VOICE NOISE

Innovative, unknown and forgotten female voices take centre stage in Jan Marten's new production for six performers

STUK with 30CC

It is strictly forbidden to take pictures or make video recordings during the performance.

‘Redundant.’ Or more bluntly: ‘Irritating noise.’ This is how the voice of the woman has often been considered from ancient Greek times to today.

VOICE NOISE is inspired by Anne Carson’s essay ‘The Gender of Sound’ (1992), in which she exposes how patriarchal culture has sought to silence women by ideologically associating women’s sound with monstrosity, disorder and death.

In VOICE NOISE, some innovative, unknown and/or forgotten women’s voices from the past hundred years of music history are given a stage. By doing so, Jan Martens takes another step in his efforts to shape an alternative canon.

Six dancers respond to recordings in which the human voice can be heard in various guises: humming, soothing, shrieking, whispering, singing. Gradually, they discover their own voice.

Jan Martens’ obsessions with numbers, geometry and patterning meets the unique physical languages of these performers, and a new-found interest in dance itself emerges: in detail and subtlety, in redefining grace and elegance.

After working with big groups in his recent productions – any attempt will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones and FUTUR PROCHE – Jan Martens returns to a production for a small ensemble of six dancers. He works with some dancers who have inspired him in the past (Steven Michel, Courtney May Robertson and Loeka Willems) and invites new faces (Sue-Yeon Youn, Elisha Mercelina and Mamadou Wagué).

CREDITS

CHOREOGRAPHY Jan Martens CO-CREATION AND PERFORMANCE Elisha Mercelina, Steven Michel, Courtney May Robertson, Mamadou Wagué, Loeka Willems, Sue-Yeon Youn or Pierre Adrien Touret, Zora Westbroek MUSIC 20 music pieces sung by women; full list available onwww.grip.house REHEARSAL DIRECTOR Zora Westbroek, Naomi Gibson LIGHTING DESIGN Jan Fedinger COSTUME DESIGN Sofie Durnez SCENOGRAPHY Joris van Oosterwijk SOUND ENGINEER Vincent Philippart, Valentijn Weyn, Jo Heijens VOCAL COACHING Ine Claes, Maxime Montjotin PRODUCTION COSTUMES AND SCENOGRAPHY Théâtre de Liège INTERNSHIP Malick Cissé ARTISTIC ADVICE Marc Vanrunxt, Rudi Meulemans, Femke Gyselinck TRAILER AND TEASERS Stanislav Dobák GRAPHIC DESIGN Nick Mattan TECHNICIANS ON TOUR Elke Verachtert, Valentijn Weyn, Vincent Philippart PRODUCTION GRIP INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION Propic – Line Rousseau, Marion Gauvent, Lara van Lookeren CO-PRODUCTION La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand, Maison de la Danse deLyon,De Singel international arts center, Théâtre de Liège, JulidansAmsterdam, Le Manège-Scène Nationale de Reims, Romaeuropafestival, DDD–Festival Dias da Dança-Teatro Rivoli-Porto,Scène Nationale de Forbach, Charleroi danse-centre chorégraphiquede Wallonie-Bruxelles, Festspielhaus St-Pölten, Tanzhaus nrwDüsseldorf, Théâtre de la Ville-Paris, Festival d’Automne à Paris,Équinoxe-Scène Nationale de Châteauroux,Theater Rotterdam,Perpodium RESIDENCIES La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand (FR), DE SINGEL (Antwerp, BE), Charleroi danse - centre chorégraphique de Wallonie - Bruxelles (BE) WITH THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF the Flemish Government, Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government via BNPPFFF