Coup Fatal
KVS & les ballets C de la B
Dates
Prices
Location
Time & Date
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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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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