choregraphy Floor van Leeuwen | performers Marie Groothof, Koen van der Heijden, Hendrik van Maele, Petra Steindl, Josse De Broeck, Felix Zech, Levi de Kleer, Hali Neto, Eliot Dehaspe, Maria Madeira, Petra Roelfzema, Silbe Mijnlieff, Jasmijn Obispo, Petra Eikelenboom and Erwin Boschmans | technical production Elizabet van der Kooij | lichtdesign Pablo Fontdevila | dramaturgical support Oscar van der Kruis and Bauke Lievens | assistent Louis Janssens | video Paulien Oltheten and Fanny Hagmeier | photography Bart Grietens | production Jasper Hupkens | costume design Lotte Sterringa | image Hanneke Meijers | publicity Daisy Benz | producers TENT circustheater productions and Veem House for Performance | Co-Producers Grand Theatre, Theater Ins Blau and Festival Cement | funded by het Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, onds Podiumkunsten, Fonds 21, BNG ultuurfonds, het Prins Bernhard ultuurfonds and Gemeente Leiden | performed at Grand Theatre Groningen, Theater Ins Blau Leiden, Veem House for Performance Amsterdam, Theater de Nieuwe Vorst Tilburg, Maas TD Rotterdam, Korzo Den Haag, Festival Cement Den Bosch, Theater Kikker Utrecht and Juli Dans / WHY NOT |
In Wall 15 performers move towards a wall for 1,5 hour, attempting to ‘stay with the trouble’. Going too hard or too fast, and you’ll hurt yourself; going home because there is no visible result is - in our case- also not the answer. How to move, keep moving towards the direction you would like to go. In this performance we tried to stay as light as possible, in our minds and bodies, in how we touched the wall. We looked for a rhythm that we called ‘forever mode’, like some may have experienced through hiking. We made fluid constellations in the group by working with the energy we have, each moment in time. A frontrunner jumped the wall, which you cannot do for a long time. Right behind was the first back-up, someone who could take over or join. The further away from the wall the softer the energy, like in a demonstration or concert, people all the way in the back are connected to the movement with ease- a way of resting that is not ‘stepping out’ but a vital part of being ‘in’. As a performer you travelled between these roles, and have your individual approach to it. Wall reminded spectators of the sea touching the cliffs, bigger and smaller waves, ever changing in it’s continuity.
It is fascinating how Van Leeuwen has managed to convert such an apparently simple starting point into a performance that lasts. Wall has the same hypnotic power that minimal music can have but adds a physical element to it. And despite all the individual differences, we looked at one pulsating body, which produced its own music with the light-footed movement on the dance floor