MALUS

Dancer Igor Shyshko explores the limits of body and mind in a recalcitrant (anti-?)ritual to the tones of countertenor Logan Lopez (soloist at La Monnaie). How can we free ourselves from the yokes we impose on our bodies? And is spiritual enlightenment, once reached, dream or reality? From the Biblical beginnings of time, we have been burdened by shame. The first bite of the forbidden apple symbolised humanity’s fall. The apple was a symbol of knowledge, sexual pleasure, femininity, immortality, … By biting it Adam and Eve, and humanity with them, could no longer live life in ignorance and shamelessness.

In many, if not all, religions and ideologies, the body plays a similarly important part. It is often subject to strict rules, restrictions and rituals. We deny it food, flagellate it, and exhaust it – for atonement, cleansing or initiation. We submerge it in water, sing, dance, disguise or reveal it, … in search of a blissful state – or to forget the triviality of human existence? But what if we looked at our bodies differently? As the child of our soul. As the vehicle that carries our soul, and that therefore puts us in touch with a deeper, different kind of consciousness, one that is detached from worldly phenomena. What if we look within ourselves for enlightenment, rather than seeking it in outward displays?

CREDITS

CHOREOGRAPHY & DANCE Igor Shyshko
COUNTER TENOR Logan Lopez
PRODUCTION Kunst/werk & KVS
ARTISTIC ADVICE Marc Vanrunxt
MUSIC DRAMATURGY Alain Franco
COSTUME DESIGN & SCENOGRAPHY Katleen Vinck
ILLUSTRATION Elliot Z