It’s going to get worse and worse and worse, my friend

Press

“Lisbeth Gruwez has studied the human body; she has examined what it does with the words of those who speak them and what words do with the body. […] Like Ravel’s ‘Bolero’, Gruwez gradually intensifies her hard, artificial movements, repeating them fervently until they segue into a trance-like shaking. The audience at the Ballhof experienced an intense moment of dramatic and dramaturgic presence. […]” Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung,     5 September 2012   

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The apocalyptic title of this latest work by outstanding performer Lisbeth Gruwez and her group Voetvolk sounds foreboding. And indeed, Gruwez, who previously appeared at the festival in 2011, has taken on a disturbing subject: The manipulative power of speeches, which many – from revolutionary leaders to TV evangelists – have exploited for their own ends. With her slight, androgynous figure, Gruwez takes command of the theatre right from the start. With reduced, steadily accelerating movements and gestures, her energy levels rise. In remarkable interaction with the driving music, her body positively soaks up the sounds and recorded phrases spoken by TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart. Words and content lose their meaning in the hypnotic surge of the trance to which the dancer abandons herself.

(Approx. 50 min.)

 

Watch a clip from the production on youtube ...

 

cast & credits

Concept, choreography & dance: Lisbeth Gruwez
Composition, Sound Design & Assistance: Maarten Van Cauwenberghe
Styling: Veronique Branquinho
Artistic Advisor: Bart Meuleman
Lightdesign: Harry Cole
Light Assistance: Caroline Mathieu
Thanks to: Tom de Weerdt
Production: Voetvolk vzw
Co-production: Grand Theater Groningen/ Troubleyn - Jan Fabre, Antwerp/ Theater Im Pumpenhaus, Münster/ Andwhatbeside(s)death, Antwerp

Diffusion: Key Performance
With the support of: Provincie West-Vlaanderen, Provincie Antwerpen & Vlaamse Gemeenschap