Benenbreken & Lijfstof
“My body, which is visible and mobile, belongs in the world
of things; it is one of them, is incorporated in the fabric of the world and
its cohesion is that of a thing. But because it sees and moves, it also keeps
things in a circle around it, they become an annex or extension of it, nestle
in its flesh, are part of its complete definition, and the world is composed of
the body’s substance itself.” (Merleau-Ponty)
If we have to designate a term for the work of the young
Belgian artist Charlotte Vanden Eynde sculptural choreographer seems to
fit best the description. This daughter of a fine artist approaches the body on
stage as a sculptor uses raw material. The body, a hull containing a chunk of
flesh, a trunk, a head, two arms and two legs, 10 fingers and 10 toes. “But
how strange is this familiar image? How repulsive and beautiful at the same
time, how vulnerable?”
If in classical dance the focus is upward, feigning a light,
straight, elegantly curved, and balanced body, her intimate performances are
about exposing its flaws, its defects and weaknesses. She reveals beauty,
eroticism and humour in its clumsiness, bulkiness, ugliness and frailty.
The pieces of Vanden Eynde --who looks up to artists such as
Louise Bourgeois, Rebecca Horn, Cindy Sherman, Frida Kahlo and Marina
Abramović— are reminiscent of the distorted bodyscapes of Meg Stuart’s dance
company Damaged Goods (introduced at the City of Women in 1997).
While studying at PARTS (the Brussels based dance-school
directed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker) she choreographed a solo, a duo and a
group-piece. With her first 14 minute solo Benenbreken (1997), critics
and professionals noticed her as a promising talent who might signal a new
post-De Keersmaeker, post-Vandekeybus-generation.
Dressed in white underwear she sits on a table, while her
legs, feet and toes perform, as if moving independently from the torso and
head. Meanwhile her voice tells us that "Toes can be funny too",
"White legs are not sexy" or that "legs can
break".
Vanden Eynde’s creations are playful as well as sombre.
For her latest full-length piece she has teamed up with PARTS
graduate and ex-Damaged Goods performer Ugo Dehaes. Lijfstof is a
performance “of and about bodies”. It is the result of an intensive research
period in which the two artists confront their bodies with objects in
order to say something about its place in its surrounding world. “People are
– just like objects – merely a part of the world. A part in which their place
is determined by social patterns. (…) People are invisible in their packaging,
in their disguise. But simultaneously they are this packaging. This
contradiction amazes us.” Two
persons absorbing in their own form and then reappearing.
Lijfstof premiered on September 12th at
the Kaaitheater in Brussels.
Benenbreken (Lomljenje nog)
Choreography and dance: Charlotte Vanden Eynde; light design: Charlotte Vanden Eynde, Arne Lievens;
production: kwaad bloed vzw; coproduction:
P.A.R.T.S., Kaaitheater (Brussel); supported by:
WERKHUIS/producties (Brussel); 1997.
Lijfstof (Telesna tvarina)
Choreography, dance and light: Charlotte Vanden
Eynde, Ugo Dehaes; technique and lights: Marc Dewit; costume assistant: Beatrijs Lauwaert, Karlien De Smet, Maria
Weckx; production: kwaad bloed vzw; coproduction:
Kaaitheater, WERKHUIS/producties (Brussel); cofinanced by the
European CoDaCo Fund ( curated by: Susanne Linke); supported by: Stuc/ Klapstuk (Leuven), Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap,
Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie van het Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest; 2000.
Organised by Mesto žensk/ City of Women
In cooperation with Plesni
Teater Ljubljana
