Frames – Not Standing/Alexander Vantournhout

Body movement in triptych

Choreographer Alexander Vantournhout and his three co-performers (Chia-Hung Chung, Axel Guérin and Emmi Väisänen) invite us once again to see a performance that defies gravity. The troupe, Not Standing, aptly describing their goal in their name, are looking for ways to challenge the limits of the body. This time, they take us outside to find positions that promise tension in the neck, numb legs and an aching back. But the spectacle will make you forget all these pains. Frames presents body movement as a triptych: a skylight, a window and a pillar. Three frames for three planes of existence: heaven, earth and spirit. What can a body struggling for its balance tell us about existence?

Ugnė Noreikė

review 03.07.2025

Mossy Eye Moor – Louise Vanneste

Beyond the visible

The 30th edition of Kunstenfestivaldesarts is the start of a new decade committed to defending the unusual, nurturing a space that questions the present, and seeking what lies beyond the visible. Louise Vanneste’s dance performance Mossy Eye Moor fits snugly within this framework and brings it to life in a unique way. It challenges our impatient times with a call to stay observant and radically open.

Ugnė Noreikė

review 04.06.2025

Welcome to Asbestos Hall – Trajal Harrell

Spending time with Trajal Harrell and friends

During Kunstenfestivaldesarts, choreographer Trajal Harrell invites us to ‘an atmospheric evening, more experience than performance.’ La Verrière is transformed into an informal space for sharing work in progress and other events. But does the context of a prestigious festival truly allow Harrell’s dreams of informality and community to come to fruition? What does this gesture mean in the totality of the choreographer’s vast and rich body of work?

Kristof van Baarle

review 02.06.2025

Panel talk: Dance as a common good? Dance heritage between author and community

(Re)listen to the conversation between Delphine Hesters, Briana Ashely Stuart, Michiel Vandevelde and Haider Al Timimi.

To mark the launch of Etcetera 179: Belichaamd Erfgoed (Embodied Heritage), Delphine Hesters spoke with choreographers and performers Briana Ashley Stuart, Michiel Vandevelde and Haider Al Timimi about questions around authorship and dance. The conversation took place on 26 February 2025 at STUK, Leuven, during the first edition of the festival Body Of Work and is now also available in podcast form. Listen through the link in bio or on your preferred podcast app.

multimedia 02.06.2025

My Body, My Archive / Mamu Tshi, Portrait pour Amandine – Faustin Linyekula

If Absence had a Shape

DE SINGEL presents a double bill by Congolese dance artist Faustin Linyekula. By asking ‘Where are the women?’ and ‘Who is my grandmother?’, both My Body, My Archive and Mamu Tshi, Portrait pour Amandine trace along the disrupted lineage to the performers’ female ancestors, looking for and summoning them through dance, told stories and documentary artefacts. 

Anne-Lene Nöldner

review 28.05.2025

The Ephemeral Spectacle

Social media, invisible performance, and the erosion of long-term memory

In an age dominated by social media like Instagram or TikTok, and shaped by algorithmic attention economies—systems designed to maximize engagement by feeding us an endless stream of emotionally charged, personalized content—we are trained to forget as quickly as we engage. Images flash by, content is consumed and discarded, and presence becomes synonymous with constant visibility. This erosion of long-term memory doesn’t just reshape how we consume media—it fundamentally alters how we experience art, time, and even selfhood. In this accelerated digital culture, art that demands sustained attention and deeper reflection often feels out of place. Might performance art, particularly in its durational and ephemeral forms, offer a compelling counterpoint to the logic of the feed?

Shervin Kianersi Haghighi

essay 14.05.2025

Traditions with a Future

Conditions for a Permanent Dance Heritage

Building a permanent dance heritage is intimately linked to how we think about the role of tradition in dance. Although the term ‘tradition’ appears regularly in programme texts, reviews and interviews with choreographers, the precise meaning of the word often remains unclear. Timmy De Laet examines a view of tradition in which memory and heritage serve not only as repositories of the past, but also as engines for further reflection and renewal.

Timmy De Laet

article 25.04.2025