The Dancing Public

Tonight, is for dancing
Tonight, we’ll be dancing…

Movement of crowds on the streets in Europe was always deemed suspect, as the story about dance ‘crazes’ tells us. Yet ecstatic outbursts of relentless dancing, bodily jerks and convulsions, and uncontrollable gestures could spread and grow from one body to several hundreds pulsating in mass movement for days and months. As recurrent incidents over a long period from the medieval to modern times, the dancing manias attracted a host of explanations – from possession by evil spirits and curses of saints to neurological disturbances and the medical invention of hysteria. Contagion by imitation earned these outbreaks the suspicion of a dance ‘disease’ without a definite cause. Behind the dangerous image of public disorder lurked a body dancing to relieve itself from the stress of epidemics, natural disaster and poverty, a body dancing in dissent.

Evoking collective moments of dancing manias from the past, Mette Ingvartsen explores movement ecstasy within a social gathering in the aftermath of a pandemic. Her solo explodes the solitary confinement of 2020 with an intense mixture of unstoppable movements, incessant music and high-paced rhythms of words and chanting. A dance feast, a concert of spoken word poetry or a physical frenzy until exhaustion, this shape-shifting piece incites questions: Can a dance hijack and reshuffle the social corpus of the public? What is the need for excess and movement we might feel in our bodies today? Are we ready to be high on life again?

The sky will be dancing
The moon will be dancing
The planets will be dancing
The stars will be dancing…

Premiere: September 24-25, 2021, PACT Zollverein, Essen

Concept & Performance: Mette Ingvartsen
Lighting design: Minna Tiikkainen
Set design: Mette Ingvartsen & Minna Tiikkainen
Musical arrangements: Mette Ingvartsen & Anne van de Star
Costumes: Jennifer Defays
Dramaturgy: Bojana Cvejić
French translation: Gilles Amalvi
Technical direction: Hans Meijer
Sound Technician: Anne van de Star
Company management: Ruth Collier
Production & administration: Joey Ng

Music: Affkt feat. Sutja Gutierrez, Scanner, Radio Boy, LCC, VII Circle, Kangding Ray, Paula Temple, Ron Morelli, Valanx, Anne van de Star

A production of: Great Investment vzw

Supported by: the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès within the framework of the New Settings Program, Bikubenfonden.

Co-production: PACT Zollverein (Essen), Kaaitheater (Brussels), Festival d’Automne (Paris), Tanzquartier (Vienna), SPRING Performing Arts Festival (Utrecht), Kunstencentrum Vooruit (Ghent), Les Hivernales – Centre de Développement Chorégraphique National d’Avignon , Charleroi danse centre chorégraphique de Wallonie – Bruxelles, NEXT festival, Dansens Hus Oslo

With the support of: Kunstencentrum Buda (Kortrijk)

Funded by: The Flemish Authorities, The Danish Arts Council & The Flemish Community Commission (VGC)

Texts & interviews

Press Quotes The Dancing Public
The Dancing Public interview with Mette Ingvartsen

Jan 17, 2023 9:12 AM

2023

January 17 - 18 Frascati, Amsterdam
Feb 5, 2023 9:12 AM February 5 Mercat de les Flors, Barcelona
Feb 16, 2023 9:12 AM February 16 La Place de la Danse / ThéâtredelaCité, Toulouse
Mar 18, 2023 9:12 AM March 18 Espace Malraux, Chambéry
Mar 21, 2023 9:12 AM March 21 La Manufacture CDCN, Bordeaux
Mar 23, 2023 9:12 AM March 23 Espaces Pluriels, Pau
Jun 17, 2023 9:12 AM June 17 - 18 Epidaurus Festival, Athens
Sep 13, 2023 9:12 AM September 13 URBÄNG! Festival, Cologne
Sep 16, 2023 9:12 AM September 16 Dans in Brugge – Cultuurcentrum Brugge
Nov 9, 2023 9:12 AM November 9 International Dance Theatres Festival, Lublin
Dec 1, 2023 9:12 AM December 1 MA scène nationale, Montbéliard
Dec 9, 2022 9:12 AM

2022

December 9 - 10 Charleroi danse, Charleroi
Nov 29, 2022 9:12 AM November 29 - 30 Le Lieu Unique, Nantes
Nov 23, 2022 9:12 AM November 23 - 25 Move Your Mind festival/Bora Bora, Aarhus
Oct 28, 2022 9:12 AM October 28 - 29 Festival delle Colline/Fondazione Merz, Torino
Oct 13, 2022 9:12 AM October 13 - 14 Acces to Dance invited by JOINT ADVENTURES - Walter Heun, Munich
Oct 5, 2022 9:12 AM October 5 - 6 Theater Rotterdam
Sep 29, 2022 9:12 AM September 29 - 30 Cagliari
Sep 25, 2022 9:12 AM September 25 Contemporanea Festival Prato
Sep 15, 2022 9:12 AM September 15 - 16 Short Theatre, Rome
Sep 1, 2022 9:12 AM September 1 - 2 Metropolis - Københavns Internationale Teater, Copenhagen
Aug 29, 2022 9:12 AM August 29 - 30 Metropolis - Københavns Internationale Teater, Copenhagen
Aug 17, 2022 9:12 AM August 17 - 19 Tanz im August, Berlin
Jul 15, 2022 9:12 AM July 15 - 16 Le Grand Palais Ephémère, in the frame of Paris l'été festival
Jul 12, 2022 9:12 AM July 12 - 13 Le Grand Palais Ephémère, in the frame of Paris l'été festival
Jun 28, 2022 9:12 AM June 28 Latitudes Contemporaines, Lille
Jun 8, 2022 9:12 AM June 8 Rising festival, Melbourne Town Hall
May 25, 2022 9:12 AM May 25 - 26 KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen, Hannover
May 20, 2022 9:12 AM May 20 PACT Zollverein, Essen
May 13, 2022 9:12 AM May 13 - 14 SPRING International Arts Festival, Utrecht
May 5, 2022 9:12 AM May 5 STUK, Leuven
Apr 29, 2022 9:12 AM April 29 - 30 Tanzquartier Wien, Vienna
Apr 20, 2022 9:12 AM April 20 - 23 Dansens Hus Stockholm - Elverket, Stockholm
Apr 13, 2022 9:12 AM April 13 - 15 Le Subs, Lyon
Mar 22, 2022 9:12 AM March 22 - 25 Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne
Mar 18, 2022 9:12 AM March 18 - 19 Kunstencentrum Voo?uit, Ghent
Mar 11, 2022 9:12 AM March 11 - 13 Dansens Hus Oslo / Black Box teater, in the frame of Oslo Internasjonale Teaterfestival
Mar 5, 2022 9:12 AM March 5 CNDC, Angers
Feb 26, 2022 9:12 AM February 26 Le Quartz, Brest
Feb 12, 2022 9:12 AM February 12 La Scierie, Avignon in the frame of Les Hivernales
Dec 15, 2021 9:12 AM

2021

December 15 - 17 Théâtre de l'Aquarium/Festival d'Automne/New Settings/Atelier de Paris - CDCN, Paris
Nov 24, 2021 9:12 AM November 24 Théâtre de l'Oiseau-Mouche, Roubaix in the frame of NEXT festival
Oct 22, 2021 9:12 AM October 22 Charleroi danse, Charleroi
Oct 13, 2021 9:12 AM October 13 - 15 Kaaitheater, Brussels
Sep 24, 2021 9:12 AM September 24 - 25 PACT Zollverein, Essen