Dance

Coup Fatal

KVS & les ballets C de la B

Dates

Prices

5 — 28 €

Location

Onassis Stegi

Time & Date

Day
Time
Venue
Day
Thursday-Saturday
Time
20:30
Venue
Main Stage

Information

Tickets

EARLY BIRD until 18 November: 13, 20 €


Full price: 15, 18, 28 €
Reduced & Small groups (5-9 people): 11, 14 €
Large groups (10+ people): 9, 12, 20 €
People with disabilities: 5€ | Companions: 10 €
Unemployed: 5 €

Duration

1 hour and 40 minutes

The Belgian choreographer Alain Platel stages a spectacular dance production which takes audiences on a colorful musical journey to the distant Congo.

Photo: Chris Van Der Burght

The celebrated and highly eclectic les ballets C de la B company remains true to its motto once again: “This dance is for the world and the world is for everyone”.

This time, director Alain Platel from les ballets C de la B —well-known for his outspoken and highly politicized views on the performing arts— taking charge of the direction, joins forces with Fabrizio Cassol —assuming the role of musical director—, with the superb Congolese counter-tenor Serge Kakudji and with the Congolese guitarist Rodriguez Vangama as the musical leader. A musical celebration, a minor miracle, an outlandish opera with the look and feel of a concert of Congolese music, the performance combines dance with theater and awe-inspiring musicians.

Like all the company’s productions, “Coup Fatal” is profoundly political, confronting the audience with an Africa of which it can know little. The emotive arias of the virtuoso Congolese counter-tenor Serge Kakudji, the inspiration behind the production, share the stage with the astonishing African rhythms of the band of musicians from his homeland and —as if by magic— the baroque music has been transformed into something quite unprecedented; something utterly new. The delicate transitions from the Congolese rumba to the baroque prelude shed an entirely new light on Bach, Handel and Vivaldi’s music, its qualities, harmonies, rhythms and —above all— emotions.

Tears alternate with impassioned ‘yeah-yeahs’ in this unique celebration in honor of all the black children who so desperately want to live despite the men who cling so stubbornly to the miseries of war. The curtain looks as though it’s made of chains, but they’re really empty casings from bullets fired in the war — the work of the visual artist Freddy Tsimba who lives and works in Kinshasa, where he makes large-scale sculptures out of the empty cartridges he collects in local war zones.

“Coup Fatal” is a production whose movement, music and emotions are all utterly unrestrained. The stage fills with an Africa, playful and celebratory, hurting but brimming over with humor and knowledge. The choreographic material and the costumes have turned to the elaborate dress code of the Kinshasa dandies for inspiration, revealing to us the elegance and the refinement of the young Congolese with a passion for cosmopolitan cool and genuine Dior.

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Parallel Event

After performance talk with members of “Coup Fatal”

Friday 18 December
Moderated by:
Christiana Galanopoulou, art historian & artistic director of MIRfestival

Credits

  • Counter tenor

    Serge Kakudji

  • Conductor

    Rodriguez Vangama

  • Artistic direction

    Alain Platel

  • Musical direction

    Fabrizio Cassol

  • A project by

    Russell Tshiebua (backing vocals), Bule Mpanya (backing vocals), Rodriguez Vangama (electric guitar, balaphone), Costa Pinto (acoustic guitar), Bouton Kalanda (likembe), Erick Ngoya (likembe), Silva Makengo (likembe), Tister Ikomo (xylophone), Deb’s Bukaka (balaphone), Cédrick Buya (percussion), Jean-Marie Matoko (percussion), 36 Seke (percussion)

  • Compositions

    Rodriguez Vangama, Fabrizio Cassol and Coup Fatal

  • after

    Händel, Vivaldi, Bach,Monteverdi,Gluck

  • Idea by

    Serge Kakudji and Paul Kerstens

  • Assistance artistic direction

    Romain Guion & Isnelle da Silveira

  • Scenography

    Freddy Tsimba

  • Light design

    Carlo Bourguignon

  • Sound design

    Max Stuurman

  • Costume design

    Costume design

  • Light technician

    Luc Laroy

  • Stage manager

    Lieven Symaeys

  • Photography

    Chris Van der Burght

  • Production management

    Eline Vanfleteren, Paul Kerstens

  • Tour management

    Hanna El Fakir, Paul Kerstens

  • Production

    KVS & les ballets C de la B

  • Co-production

    Théâtre national de Chaillot (Paris), Holland Festival (Amsterdam), Festival d’Avignon, Theater im Pfalzbau (Ludwigshafen), TorinoDanza, Opéra de Lille, Wiener Festwochen

  • Supported by

    City of Brussels, City of Ghent, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie, Province of East-Flanders, the Flemish Authorities

  • Many thanks to

    Isnelle da Silveira, Dominique Mesa, Kathryn Brahy, Michel Lastshenko, Bogdan Vanden Berghe, 11.11.11, Françoise Gardies, Faustin Linyekula, Anja Stroobants, Bernard Debroux

  • Diffusion

    Frans Brood Productions

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