VOICE NOISE
Ever since ancient Greece, the female voice has often been presented as anything from superfluous to irritating. That is what Anne Carson wrote in her essay "The Gender of Sound" (1992). In it, she exposes how patriarchal culture has sought to silence women by ideologically associating the female sound with monstrosity, disorder and death.
When creating his new performance VOICE NOISE, Jan Martens took inspiration from Carson's work. A number of innovative, unknown and/or forgotten female voices from the past hundred years of music history will here be given a stage. In doing so, he brings Martens' efforts to shape an alternative canon to the next level.
In his recent productions - any attempt will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones and FUTUR PROCHE - Jan Martens, who previously has worked with large groups, returns to a production for a small ensemble of six dancers. They confront recordings in which the human voice can be heard humming, soothing, screeching, whispering and singing. Gradually, they discover their own voice.
• Jan Martens (born in 1984 in Belgium) studied at the Fontys Dance Academy in Tilburg and graduated from the Dance programme at the Artesis Royal Conservatoire in Antwerp in 2006. He has since 2010 been creating his own choreographic work, which has been performed for national and international audiences with increasing regularity over the years. His obsession with numbers, geometry and patterns meets the unique physical languages of his performers, leading to a rediscovered interest in dance itself, in detail and subtlety, in redefining grace and in elegance.
choreography Jan Martens ⎸ co-creation and performance Elisha Mercelina, Steven Michel, Courtney May Robertson, Mamadou Wagué, Loeka Willems, Sue-Yeon Youn and/or Pierre Adrien Touret, Zora Westbroek ⎸ music 13 pieces created/sung by women; full list available at www.grip.house ⎸ rehearsal directors Zora Westbroek, Naomi Gibson ⎸ light design Jan Fedinger ⎸ costume design Sofie Durnez ⎸ scenography Joris van Oosterwijk ⎸ sound engineering Vincent Philippart, Valentijn Weyn, Jo Heijens ⎸ vocal coaches Ine Claes, Maxime Montjotin ⎸ execution costumes and scenography Théâtre de Liège ⎸ interns Malick Cissé, Sien Wils ⎸ artistic advice Marc Vanrunxt, Rudi Meulemans and Femke Gyselinck ⎸ trailer and teasers Stanislav Dobák ⎸ graphic design Nick Mattan ⎸ tour technicians Elke Verachtert, Valentijn Weyn, Vincent Philippart ⎸ production GRIP: Anneleen Hermans, Rudi Meulemans, Lize Meynaerts, Klaartje Oerlemans, Jennifer Piasecki, Sylvie Svanberg, Ruud Van Moorleghem, Nele Verreyken ⎸ co-production La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand, Maison de la Danse de Lyon – Pôle européen de production, De Singel international arts center, Théâtre de Liège, Julidans Amsterdam, Le Manège - Scène Nationale de Reims, Romaeuropa festival, DDD – Festival Dias da Dança - Teatro Rivoli - Porto, Scène Nationale de Forbach, Charleroi danse - centre chorégraphique de Wallonie - Bruxelles, Festspielhaus St-Pölten, Tanzhaus nrw Düsseldorf, Théâtre de la Ville - Paris, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Équinoxe - Scène Nationale de Châteauroux, Theater Rotterdam, Perpodium ⎸ residencies La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand (FR), DE SINGEL (Antwerpen, BE), Charleroi danse - centre chorégraphique de Wallonie - Bruxelles (BE) ⎸ with financial support from the Flemish Governemnt and the tax shelter of the Belgian Federal Government via BNPPFFF
