To collectively dance hard. Without nostalgia and with no fixed vision of the future. Pure rave. This is While We are Here.

People have always danced intensively together. Raves have always existed, albeit under different names. In this piece, Lisa Vereertbrugghen explores the senses of joy and togetherness, of resisting instances of control and embracing a collective physicality that is immanent to communal dance parties. 

Vereertbrugghen has invited four female performers to start a practice consisting of rave dancing and local folk dances that put the group at the centre. The audience sits and stands around the dance floor and experiences the beats and the physicality of the dance from up close. A soundscape of deep industrial techno is heard. Gradually, the performers start to feel what these seemingly incompatible worlds have to say to each other. Crucial to this performance piece is a ritualistic repetition of simple movements, which triggers a shared experience and gives new meanings to control and intimacy. 

#rave meets folk #all hell breaks loose #party time oh yeah #aiming for togetherness #for complex intimacy

concept & choreography: Lisa Vereertbrugghen * performance & co-creation: Claire Godsmark, Dolores Hulan/ Taka Shamoto, Eimi Leggett, Castélie Yalombo Lilonge, Lisa Vereertbrugghen * dramaturgy: Simon Baetens, Sophie Guisset * artistic advice: Madison Bycroft * lights: Vera Martins * sound: Michael Langeder * song: Lisa Vereertbrugghen, Michaela Riener *costumes: Cee Füllemann * folk expert: Aurélie Giet * technique: Babette Poncelet, Piet Depoortere * production: CAMPO * coproduction: Dans in Brugge (Concertgebouw, Cultuurcentrum & KAAP), Kunstenwerkplaats KWP, STUK Arts Centre, ICI — CCN Montpellier, Kunstencentrum BUDA, BIT teatergarasjen & Perpodium * support: taxshelter of the Belgian Federal Government via uFund, the Flemish Government & the Commission of the Flemish Government in Brussels

©Bea Borgers