Saloua Hassani, Jolien Baeyens en Farida Z. - Mestizo Arts Platform - WIPCOOP
09.09.2024 — 24.09.2024
Three young makers prepare their acts for the Leuven edition of WIPCOOP 2024
WIPCOOP - the Work In Progress Cooperative of Mestizo Arts Platform - is a unique development track in Leuven, Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent. WIPCOOP stands for making space for new voices, stories, forms and languages in the performing arts. In 2023, the first Leuven edition took place at STUK. This year, OPEK is the place to be. Farida, Nata Mandaria, Saloua Hassani and Jolien Baeyens will each show a short work-in-progress. Afterwards, they will talk to professionals about their work and possible support.
Saloua Hassani - Ga je weg. (Working title) is about the unconditional love between a mother and her child. The performance highlights the difficult situations between the two, as well as the importance of a child's as well as a mother's own self-personality.
Jolien Baeyens - Press A to Start is a dance performance inspired by nostalgic and contemporary video games. With her five dancers, Jolien explores the intriguing soundscapes and impressive 3D landscapes of the virtual game world. They explore, fight, reach higher levels and endure the necessary bugs and glitches.
Farida Z. - Spoken Word Fusion: Human Voices is a performance about identity, heritage, migration and trauma; with spoken word, theatre and images. It highlights the differences and similarities between Flemish, home and other cultures, with the necessary humour but also with room for vulnerability.
Saloua Hassani, Jolien Baeyens and Farida Z. are 3 of the 4 artists who will present a Work In Progress during Mestizo Arts Platform's WIPCOOP 2024 at OPEK - 26 September. WIPCOOP stands for Mestizo Arts Platform's Work In Progress Cooperative and is a long-term collaboration, where artists can grow, by showing their work and engaging with art sector and audience. During this residency at STUK, they are preparing for the Leuven edition of WIPCOOP 2024.
TEAM / CREDITS
Saloua Hassani - Ga je weg. (Working title)
Concept & Text: Saloua Hassani / Movement: Mokhallad Rasem / Performance: Loena Ottou and Glenn Vanoverbeke / With the support of Mestizo Arts Platform/WIPCOOP, STUK.
Jolien Baeyens - Press A to Start
Choreography: Jolien Baeyens / Dance: Jolien Baeyens, Marlies Basstanie, Jakoba De Greef, Janne Maes, Hannah Wellens, Kaat Willekens / Thanks to BAC Art Lab, Universitair Sportcentrum KU Leuven. With the support of Mestizo Arts Platform/WIPCOOP, STUK.
Farida Z. - Spoken Word Fusion: Human Voices
Concept & Performance: Farida / Direction: Bart Vanderheyden / With the support of Mestizo Arts Platform/WIPCOOP, STUK.
Saloua Hassani (she/her) is a master's student at the LUCA School of Arts. She starred in Jihad of Love as a replacement for actress Amara Reta alongside Rashif El Kaoui. She also did an internship at Toneelhuis for Jaouad Alloul's play Venus in Libra. In 2023, she wrote and performed a solo for Madam Fortuna's Roots and Wings Festival, in collaboration with Zid Theater in Amsterdam and under the guidance of Mike van Alfen.
Jolien Baeyens (she/her) Jolien is a master's student in Sport and Movement Sciences at KU Leuven with a great passion for dance. In order to focus not only on the sporting, but also on the artistic aspect of dance, she studies half-time. Jolien has already choreographed for the KU Leuven dance company, participated in the Great Belgian Dance Showcase and performed a guest choreography at Dance Project 2024.
Farida Z. (she/her) is an artist from Houthalen, Limburg, where she became slam poetry champion in 2022. She was fascinated by art from a very young age, but growing up, in the 1980s, in a family with a Moroccan mother and father, offered her no opportunities to pursue art education. Farida found refuge in language. Since 2017, she combines her passion for language as a spoken word artist and visual artist. With her initiative WOOM, women only open mic, Farida seeks to connect with other women who find it difficult to connect.