Is a man a wolf to another man? Two brothers, Christian and François Ben Aïm envision their dancers as a pack with a contagious energy, like the heroes and heroines of a Homeric battlefield. 10 interpreters throw themselves onto the stage with all their might, giving in to a furious desire to live. Their arms and legs are powered by instinctive, absurd and ecstatic moves. Out of themselves, do those beings become marionettes, strangers to each other? Or does something as old as the world come back to the surface to carry them away and bring them closer, in some human and mending collective momentum?
Poil de la bête
You know, hens and ducks have stage fright, sometimes. It’s their first time at the theater… Fortunately a faithful female sheepdog guides and gathers them together. Except now, instead of the traditional flock of sheep, a dashing and whirling ballet of feathered feet appear before our eyes. Artists-farmers, Juan and Diane join this crazy, funny and acrobatic round dance to explore the links that connect us to domestic animals. Set to the music of an improvisational pianist, their charming beasts delightful animals are the heroines of a hair-raising world that promises many twists… and lucky escapes!
Yé !
Water, life and us. When they were younger, those artists went from one Guinean beach to another to perform their first acrobatic acts. The 13 members of Circus Baobab collective now display their talent and inventiveness on stages all over the world. Acrobatic lifts propelling them in the air, vertiginous human pyramids and powerful hand-to-hand combats come one after another in an effervescent pace. On this set littered with plastic bottles, they set off to convey the social and environmental emergency. This troupe finds its future in circus and proves – armed with unfailing commitment and solidarity – that a future exists per se.
Sol Invictus
And there was light! There is a whole world on the stage: 15 dancers from various origins, whom Hervé Koubi asked – just this once– to dance as if the world were going to cease to exist. This urgency leads to a ballet with prodigious and visibly endless momentum, with interpreters’ vigor seeming to regenerate indefinitely. Figures from hip-hop, circus, capoeira or even breakdance mix with contemporary sounds and music by Steve Reich and Beethoven. Sol Invictus (“undefeated sun” in Latin) addresses the vital, irrepressible and happy need to dance.
Viertel vor Nacht
When the night comes, you dream with your eyelids closed… and sometimes even opened! Isn’t it a multicolored rug dancing here? And over there, isn’t it a little thingamabob discreetly floating on stage? What’s sneaking up further away, shy, mysterious, funny and lively? With fabulous visual and sound concepts, the Florschütz & Döhnert company plays with the imagination of young people and adults. A piece of cloth is sometimes enough to reveal fascinating worlds. Worlds between dream and reality in which absurd and surprising beings, yearning for freedom, are endowed with lives of their own that have been unsuspected until now.
P’tits brunch du théâtre : on sunday, after or before the performance, have brunch with your kids and take part in a family workshop.
Performance at 11:00 or 15:00
Brunch 12:00 (to book via reservation.theatre@villeesch.lu)
Parent-child workshop 13:00-14:30
Ima
5 characters appear on stage, their faces visibly marked by old age. Clumsy and rigid at first, this troupe becomes explosive and joyful when the masks come off, literally. Trained at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York, Sofia Nappi draws on the gaga Israelian technique where, to bring about dancing, the intensity becomes almost animal-like. The energy circulates among the performers, from one to the other in a sensual and intimate impetus based on instinctive listening and letting go. Presented at the Venice Biennale, Ima expresses our desire to reconnect with ourselves and the sweet idea that age is just a number!
The Game – Grand Finale
With cards, online, in sports, in love, play is everywhere and always. Jill Crovisier also likes to play. The Luxemburgish choreographer explores the theme with 8 dancers. Because beyond sheer competition, playing opens up luminous breaches in daily life. Playing ensures spaces of freedom where you deploy your imagination. Playing sometimes creates occasions for human warmth. The Game – Grand Finale is a show designed to rethink our place in the world and experiment with new ways of living together.
One Shot
A worldwide figure of the hip-hop scene, Ousmane Sy – who suddenly passed away in 2020 – got inspired by the house dance discovered in the clubs of New York and Chicago. Like Queen Blood, which received a standing ovation last season at the Escher Theater, his ultimate show features an all-female cast, this time powered live by a DJ’s turntables. Playful and combative, with astonishing precision, those women launch themselves into audacious solos or become one. With the exhilarating energy of “battles”, they create a space of partying, self-expression and sharing in a furious desire to live.