For the tenth anniversary of WhyNot, they return to W139, the place where it all began, for an old school evening of dance, performance, music and art! The evening at W139 is curated in collaboration with Julidans, Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond, Veem House for Performance and Cinedans.

The festival program focuses on the body and architecture, on movement and boundaries. How do performance artists and choreographers see the role of the body in relation to taking, giving or defining space? What do boundaries, physical and cultural, mean for our freedom of movement? How much private space can we claim in a city that seems to be bursting at the seams, and in a world that seems to succumb to that pressure?

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Programme

In the duration performance Relay by choreographer Ula Sickle (in collab. with Brakke Grond), a black flag – referring to the many protests worldwide – is kept in motion for hours on end in a fascinating test of endurance. In Spell Action # 1, installation and performance artist Rūta Butkutė examines how an object set within a spatial environment can have a guiding effect on other bodies. Clara Amaral (in collab. with Veem House for Performance) gives the W139 space an extra dimension with her screen performance In our eyes, a cascade.

Together with Julidans we present Resident, an intense performance about a man in his apartment by Dunja Jocic, who a.o. won the Dutch Dance Days Award in 2018. Especially for WhyNot, scenographer and designer Theun Mosk will explore the W139 space by working with the floor and intervening with materials, so that the public will move through the space automatically. Choreographer Fabienne Vegt made Scripted Space for three excellent dancers Chloé Albaret, César Faria Fernandes and Marne van Opstal (NDT 1), in which they recall movements and forms that were once written on their bodies. Accompanied by live music by Frank Rosaly (drums), Torbjorn Zetterberg (bass) and Cene Resnik (saxophone), the performance flows into a party with a dj set by sound artist Salvador Breed (co-curator Le Guess Who 2019), that will take us on a wandering journey through musical worlds.

Also on the program are Merce Cunningham’s film Assemblage (1968) in collab. with Cinedans, a dance and music improvisation, an immersive installation by Annika Kappner and talks by Esmee Geerken and BAU LAB!

To enter the dance floor well prepared we also have two dance workshops by Mirte Courtens and Katharina Conradi on Saturday for you to join.

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Timetable

15:00 – 20:15 Ula Sickle: Relay (WhyNot & Brakke Grond)
17:00 BAU lab presentations*
19:00 Esmee Geerken: On macro- and microscopic houses
20:20 Ruta Butkute: Spell Action #1
21:00 Clara Amaral: In our eyes, a cascade (WhyNot & Veem)
22:00 Dunja Jocic: Resident (WhyNot & Julidans)
22:45 Fabienne Vegt: Scripted Space
23:00 Impro + dj set Salvador Breed
01:00 end

Ongoing*:
15:00 – 01:00 Annika Kappner: Gaia Rising (installation, 20′)
15:00 – 01:00 Merce Cunningham: Assemblage (dance film, 58′)
15:00 – 01:00 Theun Mosk: One Floor (installation)