Kris Verdonck (B): I/II/III/IIII

“...I must not imagine each limb as being individually positioned and moved by the operator in the various phases of the dance. Each movement, he told me, has its centre of gravity; it is enough to control this within the puppet. The limbs, which are only pendulums, then follow mechanically on their own accord...When the centre of gravity is moved in a straight line, the limbs describe curves. Often shaken in a purely haphazard way, the puppet falls into a kind of rhythmic movement which resembles dance.” ”On the Marionette Theatre”, Heinrich von Kleist.
 

For I/II/III/IIII, the dancers suspended in the machine collaborated in the developing of a choreography: in succession a solo, a duet, a trio and a pas-de-quatre. The images evoked in I/II/III/IIII are multi-layered and bewildering, including a spectrum of associations ranging from floating angels to carcasses dragged along. The structure of the performance furthermore confronts us with the very primary, and therefore probably ‘pure’ emotional interpretations of the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 as Greek philosophers and scientists formulated them long ago.
 

Concept, direction: Kris VERDONCK
Dramaturgy: Marianne VAN KERKHOVEN (Kaaitheater)
With: Nikoleta RAFAELISOVA, Eveline VAN BAUWEL, Artemis STAVRIDI and Zsuzsanna RÓZSAVÖLGYI
Machinists: Hendrik DE SMEDT, Simon SALAERT, Bart VERHAEGEN
Music: Stefaan QUIX
Light design: Luc SCHALTIN
Costumes: Shampoo & Conditioner
Construction: Hans LUYTEN (PlasmaMagma), Dirk LAUWERS (dna)
Production: Margarita Production for stilllab vzw
Thanks to: Han WANNEMAKERS (Frontline Rigging), Raphaël RUBBENS, Theater Gasthuis (NL)
 

Co-production: Kaaitheater (B), Kunstencentrum Vooruit (B), Buda kunstencentrum (B)
 

With the support of: de Vlaamse Overheid