Alexander Vantournhout

Not Standing workshop

In this immersive week of Not Standing, the day will be divided. There will be focus on the ever evolving partnering and catabatics. Secondly, there will be a focus on a rather new chapter within company, which is footwork.

Footwork approached from a coordinative and rhythmical point of view, its ability to move in space, while shape or form is less of a focus. Coordinative steps and patterns will be taught. Stretches of the foot, calves, and legs will be focused on. As well as applying certain tools to constitute a creative process.

Partnering has been at the core of the company’s work in the recent years. We want to invite the participants to focus on discovering new possibilities with another body through sharing very specific situations to derive principles rather than forms. We will start with gentle exercises of tuning in with each other and partial lifts (partner giving weight but holding their feet on the floor) with a slower speed. Throughout the workshop we gradually advance into lifting the whole body and moving in space with more dynamics.

Catabatics literally means “low(er)-(acro)batics”. We will go through different forms which include acrobatics such as cartwheels, stepovers, rainbows, mini rodeo’s, around the clock wheels etc. These (rather new) elements are all about coordination, rather than virtuosity, strength or flexibility.

Half a day footwork will be led by Alexander, and the other half a day by Emmi and Chia-Chung.

Not Standing company is known for exploring different possibilities of movement and pushing the creativity and limits of movement alone, with a partner or an object. In the classes we will touch upon some of the principles and practices used in the current works and also explore first-time-tested material of future creations of the company.

BIOS

Alexander Vantournhout (Brussels, 1989) studied cyr wheel and juggling at ESAC (Ecole Supérieure des Arts du Cirque) and contemporary dance at P.A.R.T.S. (Performing Arts Research and Training Studios) in Brussels.
Alexander Vantournhout’s physical language bears the influences of a varied education and working circumstances. However, it is marked by two constants: his search for the creative and kinetic potential in physical limitation, and the relationship or boundary between performer and object.
2014 marked the premiere of his first piece, Caprices, a choreographic solo set to the music of Sciarrino. Aneckxander (2015), a second solo, co-created with Bauke Lievens, won the CircusNext Prize, as well as the Young Theatre Prize and the Audience Prize at Theater Aan Zee (Ostend, 2015) and the Aerowaves network. His first duet Raphael (2017) was also co-created with Bauke Lievens.
In 2018, Alexander Vantournhout created La Rose en Céramique, a movement solo that accompanied Scali Delpeyrat’s theatrical solo at the Festival d’Avignon. His first piece for four men, Red Haired Men, followed shortly afterwards. In SCREWS, created in 2019, Alexander Vantournhout guides the audience, accompanied by 4 dancer-acrobats, on a journey of reverberating micro-performances, ranging from short solos and duets to group choreographies.
With Through the Grapevine (2020), Alexander Vantournhout returns to the duet format. This is his first real duet and is to some extent inspired by the concept of Aneckxander (2015). The body is reintroduced in a very pure way and the performance dives into the creative and kinetic potential of physical limitations, a theme that is reflected throughout Alexander Vantournhout’s work. In Contre-jour (2021) Alexander Vantournhout takes on the role of choreographer for the first time and gives the floor to a group of five performers from various backgrounds: dance, musical, theatre, circus, etc. In 2022 Alexander Vantournhout returns solo on stage with VanThorhout. Foreshadow, a creation with 8 performers, premiered at Julidans in Amsterdam.
Aneckxander as well as SCREWS, Through the Grapevine, VanThorhout and Foreshadow were selected for het TheaterFestival, the prize for the most outstanding Belgian performances.
Alexander Vantournhout has created two dance films, Screws & Stones and Snakearms. The latter was selected for het TheaterFestival, NY Segal Film Festival and Cinedans Festival.
Alexander Vantournhout is artist-in-residence at the Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER in Ghent and associate artist of the CENTQUATRE Paris. He is a cultural ambassador of the city of Roeselare and supported by the BNP Paribas Foundation for the development of his projects.

Emmi Väisänen (FI/BE) is a contemporary dancer based in Brussels, Belgium. Trained at Turku Conservatory (Finland) and S.E.A.D (Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance, Austria), she has collaborated with choreographers like Alexandra Waierstall, Julia Schwarzbach, Kinga Jaczewska and Alice Van der Wielen-Honinckx. Notably, Emmi has worked extensively with ECCE/Claire Croizé & Etienne Guilloteau and Not Standing/Alexander Vantournhout for whom she’s been involved both as a performer and research collaborator for multiple creations such as SCREWS, Through the Grapevine, Snakearms, Contre-jour, VanThorhout, Foreshadow, every_body and Frames.

Emmi has shared her expertise through working as an outside eye and teaching dance and repertory workshops in different organisations and theaters in Europe.
She has also been teaching partnering workshops together with Alexander Vantournhout at P.A.R.T.S/Belgium, Tanzwerkstatt/Germany, Deltebre danza/Spain, Summer Intensive/ Lithuania and Impulstanz/Austria.

Chia-Hung Chung (TW), a Taiwanese circus artist, discovered his passion for acrobatics at the age of ten. In 2020, he ventured to Europe, equipped with years of acrobatic experience, focusing on hand-balancing and acro-dance.

After graduating from Ecole Supérieure des Arts du Cirque in 2023, Chia-Hung is currently based in Brussels, Belgium. As a freelancer, he collaborates with not standing, notably contributing to the production of Foreshadow and every_body

December 8 – 12
Monday to Friday
10:00 – 13:00 and 14:30 – 17:30

Price:
80 € registration fee
360 € total