LES SLOVAKS DANCE COLLECTIVE Fragments

THE SHOW

Five dancers from Slovakiawho live and work in Belgiummake up Les SlovaKs. As children, they performed folk dances and later on they met again at P.A.R.T.S., the dance school directed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. They formed the company in 2006 and since then have developed a lively uninhibited language, expressive, emotional and physically impressive, as well as linked to the dance traditions of their home country. We have already seen them at the Mercat in the shows Opening Night (2008) and Journey Home (2009).

The show Les SlovaKs present this season is rich in images and emotions, a tragicomedy that reflects the complications and contradictions of life and that shows the frailty of human beings. The life we live or that we think we live, the life we dream about and the life we would rather forget. The storyline for Fragments emerges from the music, an original composition by the French musician and composer Simon Thierrée, whom the Collective has worked with since its beginnings.

THE COMPANY

Les SlovaKs have developed a unique style of dance based on the balance between individuals and the group. The company, a whole made up of five irreplaceable parts, has created a polyphonic dance in which each dancer stands at the forefront as a soloist and at the same time is considered as an instrument in a dynamic whole. In the universe of Les Slovaks, the “physicality” of the dance is what prevails. The friendship that unites them, as well as the traditions and folklore of their country of origin, nurture the group’s different creations in a very special way.

SHOW AN ARTIST INFORMATION

Choreography and dance Les SlovaKs Dance Collective: Milan Herich, Anton Lachky, Milan Tomášik, Peter Jasko, Martin Kilvady
Music Simon Thierrée
Set design Les SlovaKs Dance Collective, Joris De Bolle
Lighting design Joris De Bolle
Costume design Mat Voorter, Pepa Martínez
Technical director Joris De Bolle 

Production Phileas Productions (Belgium)
Co-production Mercat de les Flors; Kaaitheater (Belgium); Hellerau – European Centre for the Arts Dresden (Germany);NorrlandsOperanAB (Sweden)
Company associated with DCJ – Danscentrum Jette (Belgium); Pulsar–Ensemble Dir. Steven Decraene