Flemish choreographer Jan Martens is fast earning an international reputation as an innovator and talent to watch. His intriguing work thoroughly strikes a balance between storytelling and conceptualism, while subtly questioning the nature of performance and its complicit relationship with the audience.
In Sweat Baby Sweat, Martens zeroes in on the most clichéd theme in dance: the relationship between a man and a woman. He traces the arc of their lifetime together in this physically demanding and intimate examination of a couple who just can’t let each other go. Desire and resistance, love and loss, emotional strain and codependence are all at play in this highly-charged, close-up view of two deeply intertwined lives. Dance, music, song fragments and video material combine to tell the story of a romance shaped by the rhythm of letting go and grabbing hold again.
“Dismantles theatrical mechanics and the desire for entertainment, to reclaim the stage as a place of encounter between human and human.” -De Standaard (Belgium)
Choreography: Jan Martens
Performers: Kimmy Ligtvoet and Steven Michel
Video Design: Paul Sixta
Music: Jaap van Keulen
This presentation of Sweat Baby Sweat is generously supported by the Performing Arts Fund NL and the Flemish Authorities
