What else are we looking forward to at @hollandfestival?

Holland Festival

This month is all about the Holland Festival. Culture Press reports almost daily. What are we most looking forward to?

El Djoudour (The Roots), Compagnie La Baraka, Ballet Contemporain d'Alger. Choreography: Abou Lagraa

Exciting, powerful, rousing dance. Are the seven men more powerful and rousing than the seven women, or do they outweigh each other? And can the roots of Islamic culture be expressed in dance?

Hans was Heiri, Zimmermann & De Perrot

'Hans was Heiri' is Swiss-German for 'In the end, they are all the same'. No matter how people try their best to be unique, they are stuck with what they are: no more than one among billions of people. How will the performers of Zimmermann & De Perrot convince the audience of this boring message with their multifaceted mix of mime, dance, clownery and a set that will make your eyes water: four revolving rooms?

I am looking forward to the physical theatre of Swiss duo Zimmermann & de Perrot: Hans was Heiri. Seven performers 'tumbling, dancing and climbing in a 360-degree spinning house'. A mix of acrobatics, dance and music that not only makes us laugh, but also makes us think about human beings and their urge to want to be different from others. This deeper layer is not always drawn out, I read in the international press. In any case, I expect impressive acrobatics and witty scenes.

What I am also very curious about is EXHIBIT B. South African director Brett Bailey exhibits Africans behind glass for the entertainment of us, the western audience. Just as happened in the 19th and early 20th centuries in ethnographic exhibitions and human zoos. I am curious to know how I feel about this confrontation and how other visitors experience it. The ongoing performance can be seen in Shed 6 from Sunday 16 June to Wednesday 26 June.

L.A. Dance Project: I am curious about the dance artist collective started by the man who choreographed Black Swan, married Natalie Portman and took over the Paris Opera ballet in 2014.

I also look forward to the Sacre du Printemps by Shin Wei at the Dutch National Ballet. An expected combination of Chinese calligraphy, beautiful dance images and live music by an expanded Holland Symfonia.

Michel van der Aa, Sunken Garden

The first opera with 3D film. The British press was rather divided to say the least, at times downright hostile, but if Sunken Garden is anything like his earlier opera After Life, a total experience not to be missed.

Mahlerlieder

Dutch debut by East Tyrolean 'mussicabanda' mixing jazz, classical and folk music on wind instruments. No idea what Mahler sounds like in them, but the combination makes one very curious.

Dieudonne Niangouna, Shéda

I have been told that this 4-hour advance is going to be something very special. The Congolese Niangouna makes a very intuitive, almost shamanic form of theatre full of nightmares and African spirits. Perhaps an elusive whole? I am curious.

Gisèle Vienne, The Pyre

Vienne makes brilliant, disturbing visual theatre, sometimes with puppets, always with a twisted, morbid twist. Her performance Jerk was the scariest theatre experience I have ever experienced. So that's going to be exciting.