Cantatas

Unifying power

Music plays a central role in Raimund Hoghe’s oeuvre, not only as a partner in dialogue or a support for the dance and movement, but also as to create a world, to supply the coordinates that place the performance in a time and space. Music that opens the door of history for us. Here Hoghe draws from many genres; for him it’s first and foremost about the unifying power of music, the memories it summons up, its unforgettable nature and its beauty, whatever its character. In addition to waltz music, romantic pop songs and popular songs, in the past Hoghe has used musical classics from the history of dance: Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps and Debussy's L'après-midi d'un Faune.  Hoghe linked the latter composition with songs by Mahler. In Boléro Variations Ravel’s famous composition was linked to South American boleros and to the music of Verdi and Tchaikovsky. Hoghe plans to work in a similar way in his new group performance Cantatas. Although Bach’s cantatas will play a central role, Hoghe also makes use of music by other composers and the selected cantatas have are both religious and secular. Cantatas refers to the Latin word 'cantare' which means 'sing'. Consequently, this will be the first time Hoghe uses live singing; the young classical soprano Kerstin Pohle sings a cappella and so enters into dialogue with the dancers.

In 2012 the German choreographer Raimund Hoghe will present a twenty-day programme in his ‘homeland’ of Nordrhein-Westfalen in which he brings together a collection of various pieces he has created over the past twenty years. Over the years Kaaitheater has always followed Hoghe’s work and most of his creations have been staged in Brussels. On the occasion of Hoghe’s 'twenty years of dance work', we will be presenting two of his performances: Pas de Deux, which he created in 2011, and his new group work Cantatas. In the foyer we will be presenting an exhibition on Hoghe’s work.