Dansand!
Dancing with the sand and creating on the beach. That is Dansand!, the modern dance festival staged on Ostend beach. For the third festival, the VRIJSTAAT O Arts Centre, in collaboration with the Kaaitheater, will be bringing the best of modern dance to Ostend.
Katleen Van Langendonck, the Kaaitheater’s programmer, is once again curating the festival: ‘It’s a challenge for dancers to work out how to relate to powerful natural elements like blowing sand, strong winds, changing cloud formations, the ever-changing sea and the setting sun. But if the tug of war between moving bodies, music – many performances feature live music – and the environment can be balanced successfully, the resulting performances are stunningly beautiful.’
Needcompany - 25 Moves
Needcompany is 25 years old. 25 Moves, directed by Jan Lauwers and Grace Ellen Barkey, features dance and music in a one-off look at the work performed over the years. A fitting end to the festival, on Sunday evening, 1 July.
Meg Stuart - Atelier II
Meg Stuart will be offering
a sequel to the impressive
Atelier that she created in the
Kaaistudios in early 2011, and
will once again be assisted
by the same artistic people.
The piece is shaped around
improvisation, and is set on
the beach.
Benjamin Vandewalle / WeGo - Birdwatching 4x4
Benjamin Vandewalle constructs a mobile observation box where the audience will be invited to take their place for an unusual dialogue with the sea, the promenade, the buildings and the passers-by.
Stef Kamil Carlens/ Zita Swoon Group
Since Plage Tattoo/Circumstances and Dancing with the sound hobbyist, the Zita Swoon Group has developed a taste for modern dance. On the main stage, Stef Kamil Carlens will perform a live musical dialogue with a dancer.
Eisa Jocson - Up
Philippine artist and pole dancer Eisa Jocson will be entering into combat with the stubbornly horizontal sea, bringing a pole-dancing act to the beach. Climbing and falling, she’ll be running through a whole gamut of feelings.
Alexander Baervoets - Hortus Conclusus
This is choreographic research into time and space, with the beach, the horizon and the waterline right in front of you. The composition’s modular construction gives the heterogeneous group of performers (including Heike Langsdorf, Ariane Loze, Christoph Ragg and musician Christophe Meierhans) room to improvise.
Charlotte Vanden Eynde
Charlotte Vanden Eynde will let her dance improvisation be guided by the impact the environment has on the way she sees herself and her experience of her body. How can her body relate to a space that is almost boundless?
PARTS
PARTS, the dance school led by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, will once again be taking part. A selection of 2012’s graduation pieces will be performed, specially adapted for the beach. And for the first time, students will be creating a bespoke piece for Dansand!
David Hernandez - Thirst
A choreographic work for two dancers and throat singer Philippe Cap, a short story told in movement. How does the body move when it wants or needs something, or when it’s driven by an outside force?
Randprogramma
Vrijstaat O will be offering a fringe programme, including workshops for infants led by choreographer Maria Clara Villa Lobos; for children over 8 led by choreographer Leen Dewilde; for eight professional and five experienced amateur dancers led by Quan Bui Ngoc (les Ballets C de la B); and a street dance workshop for teenagers.
