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Nearly dies Wunderbaum's Detroit Dealers from an overdose of ideas, but survives through unexpected musicality #HF12

In Detroit Dealers, Wunderbaum mixes a personal family story with the decline of Detroit, once one of the most influential industrial cities in the world, and philosophical musings on the car, as a romantic metaphor of progress and the American Dream. The show swings in all directions. Detroit Dealers is part documentary film, jazz concert, performance, spoken word poetry, rap battle, and theatre. This overdose of... 

Read More "Nearly dies Wunderbaum's Detroit Dealers from an overdose of ideas, but survives through unexpected musicality #HF12

Waiting for Miss Monroe a feast for the mind. But with earplugs in. #hf12

Soon, Twitter brought an initial reaction to Waiting for Miss Monroe, Robin de Raaff's opera that had its world premiere at the Stadsschouwburg last night. @DavidMPinedo: What an atrocious opera Raaff's 'Waiting for Ms. Monroe' is. An atonal fart that has NOTHING musical. Just screaming. And a second. @sandraeik: Exciting world premiere Waiting for Miss Monroe - incredible performance by Laura Aiken as Monroe.... 

Read More "Waiting for Miss Monroe a feast for the mind. But with earplugs in. #hf12

The Young Makers Marathon: from the beautifully absurd Parkin'son to the claustrophobia of Cow's Theory

The Young Makers Marathon For Your Eyes Only at Springdance features performances by students from the influential dance academies School for New Dance Development (The Netherlands) and P.A.R.T.S. (Belgium). I had the pleaure to see two of them. Cow's Theory by Cecila Lisa Eliceche (P.A.R.T.S.) is a hyperintense piece of contact dance. Three female performers move at super slow pace,... 

Read More "The Young Makers Marathon: from the beautifully absurd Parkin'son to the claustrophobia of Cow's Theory

Ibrahim Quraishi's "My private Himalya" sparkles by omitting drama

A little tent allowed to play for sea anemone on dry land, its four legs perky in the air. Actors having a cup of tea and a game of cards. It all looks very innocent. What begins as a wonderful picture novel gradually grows into a rebus of considerable length. "My private Himalaya" is akin to a walking exhibition, with a wind machine.... 

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Portuguese Sofia Dias and Vítor Roriz make language move and their movements speak

You have those performances that remarkably simply and unobtrusively drag you into a world completely your own. Performances in which everything is recognisable. Words, movement, scenery. Everything equally familiar and homely. But then there is a tap against it. Patterns blur. Language is at odds. Everything rattles and drifts. And yet it makes sense. To your eyes and ears... 

Read More "Portuguese Sofia Dias and Vítor Roriz make language move and their movements speak

Inertia and extreme duration make "Wild Life Take Away Station" by Ibrahim Quraishi a mysterious still life

Upon entering, Wild Life Take Away Station has been going on for four hours. Two performers - Diego Agulló and Ria Higler, a young man and an old woman - stroll through the Central Museum's project studio like drowsy zombies. They are pale and muscle-naked, except for their weird slippers and wigs. The two lie sprawled across the sofa,... 

Read More "Inertia and extreme duration make "Wild Life Take Away Station" by Ibrahim Quraishi a mysterious still life

Opening Springdance explores the two extremes of what the festival has to offer

Experts in particular were upset with the official opening performance of Springdance 2012. "The Rodin Project" by Russel Maliphant was special for that reason alone. Rarely has there been so much talk about an opening performance, especially since it is also Springdance's last opening performance. The 30-year-old festival of innovative dance and performance is ceasing to exist. Partly due to pressure from subsidy cuts from... 

Read More "Opening Springdance explores the two extremes of what the festival has to offer

'It felt a bit like the first time sex: way too direct, rushed, overactive and largely based on insecurity': Ivo Dimchev in battle with Franz West's wearable art

"What the fuck should I do with this?" was choreographer and performance artist Ivo Dimchev's (1976) first thought when confronted with the artworks of Austrian artist Franz West. After Dimchev's solo performance Some Faves (2010) in Vienna, West, a multi-awarded creator of bizarre sculptures and objects, sought contact with the choreographer. He asked him to make an improvised video based on his... 

Read More "'It felt a bit like the first time sex: way too direct, rushed, overactive and largely based on insecurity': Ivo Dimchev in battle with Franz West's wearable art

Column: State of Indulgence by Patrick van der Hijden, opening debate Burger King & Citizenship

In the debate Burger King & Citizenship, Patrick van der Hijden, David van Reybrouck, Chris Keulemans and Samuel Vriezen give their views on the state of the citizen. Audiences may, but need not, participate. Below is the column State of Indulgence, recited by Patrick van der Hijden - as a kick-off to the debate.

"Our life was invented in the eighteenth century.

Members of the upper classes - the elite - had their own homes, often with gardens. They sent their children to school, which started...

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US states: dancer gets $150 for performing with tickets up to $100,000 and rebels

Her name is Sara Wookey and she is well known in the international dance world. When this choreographer and dancer with 16 years of experience was offered a chance to audition to perform in a renowned performance by world-renowned artist Marina Abramovich, she naturally seized it. She auditioned and passed the audition with six others, but not then... 

Read More "US states: dancer gets $150 for performing with tickets up to $100,000 and rebels

With its back to the community?

This week, the Connecting Arts festival takes place in Utrecht. This festival, contrary to the expectation raised by the title, revolves entirely around the organ. The instrument is in a bottomless identity crisis. The solution lies in connecting with other art forms: connecting arts. The organist. One of those guys with a beard. Not a meticulously trimmed weekend shadow, but a wild... 

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Seeing, building and tasting the future during an exciting bike ride through Rotterdam with Parfum de BoemBoem #dekeuze

A procession of bright red and green bicycles snakes along the Meuse, ridden by people looking around curiously, conferring with each other and wondering at every moment if 'this is part of it'. The Parfum de BoemBoem ticket in their pocket is proof: this is not an ordinary bike ride, but one with theatrical surprises. Guide Sereh enjoys the questioning looks and leads the group to the first location: the waste incineration plant in Rotterdam-Zuid.

 

[ca...

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Irony and purity want to stand side by side in 'Free Mason' by Tjon Rockon #International Choice

It takes guts: walking down Rotterdam's Kruiskade with a big wooden cross and shouting "Mason was a fish!" shouting. The drug-addicted residents of St Paul's Church, the dishwashers at Chinese restaurants and waiting passengers at the tram stop look on in bewilderment. Sandro Lima shouts lyrics about Mason the saviour like a possessed religious maniac. Moments before, we are at... 

Read More "Irony and purity want to stand side by side in 'Free Mason' by Tjon Rockon #International Choice

Almost had Halbe Zijlstra praising a drummer as a figurehead of our literature

Nice, that secretary of state of hard rock and Tom Clancy. Mr Halbe Zijlstra-san has once again lived up to his change manager name in China. But in a slightly different way. In the land of eternally sealed mouths, he opened the Dutch stand at the book fair there, with a speech that once again rammed Dutch values into the Chinese. Anyway... 

Read More "Almost had Halbe Zijlstra praising a drummer as a figurehead of our literature

Eszter Salamon and Daniel Linehan gems of highly diverse Julidans

Holland Festival, Julidans, IT's, Over 't IJ. End-of-season theatre is always strewn across Amsterdam. Between April and September, international performance offerings migrate from Utrecht (Springdance and Festival aan de Werf) via Amsterdam to Rotterdam (Internationale Keuze). If you want to experience something of contemporary, international dance, Springdance, HF and Julidans are the places to be. [For... 

Read More "Eszter Salamon and Daniel Linehan gems of highly diverse Julidans

Tomoko Mukaiyama sprinkles nuts and high heels

Although the announcement of 'sonic tapestry: Shoes, part V' by Tomoko Mukaiyama can be read as a variant of Sex and the City on classical music, Sarah Jessica Parker would forever look at her Manolo Blahniks differently after seeing Mukaiyama's performance. This very special piano recital was Saturday 7 May at LP2 (Room 2 of the Rotterdam... 

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Eugénie Rebetez shows the alienating contrast of a woman who wants to be more and is also at peace with who she is

Eugénie Rebetez in 'Gina'. Photo: Augustin Rebetez.

Her full thighs clatter together. She shakes her bare arms, grinning at the trembling skin on her upper arms. She stomps furiously across the Theatre Kikker's playing floor, while her hefty body - dressed in a small, nondiscreet black dress - emphatically bounces happily on all sides. You just have to dare. In h...

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Pure contact improvisation and martial arts in confrontational performance by Japanese dance group contact Gonzo

Contact Gonzo

 

With their name, the five Japanese of contact Gonzo refer to the gonzo journalism of the late Hunter S. Thompson. Raw, harsh and subjective. Thomspon also showed how he worked in his pieces. Contact Gonzo warms up during the show, taking snapshots of each other with disposable cameras and passing the water bottle. Gonzo style: what you see is what you get.

Contact Gonzo adheres to ...

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'I want to make the perpetrator relive the death of his victim.' Jens van Daele makes dance out of cruelly disturbed art project

Photo: Judith Zwikker Jens van Daele concludes his series of choreographies on the seven deadly sins with the performance Brides for Peace. The piece is based on the art performance Brides on Tour by Italian artists Pippa Bacca and Silvia Moro. Hitchhiking and dressed in wedding dresses, with a text 'Peace' on their chests, they travelled from Milan to Jerusalem in 2008.... 

Read More "'I want to make the perpetrator relive the death of his victim.' Jens van Daele makes dance out of cruelly disturbed art project

Meanwhile in Damascus (Syria): theatre project Adelheid Roosen postponed 'due to student protest'

Dutch theatre-maker Adelheid Roosen, who is currently working with director Merel de Groot on a theatre project with Syrian art students, sees her project hindered because of student protests, although we are not entirely sure in the totalitarian country, from which we rarely receive news. The University of Damascus, where she is working on the project To tell You I call... 

Read More "Meanwhile in Damascus (Syria): theatre project Adelheid Roosen postponed 'due to student protest'

The deeper caverns of an adult film festival. Sven Schlijper on safari during IFFR 2011

The International Film Festival Rotterdam celebrates its fortieth edition with a fitting XL programme. That Roman numeral XL not only indicates respectable age. It also says something about size: this fortieth also bursts with the intiguing programme, with screenings at no less than forty locations throughout the inner city of Rotterdam. Inside the festival walls is... 

Read More "The deeper caverns of an adult film festival. Sven Schlijper on safari during IFFR 2011

Two idols and lots of cute girls at Saturday's Autumn Collection #njc10

It stood out: what a lot of cute girls in Theatre Kikker. Could it be because of the programming? Now there were a lot of cute men to choose from on Saturday night. The tough acting beasts of FC Bergman, for instance, or the androgynous Nik van den Berg, or perhaps the seemingly sweet Bert Hana. And if not, there was always DJ Oscar Kocken,... 

Read More "Two idols and lots of cute girls at Saturday's Autumn Collection #njc10

'Vous êtes servis' gives household slaves a face, but subject deserved a more powerful film

At first glance, domestic help is not the most exciting subject for a triptych of film, theatre and performance. That is, of course, because the maid in the old-fashioned sense is virtually extinct with us in the West. But elsewhere, there is plenty of demand for submissive girls who work their asses off seven days a week until they threaten to... 

Read More "'Vous êtes servis' gives household slaves a face, but subject deserved a more powerful film

Frank Sanders teaches young musical talents to let loose and empathise during the special Sondheim Musical Masterclass #tf2010

'He fears that the real thing may have come along a hundred times, but he missed it.'
'Exactly. And how old are you?'
'Twenty.'
'Well...'

Yoran de Bont, participant in the Sondheim Musical Masterclass, talks to musical guru Frank Sanders about the meaning of the song he has just sung: Someone is Waiting from the musical Company. As a young musical actor, can he make these kinds of loaded lyrics his own? With the right accompaniment certainly, it turns out after ten minutes...

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