans On Stage
Dutch premiere
Location De Brakke Grond
Venue Grote zaal
Run time 70 minutes
Genre Dance
Language Language no problem
What We Can Do Together
Dancers from Europe and Africa, differing in age, physique, background and language, together on stage. They do not form a uniform corps – each displays their own way of moving. Step by step they appear: take Andile Vellem, emerging with a light-footed hop in shiny patent leather shoes; Sophie Warnant, in bright pink clogs that clatter loudly; or Joseph Tebandeke, who moves on crutches, creating an unexpected rhythm. Every body speaks its own language.
Choreographer Lisi Estaras depicts a paradise that is not perfect. Not a naïve dream, but a space where everyone can be who they are, without norms or judgement. Between humour, absurdity and emotion, the vision of the ideal rubs up against reality. The focus shifts from limitation to potential. It is not the lack, but the power of being different that takes centre stage.-|-
In What We Can Do Together, sign language, the spoken word, silence and dance flow into one another. Duos and small groups meet, feel their way, react. Sometimes powerful and rhythmic, at other times fragile and quiet. The outcome that emerges feels like a dialogue between people who do not naturally share the same language, yet still manage to find one another.
MonkeyMind Company
MonkeyMind Company is the company of choreographer Lisi Estaras, based in Brussels. They create performances in which dancers with and without disabilities collaborate. Estaras explores what happens when bodies with different abilities and backgrounds share the same space. Her performances are known for their warmth, humour and political acuity.
Unmute Dance Company
Unmute Dance Company is a South African dance company that works with deaf and hearing performers. The company develops its own movement language in which sign language and dance converge, and is committed to visibility and equality on stage.
Credits
Concept and choreography Lisi Estaras
Created with dancers Hannah Bekemans, Nadene McKenzie, Elie Tass, Andile Vellem, Joseph Tebandeke, Sophie Warnant, Zoë Chungong and Julia Luna Dierens
Assistant to Hannah Bekemans Marianne Colombie
Assistant to Julia Luna Dierens Frank Dierens
Dramaturgy Sara Vanderieck
Music composition Gabriel Chwojnik
Soundscape Damien Magnette
Lighting design and scenography Helmut Van den Meersschaut
Costumes Louis Verlinde-|-
Administration and production Nicole Petit
Production MonkeyMind vzw/MonkeyMind Company (Ghent) and Unmute Dance Company (Cape Town)
Co-production with Charleroi danse, centre chorégraphique de Wallonie–Bruxelles, December Dance Bruges, Dorky Park in residence at Volksbühne Berlin, Festival van Vlaanderen (Ghent) and Perpodium vzw
With the support of STUK Leuven (residency) and laGeste Ghent (studio use)
MonkeyMind vzw receives a structural grant from the City of Ghent for 3 years
