The idea for Delirious Night arose from her fascination with scandalous historical events and their link with dance and madness. In medieval Europe, for example, there were dance manias : outbursts of dancing people in public spaces, mainly performed by women. The reason remains unknown, but at the time the link with hysteria and possession was quickly made. It went even further. At the end of the 19th century, Dr Charcot – the inventor of hysteria – organised the so-called Bal des Folles: patients from his hospital were exhibited as an exotic species, after which the Parisian elite could come and see them and talk to them. More recently, there was a boom in illegal rave parties in remote meadows during the coronavirus lockdown. Where does our need for excessive dancing come from and how can this take shape within the walls of a theatre?

Mette Ingvartsen is a popular guest at the NEXT festival. With her Delirious Night, this is the sixth performance of hers that we have programmed! The Danish choreographer and dancer works alternately in Berlin and Brussels. In 2004, she graduated from the Brussels dance school P.A.R.T.S. and since 2002 she has been building a body of work consisting of choreographies and performances that are both highly conceptual and very physical. Her work is hybrid: by combining dance and movement with other fields such as visual arts, technology, language and theory, she breaks open her choreographic practice.