Body can you become hypothetical, a galaxy, in full gear acceleration, a liquid star monster, failing to die?
In DARKMATTER, Cherish Menzo and her onstage partner Camilo Mejía Cortés look for ways to detach their bodies from the way they are perceived and the daily reality in which they move. Among other things, they look up to the sky, at dark matter and at black holes that meet and collide to give birth to a new, (afro)futuristic and enigmatic body. DARKMATTER wants to get rid of the biased way of looking at one’s own body, at that of the other, and at the stories we attribute to them. Together, they throw their bodies into a complex conversation that they want to both enter into and transcend – a duality that feeds the performance.
Just as in her previous project, JEZEBEL, Menzo stretches her movement language further by applying the Chopped and Screwed method to her movement language. A remix technique from hip-hop music in which the tempo is sharply reduced. By stretching the notions of time, the register changes and the performing body manages to generate new readings.
DARKMATTER wants to create a thorough reshuffle of our atoms, looking for a new form for – and way of looking at – our body and the complex outside world to which it relates.
Please note
Stroboscope effects are used in this performance and there are 3 extensive black-outs. The music in this work can be perceived as intensive, earplugs are at your disposal. You will encounter nude bodies on stage.
Concept and choreography : Cherish Menzo
Creation et performance : Camilo Mejía Cortés, Cherish Menzo
Lighting design : Niels Runderkamp
Musical composition : Gagi Petrovic, Michael Nunes
Mastering : Gagi Petrovic
Music list : via www.grip.house ou www.frascatitheater.nl
Scenography : Morgana Machado Marques
Costume design : JustTatty.com
Dramaturgy: Renée Copraij, Benjamin Kahn
Text : Cherish Menzo, Camilo Mejía Cortés, BOИSU, Shari Kok-Sey-Tjong
Vocal and delivery coaching : BOИSU, Shari Kok-Sey-Tjong
Artistic advice : Christian Yav, Nicole Geertruida
Voices distorted rap choir : via www.distortedrapchoir.com
With references to and inspired by :
– Act I of the American Opera ‘Troubled Island’ by William Grant Still (1949)
– ‘BLACKSPACE: ON THE POETICS OF AN AFROFUTURE’ by Anaïs Duplan
– ‘The Mask’ by Paul Laurens Dunbar
– Video clip ‘Throw it back’ (2019) by Missy Elliot.
– The Mythology of the American electronic music duo Drexciya
Technicians : Niels Runderkamp, Amber Stallenberg/ Sander Cools
Production : GRIP, Frascati Producties (Anneleen Hermans, Eryn Kelly, Sam Loncke, Rudi Meulemans, Lize Meynaerts, Klaartje Oerlemans, Jennifer Piasecki, Charlotte Roosblad, Dominique Sikkema, Sylvie Svanberg, Mark Timmer, Ruud Van Moorleghem, Heske van den Ende, Petra van der Meulen, Pauline Van Nuffel, Nele Verreyken)
International distribution : A Propic – Line Rousseau, Marion Gauvent
Coproduction : Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Bruxelles, BE), CCN-Ballet national de Marseille dans le cadre de l’accueil studio / Ministère de la Culture (FR), actoral festival (Marseille, FR), STUK (Louvain, BE), La Villette (Paris, FR), Festival d’Automne à Paris (FR), Beursschouwburg (Bruxelles, BE), De Coproducers (NL), Perpodium (BE)
Residencies : STUK (Louvain, BE), La Villette (Paris, FR), Frascati (Amsterdam, NL), Beursschouwburg (Bruxelles, BE), CCN-Ballet national de Marseille dans le cadre de l’accueil studio / Ministère de la Culture (FR), Productiehuis Theater Rotterdam (NL)
In collaboration with : Trill (Louvain, BE), WijzijnDOX (Utrecht, NL)
With the financial support of : le gouvernement flamand, Fonds Podiumkunsten, Ammodo, le Taxshelter du gouvernement fédéral belge et Cronos Invest
Thanks to : Eric Cyuzuzo, Jan Fedinger, Dries Douibi, Khadija El Kharraz Alami
Cherish
Menzo
Camilo
Mejia Cortés
GRIP
Frascati Producties
★★★★ ‘The performance Darkmatter gives an exciting and alienating charge to ‘dark matter.’ Together with dancer Camilo Mejía Cortés, choreographer Cherish Menzo crawls deep under the shiny surface of black skin.’
— Annette Embrechts, De Volkskrant
★★★★ ‘Whether staggering on their stiletto latex boots or slipping naked through black paint, the duo surprises with powerful images after each blackout. Thanks to the bold lighting design, the chilling soundtrack and the haunting rap songs that Menzo and Cortés spit out live, Darkmatter is not only a fascinating descent into the heart of the darkness that lurks within us all, but also a poetic critique of representation that celebrates the richness of being black.’
— Charlotte De Somviele, De Standaard
‘This piece makes you curious to see and know everything about Cherish Menzo, who imposes a presence on the stage that borders on that of a video game. She blurs the lines and makes our eyes bug out.’
— Amélie Blaustein Niddam, Toute La Culture
‘Cherish Menzo and Camilo Mejia Cortés are impressive from start to finish, with their presence, their gestures, their gaze, their way of occupying the stage and their mastery of the flow when the poetic rap makes its entrance. […] [DARKMATTER] starts intriguing before becoming utterly captivating and has us on the edge of our seats by the end.’
— Jean-Marie Wynants, Le Soir
Prochains spectacles
