MY AUGUST FEELS LIKES DECEMBER
a multidisciplinary installation performance by Pieter Desmet
in progress
a multidisciplinary installation performance by Pieter Desmet
in progress
With MY AUGUST FEELS LIKE DECEMBER, Pieter Desmet creates an intimate, multidisciplinary performance where contemporary dance, digital video art, sound design and textile scenography work together to develop a contemporary grief ritual. The loss of his parents and the little space our society leaves for introspection and expression around grief had a great impact on him. With this creation, he wants to create a framework where individual grief experiences can be connected. Starting from memory, the dancers embody and materialise individual grief and alienation from the world after which they transform themselves both physically and emotionally. Exploring how their own bodies react to loss, but also how a death can create space for growth and development as an individual.
Grief and sorrow are feelings everyone sooner or later has to deal with in their own way, and they are too often surrounded by a hidden, almost voyeuristic veil. Pieter wants to bring it out of that shadow. The performance is an intimate experience in which those veils of grief are shed and in which the distinction between the performers and the visitors gradually blurs during the performance.
MY AUGUST FEELS LIKE DECEMBER is an intimate and emotionally charged experience shared between the visitors and the performers, together they become one commune where consolation prevails.
CREDITS
directed by Pieter Desmet
created with and performed by Martha Gardner + James Hall + Meron Verbelen + Pieter Desmet
digital video artist, James Hall
sound design, David Poltrock
scenography and costume design, Chris Snik
dramaturgical advice by Katleen Van Langendonck
artistic assistant, Robbe Vandenven
movement assistant, Steffi Mennen
visual advice, Jonathan De Maeyer
production manager, Pauline Van Nuffel
production, Persona
co-production, De Spil + DansBrabant
sales, Vincent Company / PARTIE
was made possible by Grensverleggers, an arrangement to support cultural collaborations between parties in Flanders, the Province of North Brabant, the Province of Limburg and the Province of Zeeland
with the financial support of The Flemish Government + City of Ghent + VONK_studios + De Veerman
residency partners C-TAKT + Ultima Vez + Zuidpool + WALPURGIS|deFENIKS
