Foreshadow

After VanThorhout, in which Alexander Vantournhout appeared solo on stage, not standing returns with a group show featuring eight acrobat-dancers. The performers move like gears of a collective body to the tunes of experimental rock music. Together they explore quasi-impossible balances, challenge each other and defy gravity.

With the tightly orchestrated chaotic movement landscapes of Foreshadow, Alexander Vantournhout takes a new step in his exploration of the relationships between gravity, movement, balance, and spatiality. In addition to the floor, which played a prominent role in SCREWS and Through the Grapevine, the wall now also becomes a dance partner.

"Remarkable how Vantournhout has mastered a new movement technique with every performance. There are few choreographers who have turned and expanded the ABC of dance in recent years as he has." — ★★★★ De Standaard​​

"With chaotic movements of devilish precision caught in a constant flow, Alexander Vantournhout invents a true acrobatic choreography." — La Terrasse

”You can’t believe how bodies intertwine in the most impossible positions.” — Theaterkrant

“Vantournhout has been inspired by ‘locomotions’ (walking like animals) since his first creation ten years ago. From the wrist joint of a gibbon (which rotates exactly like our shoulder) to the circular symmetry of an octopus, starfish, jellyfish, or sea anemone. Not by imitating the movements of the animals, as that is impossible for humans, but by incorporating them slightly differently into his movement language.” — de Volkskrant

Press information

“The shapes created by the eight exceptional performers with their entangled bodies are fascinating and remarkably inventive.” — NRC

"Very slowly, the performers execute the most intense choreographies, relying solely on their physical strength and that of each other." — pzazz

Concept & choreography: Alexander Vantournhout

Created with and performed by: Noémi Devaux, Axel Guérin, Patryk Kłos, Nick Robaey, Josse Roger, Emmi Väisänen/Margaux Lissandre, Esse Vanderbruggen & Alexander Vantournhout/Chia-Hung Chung (discover the cast)

Dramaturgy: Rudi Laermans & Sébastien Hendrickx

Outside eye: Julien Monty

Rehearsal director: Sandy Williams

Costumes: Patty Eggerickx, assisted by: Isabelle Airaud

Light design: Bert Van Dijck

Music: This Heat

Sound: Ruben Nachtergaele

Technicians on tour: Helmi Demeulemeester, Jonathan Maes, Bram Vandeghinste & Bert Van Dijck

Tour planning: Frans Brood Productions

Company management: Esther Maas

Technical coordination: Bram Vandeghinste

Production & tourmanagement: Barbara Falter & Kiki Verschueren

Communication: Aïda Gabriëls

Production: not standing

Co-production: le CENTQUATRE, Paris (FR), Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER, Ghent (BE), Julidans, Amsterdam (NL), Biennale de la Danse, Lyon (FR), Le Maillon, Strasbourg (FR), Les Halles de Schaerbeek (BE), MA scène nationale – Pays de Montbéliard (FR), La Passerelle, scène nationale de Saint-Brieuc (FR), Theater Freiburg (DE) & Le Carreau Scène nationale de Forbach et de l'Est mosellan (FR).

Special thanks to: De Grote Post, Ostend (BE), Plateforme 2 Pôles Cirque en Normandie / La Brèche à Cherbourg et Cirque-théâtre Elbeuf (FR), Maison de la Danse, Lyon (FR), Urte Groblyte, Bjorn Verlinde & Katherina Lindekens

Foreshadow is created with the support of the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government, via Flanders Tax Shelter.

not standing is supported by the Flemish Government.

Alexander Vantournhout is artist-in-residence at Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER in Ghent and associated artist of le CENTQUATRE Paris. He is cultural ambassador of the city of Roeselare and is also supported by Fondation BNP Paribas for the development of his projects.

“Foreshadow is a hypnotizing show, breathtakingly perfect and controlled. The almost impossible yet human acrobatics seem to continuously surprise even the dancers themselves.” — ★★★★ Le Soir

"Bold, acrobatic and intensely physical in every confrontation and formation again." — Tanznetz

“People magically stick to the wall, crawl on it, with skills that would make Spider-Man jealous.” — De Morgen