V.-Nightmares

Eroticism, the sacred and the physical

From winter 2006 to autumn 2007, through the course of four seasons, the choreographer Thierry Smits and his Compagnie Thor have worked on the four parts of V.- Nightmares, four choreographic seasons. The V in the title stands for Vivaldi. In November 2007, at the Kaaitheater, the four separate parts will be performed together on a single evening for the first time.

The Four Seasons by the baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi have now become a classical hit, or musical wallpaper. In V.- Nightmare, the candied nature of this composition is undermined by the addition of sounds and music from other, electronic, sources. To the four seasons are added four moods, defined by meteorological and natural phenomena such as the state of the light. Changes in nature are also related to various physical states in man. In ICE (winter), the approach involves ‘stiffening’ and the cessation of life functions. ‘Ice’ as a substance appears in all its forms, as well as death, and the colours black and white are everywhere. Fluid Mechanics (spring) concentrates on the bodily fluids and on sexual desire: a world that bursts out in colour. In TAN (summer) we see dehydration and flaking and in Moss & Mould (autumn) the spotlight is on degradation, wilting and decay.

Four dancers move through these successive tactile worlds, but there are also objects, matter undergoing transformation, a soundscape, a lightscape and a landscape. Thierry Smits’ work lies on the boundary between dance and performance and between pure dance and theatricality. It combines mysticism with eroticism, the sacred with the physical.