Artists' house
& Theater factory

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Artists' house
& Theater factory

Vanishing Act

Thierry Smits/Cie Thor
Tickets
07 – 09.06.2024
Vanishing Act
Thierry Smits/Cie Thor
  • Dance
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Thierry Smits’ latest challenge with "Vanishing Act" – in tandem with celebrating both his 60th birthday and nearly 40 choreographies – is to take risks alone on stage as he did at the outset of his career. With this new production he synthesizes, echoing as it were his artistic trajectory, energy and weariness, joys and bitter-sweet meditations.

Far from a “best of” narcissistic or nostalgic reruns, however, he continues to explore through a dozen danced and/or performative acts the encounter with his own body with so many minimalist devices he has extracted and recycled from his previous productions or from what has inspired them originally. Arranged as an installation of workshop materials waiting to be activated on stage, these fragments, objects, lights, costumes, form an intriguing amusement park, an “obstacle course” and source of humorous or meditative metamorphoses. Black leather bags, table on castors, coloured neon, turnstiles, rope, as well as suspended microphones, mobile video screen, etc. As many “madeleines” in the Proustian sense of memory triggers, for his faithful audiences, diverted for everyBODY in new confrontational rings of the body’s impulses when confronted with the entropy that threatens them.

Evening composed with

Landfall
Erika Zueneli
Deux danseurs du spectacle. L'un saute en l'air, les jambes écartées, une autre lève le bras en l'air. L'un porte un pantalon vert et un t-shirt bleu, l'autre un short gris et un t-shirt blanc.

From 16 years old.

Choreography, scenography and acting Thierry Smits
Choreography assistant Lucius Romeo-Fromm
Texts Thierry Smits and Antoine Pickels
Lightning, accessories building and lighting engineer Ralf Nonn
Music, sound and sound engineer Jean-François Lejeune
Video creation Jacques André
Video engineer Bruno Gilbert
Costumes Stefania Assandri
Costumes assistant Carly Heathcote
Dresser Charlyne Misplon
Vocal coach Jean Fürst
Whirling Dervish coach Ziya Azazi
Extern eye Julie Bougard
Administration and production Emilie Wacker
Logistics Brahim Sahli
Communication and production assistant Romane Carmon
Graphic design Kidnap Your Designer
Press Be Culture
Photos Hichem Dahes
Teaser Les Meutes

Une production de la Cie Thor.

© Hichem Dahes

Press Review

[Thierry Smits] se dévoile sans aucune fausse pudeur (…), évite totalement le côté "best of" (…) pour créer un spectacle nouveau, habité par ce qui l’a traversé durant ses 60 années d’existence.

Jean-Marie Wynants, Le Soir
27 January 2023

Thierry Smits réussit son “acte de disparition” en s’affirmant plus présent et vivant que jamais.

Marie Baudet, La Libre Belgique
04 February 2023

Ce qui transparaît du spectacle, c’est cet incroyable élan de vie qui (…) continue de pousser le danseur dans sa quête de l’Absolu.

Sandra Treacy, Culturius Magazine
01 February 2023