12
till
15 August 2021
ELISABETH GETS HER WAY
Jan Martens/GRIP | BE
Voluminous wavy hair like a wild haze above her head, in black-and-white, she sits with squinted eyes in her own universe where keys and notes determine the direction of the wind. A harpsichord at her fingertips. We hear her through her extensive body of work and see her bend over her instrument in jerky, yellowed images. And from now on, we also experience her in dance. The new dance solo created and performed by Jan Martens is a portrait and tribute to the Polish Elisabeth Chojnacka (1939 - 2017), a talented and passionate musician who reintroduced harpsichord music to the modern musical world. A documentary dance performance with fire by Jan Martens, a popular creator at Boulevard.
Note: This performance uses strobes. If you are sensitive to light or have epilepsy, this could be unpleasant. Please, keep this in mind.
Note: We recommend that you come by bike as much as possible. Would you rather come by car? Then we will ensure that you receive a parking ticket.
Location
MAINSTAGE Brabanthallen (hal 4)
Running time
75 min.
Genre
Dance, Music
2021 marks exactly fifty years since the Polish harpsichordist Elisabeth Chojnacka published her first album Clavecin 2000. An excellent time to pay tribute to this outstanding woman with an astonishing sense of rhythm. In his new solo act, the Flemish choreographer and dancer Jan Martens gives her the time and space she deserves. Elisabeth gets her way is a danced portrait to various music pieces, from Nyman to Ligeti, played by Chojnacka.
Jan Martens manoeuvres and masters his body the way Chojnacka played and mastered the harpsichord. With several decades of music history at her fingertips, she effortlessly zigzagged between registers and genres. Similarly, in Elisabeth gets her way Martens combines various dance styles. Martens dances in his own original and passionate style, with love for the person he is portraying and the story in which he takes the viewer.
'Not only are the energy and concentration intense, the form of the dance solo also tends to be monumental.'
- Theaterkrant'Elisabeth gets her way is a tremendous portrait of a great musician.'
- de Volkskrant
choreography and dance Jan Martens
sound engineer documentary Yanna Soentjens
light design Elke Verachtert
costume design Cédric Charlier
outside eye Marc Vanrunxt, Anne-Lise Brevers and Rudi Meulemans
video & music full list of video excerpts (© Archives INA) and musical pieces via www.grip.house
technical direction Michel Spang/Elke Verachtert
production GRIP
international distribution A Propic - Line Rousseau and Marion Gauvent
coproduction deSingel (Antwerp, BE), Les Hivernales – CDCN d’Avignon (FR), Julidans (Amsterdam, NL), C-TAKT (Limburg, BE) and Perpodium (BE)
residencies deSingel (Antwerp, BE), Les Hivernales – CDCN d’Avignon (FR), Toneelhuis (Antwerp, BE), ccBe (Antwerp, BE), C-TAKT (Limburg, BE) and CN D – Centre national de la danse (Paris, FR)
with financial support of the Flemish Government, Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government and Cronos Invest
thanks to INA - l'Institut National de l' Audiovisuel, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo sous la Présidence de S.A.R. la Princesse de Hanovre - Direction: Jean-Christophe Maillot, Graciane Finzi, Régis Mitonneau, Anne Montaron, Emmanuelle Tat, François-Bernard Mâche, Zygmunt Krauze, Stephen Montague, Raphaël de Gubernatis, Claire Verlet, Ty Boomershine, Joris van Oosterwijk, Liselotte Sels and Kinga Jaczewska
