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foto Chapters of Celebration — Fred Debrock

3 performers with black clothes dancing on a bright blue floor — Fred Debrock

1 performer with black clothes dancing on a bright blue floor — Fred Debrock

6 performers with black clothes and one male performer only wearing black underwear. All dancing on a bright blue floor — Fred Debrock

2 performers with black clothes dancing on a bright blue floor — Fred Debrock

1 performers with black clothes dancing on a bright blue floor — Fred Debrock

1 performer with black clothes on a bright blue floor, spreading both arms and looking up to the sky — Fred Debrock

square stage with a bright blue floor, and the audience sitting around it. Different performers on the stage dancing. — Fred Debrock

Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe Wouter Deltour Muziektheater Transparant

Chapters of Celebration

dance

musical theatre

In a world marked by conflicts, uncertainty and collective mourning, Chapters of Celebration poses an essential, almost defiant question: what is left to celebrate? When the world feels heavy due to war, injustice and alienation, joy can seem irresponsible or even impossible. And yet throughout history, even in the darkest times, people have sought refuge in rituals, dance and communal celebrations – not as a means of escape, but as a form of resistance and renewal.

Chapters of Celebration is an energetic performance with music and dance that pays tribute to the celebrating body over time. It is a full-evening dance marathon in which a ‘museum of party’ is constructed. The musical common thread is La Folía (‘folly’) or Folies d’Espagne, a fifteenth-century musical theme from Iberia that pulses through classical musical history like a heartbeat, thanks to adaptations by composers such as Bach, Vivaldi and Rachmaninov. Composer and pianist Wouter Deltour crafts the various compositions into a dazzling, contemporary whole.

Director Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe invites six renowned choreographers - Michele Rizzo, Cherish Menzo, Lasseindra Ninja, Iker Karrera, Jeremy Nedd en Toni Jodar - to liberate the celebrating body, in ‘chapters’ that cross baroque dance with ballroom, jazz and rave. Like archaeologists of festivities, they join six singing dancers in search of the original freedom and folly of human communities. Thus, ringing out in Chapters of Celebration are the political and ritual echoes of exuberance that humanity seems to have lost along the way.

Following the critically acclaimed Madrigals, director Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe and composer Wouter Deltour reunite in their shared passion for classical music and ritual. In a broken world, Chapters of Celebration is a powerful reminder of the universal need to celebrate. So we don’t forget to keep on dancing, always.

regie Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe | muzikale leiding & compositie Wouter Deltour | elektronische muziek Jesse Kanda, Wouter Deltour | choreografie Michele Rizzo, Cherish Menzo, Lasseindra Ninja, Iker Karrera, Jeremy Nedd, Toni Jodar | assistent-choreograaf Eleni Ellada Damianou | dans Guillem Jiménez, Alphonse Eklou Uwantege, Emiel Vandenberghe, Toni Jodar, Patric da Cunha, Eleni Ellada Damianou | ensemble B’Rock Orchestra | dramaturgie Persis Bekkering | scenografie & lichtontwerp Danielle van Riel & Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe | schilderijen Pieter Chanterie | kostuumontwerp Eleni Ellada Damianou, Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe | outside eye Louise van den Eede | in opdracht van EUROPALIA & DE SINGEL | productie Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe, Wouter Deltour & Muziektheater Transparant | coproductie EUROPALIA ESPAÑA, B’Rock Orchestra, DE SINGEL, Toneelhuis, Das Festspielhaus St. Pölten & Perpodium vzw | met de steun van Tax Shelter van de Belgische Federale Overheid en de Vlaamse Overheid