Ivo Dimchev keeps on surprising me

Over the last 26 years I have watched an average of three performances a week, sometimes fewer, often more. Although I still find it enthralling to watch theatre and dance – and cannot imagine a life without them – I have noticed that it is no longer so easy to be surprised or made to feel uncomfortable. Ivo Dimchev still manages it, however. Almost every time. In his work, fascination and incredulity, attraction and repulsion, pleasure and fear alternate at a fast tempo.

I have presented fourteen of his productions, and have rerun many of them too. The first time was as the curator of Dansand!, a festival on the beach in the Belgian coastal town of Ostend. Staging a show with sand and sea as your competitors is already a huge challenge. Ivo Dimchev decided not to restrict the unpredictability, but actually to increase it by bringing in a dog and children too. This is absolutely typical of him: he wants to keep things thrilling and challenging for himself.

What strikes me is that the first time anyone sees Ivo on stage, the broader picture of the performance disappears behind the charismatic power of the character of Ivo Dimchev himself. The way he uses his voice, his weird imagination and his inimitable physical transformations are so astonishing that you pay no attention to the rest. Whether it be Som faves, X-on or P-Project is of little consequence. I have never received so many e-mails from our audience as when they have just seen Ivo Dimchev for the first time.

And yet there is more. After fourteen productions I continue to be fascinated by the intelligent, original way he transposes our everyday concerns to the stage. In my view, P-Project was the absolute climax. But I-cure and FB Theater also respond to our desires, and at the same time they confront us with numerous questions about the authenticity of these desires. The fact that Ivo succeeds in this is a reflection of his perfectionism. He films almost every performance, even when the premiere is long past. He watches it during the night and makes any necessary modifications to the performance the next day.

When Ivo became an artist-in-residence at the Kaaitheater, I asked him what it might mean to him. He answered that his challenge was to create performances with several performers and for the large stage at the Kaaitheater. In the end it turned out that his pieces can usually be performed equally successfully in our large or small theatre, the Kaaistudio’s or the Kaaitheater. This is also something I have hardly ever come across: Ivo adapts to any situation. He transforms not only himself, but a whole performance, without ever belying his artistic individuality. He does what he feels he must do. He leaves it to you to adapt his performances to reality – like showing Paris after the Paris attacks.

There are those who hate Ivo Dimchev and those who love him. Good art is divisive.

I love it.

Let’s have more of it, Ivo.

Thank you.

Katleen Van Langendonck
Artistic Director, Kaaitheater