Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe

Whether in baroque ballrooms, jazz or rave scenes: Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe celebrates the body in motion, just as humanity has done for centuries!

In Chapters of Celebration, Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe, together with choreographers Michele Rizzo, Cherish Menzo, Lasseindra Ninja, Iker Karrera, Jeremy Nedd and Toni Jodar, invites audiences to a dance marathon performance in which six singing dancers explore the ecstasy of human communities. Meirhaeghe divides the performance into chapters: each chapter is created by a different choreographer, and every movement, every dance, is an act of liberation. Like archaeologists of joy, the artists dig for lost jubilation, for rituals and collective ecstasy, to demonstrate that dancing, celebrating and coming together – even in difficult times – is not only possible but an act of resistance against alienation and isolation. The chapters are embedded in compositions based on the 15th-century Folies d’Espagne, which weave together Baroque, Classical and contemporary elements into a sparkling tapestry of sound.

Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe is a Belgian performer and director, known for his contemporary style that combines visual art, music and choreography. His works are often extravagant, frequently bombastic, and always contrasted with sobriety, intimacy and intuition.

CAST & CREDITS

Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe director, Michele Rizzo, Cherish Menzo, Lasseindra Ninja, Iker Karrera, Jeremy Nedd, Toni Jodar choreography, Wouter Deltour musical director, composition, Jesse Kanda, Wouter Deltour electronic music, Marc Vilajuana percussion, singing, Léa Kadian bass, Danielle Van Riel, Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe light, stage, Eleni Ellada Damianou, Guillem Jiménez, Alphonse Eklou Uwantege, Emiel Vandenberghe, Toni Jodar, Patric da Cunha dance, B’Rock Orchestra live-music, ART HAPPENS distribution

A production by Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe, Wouter Deltour and Muziektheater Transparant, co-produced by DE SINGEL, EUROPALIA ESPAÑA, B’Rock Orchestra, Toneelhuis (Antwerp), Perpodium (Antwerp) and Festspielhaus St. Pölten. With the support of Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government and the Flemish Government.