D̶A̶R̶K̶MATTER

Due to delays in STUK's renovation works, this performance is moved to a new location: Manhattan, Kolonel Begaultlaan 21, 3012 Leuven. The dates and times stay the same. All tickets stay valid, ticket holders are contacted directly. More practical info on our spring 2023 programme can be found on this page.

The performance on 20.04 is followed by an aftertalk with Cherish Menzo, in collaboration with Avansa Oost-Brabant.
The aftertalk will be held in Dutch.

In her new creation, Cherish Menzo and her onstage partner Camilo Mejía Cortés look for ways to detach their bodies from the way they are perceived and the daily reality in which they move. Among other things, they look up to the sky, at dark matter and at black holes that meet and collide to give birth to a new, (afro)futuristic and enigmatic body. D̶A̶R̶K̶MATTER wants to get rid of the biassed way of looking at one’s own body, at that of the other, and at the stories we attribute to them. Together, they throw their bodies into a complex conversation that they want to both enter into and transcend – a duality that feeds the performance.

Just as in her previous project, JEZEBEL, Menzo stretches her movement language further by applying the the Chopped and Screwed method to her movement language. A remix technique from hip-hop music in which the tempo is sharply reduced. By stretching the notions of time, the register changes and the performing body manages to generate new readings.

Parallel to the performance there will be Distorted Rap Choir trajectory. At each location, a dozen local people of colour are invited to take part in lab-workshops working on themes from D̶A̶R̶K̶MATTER. At the end of the lab-workshop the choir will record a rap anthem, which will be integrated into the performance. On every location a new choir and therefore also an extra layer will be added.

D̶A̶R̶K̶MATTER wants to create a thorough reshuffle of our atoms, looking for a new form for – and way of looking at – our body and the complex outside world to which it relates.

website GRIP

Credits

CONCEPT AND CHOREOGRAPHY Cherish Menzo | CREATION AND PERFORMANCE Cherish Menzo, Camilo Mejía Cortés | LIGHT DESIGN Niels Runderkamp | MUSICAL COMPOSITION Gagi Petrovic, Michael Nunes | MASTERING Gagi Petrovic | SCENOGRAPHY Morgana Machado Marques | COSTUME DESIGN JustTatty.com | DRAMATURGY Renée Copraij, Benjamin Kahn | TEXT Cherish Menzo, Camilo Mejía Cortés, BOИSU, Shari Kok-Sey-Tjong | VOCAL AND DELIVERY COACHING BOИSU, Shari Kok-Sey-Tjong | ARTISTIC ADVICE Christian Yav, Nicole Geertruida | VOICES DISTORTED RAP CHOIR www.distortedrapchoir.com | DISTORTED RAP CHOIR LEUVEN Joëlle Francis, Anatalia Kibonge, Jacqueline Mello de Oliveira, Ines Schockaert, Oliha Titilayo, Emeraude Tshidibi Kabeya, Elise Van Hummelen, Joetta Wolokallie | TECHNICIANS Niels Runderkamp, Amber Stallenberg/Nele Verreyken | PRODUCTION GRIP, Frascati Producties | CO-PRODUCTION Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussel, BE), CCN-Ballet national de Marseille dans le cadre de l’accueil studio / Ministère de la Culture (FR), actoral festival (Marseille, FR), STUK (Leuven, BE), La Villette, Paris (FR), Beursschouwburg (Brussel, BE), Festival d’Automne à Paris (FR), De Coproducers (NL), Perpodium (BE) | RESIDENCIES STUK (Leuven, BE), La Villette, Paris (FR), Frascati (Amsterdam, NL), Beursschouwburg (Brussel, BE), CCN-Ballet national de Marseille dans le cadre de l’accueil studio / Ministère de la Culture (FR), Productiehuis Theater Rotterdam (NL) | IN COLLABORATION WITH Trill (Leuven, BE), WijzijnDOX (Utrecht, NL) | WITH THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF the Flemish Government, The Performing Arts Fund NL, Ammodo, Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government, Cronos Invest | THANKS TO Eric Cyuzuzo, Jan Fedinger, Dries Douibi