Follow me down again
The story of Icarus and Eliot’s
Hell is where nothing connects.
The door bounced back and forth. The moment the percussionist hits the metal door with a hammer, there is feedback from the other side of the door. The metal door is made in the form of a book. The book gate is the entrance of the Dominican Bookstore.
The communication outside and inside continued.
Fuelled curiosity overtaken. The musician stops using his sticks
The door becomes unchained and opens, when the door opens, one dancer appears.
She shouted: ’Follow me!’
She lured us deeper, followed by the drums and mystical voices.
First encounter. A man, big in posture, tells out loudly how many people want to follow their curiosity, but in real-life situations, they follow their fear.
The reader is so involved with his readings that he doesn’t notice a dancer approaching him, whispering her words repeatedly, as if being in a trance and getting his attention failed completely.
The strike of the drum abruptly brings us deeper inside; we encounter a small boy who wrote down his own story based on different eyes: Braun eyes, green eyes, and blue eyes like him.
A woman is close by him, singing in Spanish: ‘Ojos Azul’ (Blue Eyes)
A sudden bright stage light. We look high up.
The third reader looks up as well. He begins reciting a poem in Arabic. He stands up.
The child rushes up the stairway. Icarus took off.
We all want to reach higher, build the highest tower, and climb the highest point.
We are connected to depth, searching for the most bottomless pit and descending to the bottom.
An actual moment of decision.
From up high, the dancers look down and see reality.
They shout out loud: ‘Nothing’!( Nothing refers to being disconnected by others)
Life is suffering. Death is close by.
A huge leap in the light ended Icarus in a huge leap in the darkness.
He fights till the end. During his fall, he had flashbacks of having fallen before. He fights harder, learns about his first falling experiences, and manages to get up. Desperate for human contact in his struggle.
A sudden helping hand. A young boy near his side. Icarus is not alone in the darkness anymore but in the real world. Uplifting music He is alive and able to fly again.
Release:
16 January 2018
Event:
Location:
Dominican Bookstore (Dominicanerkerkstraat 1, 6211 CZ Maastricht)
Members:
Concept: Monique van Kerkhof
Film production: MONDESIGN
Director: Monique van Kerkhof
Choreographer: Monique van Kerkhof
Editor: Bo Oudendijk, Monique van Kerkhof
Sound design: Bo Oudendijk, Monique van Kerkhof
Video: Houtvideo, LINK, Zowi Oudendijk (mobile)
Visual effects: Bo Oudendijk
Graphic design: Monique van Kerkhof
Dancers: Anouk Habets, Marika Meoli, Nie Oudendijk, Simon Bus, Zowi Oudendijk
Acrobat: Bo Oudendijk
Performers: Boris Pieters, Husam Salamah, Johnny Grady
Voices: Isabel Bermejo, Monique van Kerkhof
Drummer: John Wolters
Percussionist: Kyohei Sugihara
Video projection: Bo Oudendijk, Monique van Kerkhof
Costumes: Maddy Dassen, Monique van Kerkhof, Olga Morekhodtseva
Survival all: Berty Vrijens, Bart Vrancken
Special thanks: Ton Harmes, Jolein Verschuren
Description:
Choreographer Monique van Kerkhof will work with dancers, singers, musicians and acrobats, two brilliant performances on the theme of Icarus. Icarus learned to fly from his father Daedalus, story is a symbol of our society. We also want to fly higher. Everything must go faster, further and better and thus we lose the contact with ourselves and others. We come in the situation that Elliot sketched: 'Hell is where nobody and nothing connects'? We realize that we always will have to fall to come closer to ourselves and in this performance very LITERALLY ... (mind your head!)
