DARKMATTER
Cherish Menzo (Netherlands), GRIP (Belgium) & Frascati Producties (Netherlands)
Look.
Look differently.
"Menzo shows that she is a very strong performer who can switch effortlessly from female to male to animal. She is enchanting and grips you each second." (Jury Fringe Festival 2019)
Together with Camilo Mejia Cortés, Cherish Menzo is looking in her new creation for ways to release their body from an imposed perception. To do this, the duo looks at space: at dark matter and black holes that meet and collide, from which a new, (afro)futuristic body can originate.
DARKMATTER wants to get rid of the prejudiced way of looking at your own body, that of the other, and the stories we connect with them. As in her former project JEZEBEL, Menzo's language of movement is inspired by hip-hop, more particularly the Chopped and Screwed method, a remix technique in which the tempo of the music is strongly reversed. By stretching the notions of time, the register changes and the dancing body can get new readings. The ten-headed Distorted Rap Choir accompanies the two performers with a (recorded) soundtrack of alienating rap anthems.
DARKMATTER wants to bring about a thorough reshuffle of atoms in search of a new form for – and a way of looking at- the black body and the complex outside world to which it relates.
For the Dutch choreographer and dancer Cherish Menzo the stage is a place where perceptions are unmasked and dismantled. Menzo often presents recognizable images but the body resists one-sided readings via techniques of estrangement and fluidity. Also in JEZEBEL, a dance performance inspired by the Video Vixen phenomenon from the hip-hop clips of the nineties. The performance was nominated for a lot of prizes and the Theaterfestival both in Flanders and The Netherlands.
There are scenes with strobes, loud music and nudity.
PREMIERE: May 12-15, Kunstenfestivaldesarts/Beursschouwburg (Brussels, BE).
CONCEPT AND CHOREOGRAPHY: Cherish Menzo.
CREATION AND PERFORMANCE: Cherish Menzo, Camilo Mejía Cortés.
LIGHTING DESIGN: Niels Runderkamp.
MUSICAL COMPOSITION: Gagi Petrovic, Michael Nunes.
MASTERING: Gagi Petrovic.
MUSIC LIST:
- Michael Nunes – Void Dome Walk - Gagi Petrovic – Uncanny Landscape
- Gagi Petrovic – Quartered Island
- Gagi Petrovic – Latex Birds
- Gagi Petrovic – Conservative Evasion (from album Choosing Freedom)
- Gagi Petrovic – Drexciya Under
- Gagi Petrovic (ft. Michael Nunes) – Drexciya Ascension
- Gagi Petrovic – Single Entity
- Michael Nunes & Gagi Petrovic – Double Goddesses
- Cherish Menzo, BOИSU & Shari Kok-Sey-Tjong (ft. Gagi Petrovic) – Distorted Rap Choir
- Gagi Petrovic – Final Anthem
Local participants Distorted Rap Choir :
Ivandro Spencer
Charlotte Itoko
Ouarda Bouchti
Rita Flora Gouem
Michaëla Mahawa Kaba
SCENOGRAPHY: Morgana Machado Marques.
COSTUME DESIGN: JustTatty.com (or Daniel Smedeman).
DRAMATURGY: Renée Copraij.
TEXT: Cherish Menzo, Camilo Mejía Cortés, Daniel Bonsu, Shari Kok-Sey-Tjong.
VOCAL AND DELIVERY COACHING: Daniel Bonsu, Shari Kok-Sey-Tjong.
ARTISTIC ADVICE: Benjamin Kahn, Christian Yav, Nicole Geertruida.
VOICES DISTORTED RAP CHOIR: via www.distortedrapchoir.com.
TECHNICIANS: Niels Runderkamp and Amber Stallenberg/Nele Verreyken.
PRODUCTION: GRIP, Frascati Producties.
COPRODUCTION: Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels, BE), CCN-Ballet national de Marseille dans le cadre de l’accueil studio / Ministère de la Culture (FR), actoral festival (Marseille, FR), STUK (Leuven, BE), La Villette, Paris (FR), Beursschouwburg (Brussels, BE), Festival d’Automne à Paris (FR), De Coproducers (NL), Perpodium (BE).
RESIDENCIES: STUK (Leuven, BE), La Villette, Paris (FR), Frascati (Amsterdam, NL), Beursschouwburg (Brussels, BE), CCN-Ballet national de Marseille dans le cadre de l’accueil studio / Ministère de la Culture (FR), Productiehuis Theater Rotterdam (NL).
IN COLLABORATION WITH: Trill (Leuven, BE), WijzijnDOX (Utrecht, NL).
WITH THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF: the Flemish Government, The Performing Arts Fund NL, Ammodo, Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government, Cronos Invest.
Acknowledgements to : Eric Cyuzuzo, Jan Fedinger, Dries Douibi
