Monthly Archives: January 2025

FRANK – THE MONSTROUS AND HORROR
(working title)

Cherish Menzo / Dance On Ensemble / GRIP & Theater Utrecht

Concept and Direction: Cherish Menzo
Creation and Performance: Omagbitse Omagbemi (Dance On Ensemble), Malick Cissé, Mulunesh
Sound Design: Maria Muehombo a.k.a. M I M I
Video Design: Andrea Casetti
Sound and Video Engineering: Arthur De Vuyst
Set Design: Morgana Machado Marques
Lighting Design: Ryoya Fudetani
Dramaturgy: Johanne Affricot, Renée Copraij
Make-Up Design: Johanna Cool
Text: Khadija El Kharraz Alami, Cherish Menzo
Technician on Tour: Ryoya Fudetani, Hadrien Jeangette, Arthur De Vuyst
Graphic Design: Nick Mattan

Somewhere between the ritual, the apocalypse, and the carnival, where the flesh can deviate and corrupt to challenge narrated identity until it bursts and becomes unbearable.

FRANK, as in open, honest, direct, and short for Frankenstein, observes that which the speaking being has placed not “in here” but “out there” on the other side of the border. As the quest to distort the familiar continues, Cherish Menzo examines the monster’s figure, its various relations to the idea of humanhood, and the horrors these relations entail. More so than (re)producing a physical or visual portrayal of the monster, Cherish Menzo is interested in how the monstrous is a reification and metaphoric embodiment of the beliefs and narratives that terrify, horrify, and yet also attract us.

Menzo researches the process of bringing the pre-monster stage or horror into a metaphoric embodiment and for that process to be the generator of image-making and the performative, sonic, and text material that plays with the tension of ambivalence, uncanniness, enigma, uncertainty, and corruption.

In continuation of JEZEBEL and DARKMATTER, in FRANK, distortion will once again be one of the main ingredients to generate material. In addition, Cherish Menzo will look into the action of decay and how something gradually breaking down and getting less or worse can be another attempt to distort a form or information.

FRANK, is the closing of a trilogy. A trilogy that does not consist of chronological storytelling or a series of events, but maybe more a trifold of spaces, universes, fictions, and conversations that regard Blackness, bringing the Black body to the center and attempting to explore the African Diaspora’s multi-intersections in recognizable, metaphorical, and abstract ways.

Premiere: May 2025

Production: GRIP & Theater Utrecht (Dorothy Blokland, Anne Breure, Owen Cicilia, Kelly de Haan, Sophie de Loos, Hanne Doms, Maurice Dujardin, Seline Gosling, Anneleen Hermans, Tom Hemmer, Myrthe Ligtenberg, Rudi Meulemans, Lize Meynaerts, Klaartje Oerlemans, Jennifer Piasecki, Luisa Redenbacher, Sylvie Svanberg, Ad van Mierlo, Pien Visser, Lenette Vlasman, Vincent Wijlhuizen, Nele Verreyken)

In collaboration with: Dance On Ensemble

International Distribution: A propic – Line Rousseau, Marion Gauvent

Co-Production: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Carreau du Temple – Etablissement culturel et sportif de la Ville de Paris, Productiehuis Theater Rotterdam, Julidans Amsterdam, PACT Zollverein funded by the Ministry for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Festival Montpellier Danse 2025, Theater Utrecht, le Centre Chorégraphique National d’Orléans – Direction Maud Le Pladec, Tanzquartier Wien, DDD – Festival Dias da Dança, festival d’Automne à Paris, One Dance Festival, Perpodium

With the support of: Centre nationale de la danse à Pantin, BRONKS, GC Pianofabriek
With the financial support of: the Flemish Government, Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government via Cronos Invest, BNG Bank Theaterprijs, Charlotte Köhler Prijs van het Cultuurfonds

 

MUSIQUE – In the Spirit of Johann Strauss

Dance theatre by Mathilde Monnier & Dance On Ensemble

Choreography: Mathilde Monnier & Dance On Ensemble
Music: Johann Strauss & Judit Varga
Lighting Design: Eric Wurtz
Artistic Assistance: Stéphane Bouquet
Costume Design: Laurence Alquier
Dance On Ensemble: Javier Arozena, Ty Boomershine, Emma Lewis, Gesine Moog, Jone San Martin, Marco Volta

Co-production and cooperation partners: A work commissioned by Johann Strauss 2025 Vienna in co-operation with ImPulsTanz

In a very personal exploration, the renowned French choreographer Mathilde Monnier and the Dance On Ensemble delve into the era of Johann Strauss. Melodic refrains and glimpses of elegant attire amidst the darkness, silhouettes come to life, occasionally solitary or in harmony, creating a ghostly and ephemeral universe. From it, we are reached by lost and rediscovered dances, seduced into waltzing – set to compositions by Judit Varga, breathing new life into Johann Strauss’ music and its timeless melodies.

Premiere: 10 May 2025, Volkstheater Wien
Dates: 12 May 2025
Click here for the tickets

Company MM is supported by DRAC Occitanie.

NOW WE ARE EARTH / AN ORCHESTRA

Concept, Direction, Choreography: Nicole Beutler
Performers: Anna Herrmann (Dance On Ensemble), Lia Witjes Poole (Dance On Ensemble), Felix Schellekens, Timo Tembuyser, Margarida Constantino, Hillary Blake Firestone, C’Cesirhe Sedney, Abigail Vrede

Understudy: Seline Hauptmann, Estéban Obregon
Music: Gary Shepherd
Choral Compositions: Timo Tembuyser
Choir: Local city choir
Tour Choir Leader: Tristan Knelange
Head of dramaturgy: Justa ter Haar
Dramaturgy: Igor Dobričić
Dramaturgical Advice: Tom Swaak (OBV), Richard Kofi
Set Design: Lena Newton, Noa Helder
Lighting: Minna Tiikkainen
Light operator:Maarten van Dorp
Costumes: Jessica Helbach
Repetitor: Catarina Ferreira da Silva
Assistant Director (Stage): Kaya Korabiowska-Dean
Technical Coordinator: Durante van Kuijk
Project Management VONK: Lise Thomas
Production Management NBP: Raïssa Pater

Production: Nicole Beutler Projects / Opera Ballet Vlaanderen / VONK / DANCE ON / Bureau Ritter / Opera2Day
Coproduction: O. Festival for Opera. Music. Theatre

Residence: Grand Theater Groningen
Special thanks to International Theater Amsterdam, Maarten Boussery, Kris Adem, Magne van den Berg 

NOW WE ARE EARTH is a grand future vision of choreographer and theater maker Nicole Beutler. Music, dance, choir, and audience unite in this eco-futuristic symphony, creating a sense of greater harmony. With 8 dancers and singers, accompanied by a city choir of 45 voices, this 100-minute piece becomes a vibrant convergence of sound and movement, offering a glimpse into a dream of a possible future.

The piece explores the theme of interconnectedness, seeking balance across five realms: animals, humans, plants, fungi, and technology.

NOW WE ARE EARTH promises to be a total artwork, a dance opera featuring a local city choir, with a key role for the audience. Drawing inspiration from the intricate, interconnected threads of a mycelium, the performers weave a multi-layered, resonating tapestry of colors and sounds, unfolding in endlessly branching and repeating patterns.

A co-production by Nicole Beutler Projects with Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Dance On Ensemble, and Opera2Day, supported by Internationaal Theater Amsterdam.

Premiere: 25 April 2025, Opera Antwerpen
Dates: 26 & 27 April 2025
Click here for the tickets

Terminal Infinity

Part of the Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker 2025
Dance On Ensemble / Jugendtanzcompany von Sasha Waltz & Guests and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg

Cast: Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and of the Karajan-Akademie
Dance:
Leah Marojević, Gyung Moo Kim
Dance On Ensemble:
Ty Boomershine, Gesine Moog, Tim Persent, Lia Witjes Poole
Jugendtanzcompany von Sasha Waltz & Guests:
Noomi Aldinger, Toni Lehnert, Leah Soltau, Nika Brovot, Jonathan Walker

Artistic direction, conception, composition and sound direction: Alexander Schubert
Concept, development of the piece and choreography:
Colette Sadler
Scenography:
Dominic Huber
Light design:
Diego Muhr
Costume:
Felina Levits
Assistant director:
Ludmilla Mercier
Video mapping and lighting assistance:
Candid Rütter
Music notation, instrumentation and composition assistance:
Oscar Corpo

What does it mean to be human in a world that is increasingly characterised by technology? Terminal Infinity, an immersive, audiovisual installation, explores this transition and its impact on our identity and environment. Commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker as part of their Biennale 2025, it combines music and visual art to create a unique performance. Humans in transition take centre stage: a reflection on the end of the Anthropocene and the interplay between technology and nature. Immerse yourself in this fascinating and at the same time disturbing world.

Premiere: 23 February 2025, Radialsystem Berlin
Age recommendation: from 16 years
Click here for the tickets

Also as a school concert: 24 February 2025, 11 am
Registration required at https://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/education/kita-schule/biennale-projekt/

Production: Berliner Philharmoniker in collaboration with DANCE ON / Bureau Ritter, Jugendtanzcompany von Sasha Waltz & Guests and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg

With the friendly support of