© Choy Ka Fai Unbearable Darkness Game Demo 2021
Dance Film Lounge
Sit back, relax, and enjoy fascinating encounters between film and dance.
➤ Cinema ZED
➤ Thursday 17 September: 19:00 → 23:00 (ongoing)
➤ Friday 18 September: 19:00 → 23:00 (ongoing)
➤ Film with open doors, drinks not allowed.
Dance has flirted with film ever since the invention of moving images, and contemporary artists are no exception. Enter the dance film lounge during STUK START: an immersive stopover within the festival’s lively parcours of performances and installations. We present excerpts from dance films by choreographers who will appear live on STUK stages in the upcoming dance season: Léo Lérus (Gounouj In Situ), Arkadi Zaides (Telos), Ousmane Sy/Paradox-Sal (Queen Blood), Choy Ka Fai (Unbearable Darkness Game Demo).
We also collaborate with Cinedans Festival, the pioneering Netherlands-based platform for dance films, to present three award-winning films from their 2026 selection: Winterreise (dir. Shenming Xiao and Yimeng Wang), Bhairava (dir. Marlene Millar and Philip Szporer), and Bubbling Baby (dir. Sharine Rijsenburg).
Take a seat, pause the rush, and discover dance through another lens.
PROGRAMME
19:00 - 21:00 STUK 26-27 selection (in loop)
21:00 - 22:00 Cinedans 2026 selection
22:00 - 23:00 STUK 26-27 selection (in loop)
Selection from STUK 26-27 dance season
Léo Lérus / La Compagnie Zimarèl, Gounouj In Situ, 2023
Excerpt from filmed outdoor performance
Directed by Chloé Bouju
Duration: 9:27
The site-specific version of Gounouj precedes the stage performance. Choreographer Léo Lérus draws as much inspiration from the Guadeloupian gwoka dance as from the sounds, colors, and rhythms of Gros Morne-Grande Anse region. The dance film conveys the beauty and ecological uniqueness of the location.
Arkadi Zaides, Talos, 2021
Excerpt from filmed stage performance
Produced by Ozango / La Filature - Mulhouse, directed by Adeline Chahin
English spoken
Duration: 17:07
Choreographer Arkadi Zaides has been consistently interrogating the politics of the body within and through algorithms, as we will show with THE CLOUD at STUK in March 2027. In an earlier lecture-performance, Talos, Zaides investigated the infrastructure and outcomes of autonomous border-patrolling robots. This excerpt brings together found footage of these experiments, revealing grim imaginaries that our desire for security can materialize.
Ousmane Sy/Paradox-Sal, Queen Blood, 2021
Site-adapted performance for camera
Produced for ARTE France by La Blogothèque, directed by Margot de Kerangat
Duration 10:48
A few months after the passing of dancer and choreographer Ousmane Sy, the dancers of the all-female Paradox-Sal crew decided to carry on his legacy by performing the final number of Queen Blood for ARTE television. Filmed at the renovated factory building l’Orfèvrerie, the adaptation presents a privileged point of view into house dance, its complex grammar of the feet, and the vibrant energy of the cypher.
Choy Ka Fai, Unbearable Darkness Game Demo, 2021
3D animation
Japanese with English subtitles
Duration 12:12
This video installation reconstructs a fictional gameplay from segments of The Unbearable Darkness, Choy Ka Fai’s theatrical dance performance on the legacy of butoh dance and its iconic originator Tatsumi Hijikata (1928–1986). The 3D visualisation makes an unearthly parallel between spiritual animism and digital animation, as well as being a quick primer into the atmosphere of this historic experimental dance from Japan.
Cinedans Festival 2026 selection
Winterreise
Director: Shenming Xiao and Yimeng Wang
Choreographer: Shenming Xiao and Yimeng Wang
Country: China
Duration: 18:55
Year: 2025
Set out in winter for spring, a young woman awakens in a snow-covered landscape. Guided by her senses, she walks toward an unknown destination, where the search for spring becomes a process of growing.
Winner Jury Award International Short Film Competition '26.
Bubbling Baby
Director: Sharine Rijsenburg
Country: The Netherlands
Duration: 18:32
Year: 2025
Bubbling music is one of the most spirited manifestations of Caribbean-Dutch cultural heritage. Propulsive and highly danceable, it embodies freedom, power, and a sense of ownership within the diaspora. This vivid documentary celebrates bubbling’s roots and evolution, while exploring the contemporary scene that continues to push boundaries from a female perspective.
Bhairava
Director: Marlene Millar, Philip Szporer
Choreographer: Shantala Shivalingappa
Country: India, Canada
Duration: 13:45
Year: 2017
Carried by deeply evocative music and the unique energy of ancient Hampi, Indian dancer-choreographer Shantala Shivalingappa embodies the presence of Bhairava. With technical mastery and refined expression, she moves between precise symbolic gestures and abstract body language, creating a vivid incarnation of the deity.
