Please note: This performance has been moved to a new location due to the presence of blue-green algae in the Minnewater. The performance is now taking place at the Sint-Pietersplas.
The world is reeling. We’re tumbling from one crisis to the next, and nature is coming under ever-greater pressure. While politicians engage in endless debates and allow themselves to be drawn into a power struggle that produces mostly losers, we teeter on the threshold of the future—vulnerable and longing for something to hold on to.
On the quay: the audience. On the water: an imposing, sleek white, undulating staircase. On it, six performers engage in a thrilling dance with the swaying structure. Two musicians on a floating platform provide a live accompaniment to the electrifying dynamics with a combination of vocals, trumpet, guitar, analog synthesizer, and text samples from politicians who claim to solve the climate crisis with empty promises.
It soon becomes clear just how unstable the staircase is: if one of the people on board moves to the other side, the whole structure tilts, and the rest must react immediately to avoid slipping and falling into the water. So there’s a lot at stake, and the audience can feel the risk at every moment.
The Weight of Water is an exciting, timely, and poetic dance/circus performance on the water. It explores the pursuit of power, but also highlights our dependence—on one another and on larger, uncontrollable forces.
Credits
Choreography Pia Meuthen Dance/acrobatics Tarek Rammo / Petra Steindl, Francesco Barba, Fynn Neb / Toon Theunissen, Yaniv Dagan, Lucy Steinfeld, Róisín Harten / Candela Murillo Live music Davide Bellotta, iET Composition Davide Bellotta, iET Costumes Sanne Reichert Assistant Choreographer & Rehearsal Director Miquel de Jong Trap Rob van Dam Campaign photoRob Hogeslag Scene photos Nasser Hashemi Coverproduction Panama Pictures & Bosch Parade With the support of the City of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Performing Arts Fund, and MAOCC By Bylandt