Untitled (Nostalgia, Act 3)

Tiran Willemse: Untitled (Nostalgia, Act 3)

Thu 30. & Fri 31.10., 19.30h, TQW Hall G

A famous repetition of the arabesque occurs in the ballet "Giselle", performed by ghostly spirits as they emerge from the forest. This movement is re-entacted by Tiran Willemse at the start of his moving solo "Untitled (Nostalgia, Act 3)" serves as the incantation that calls forth the multiple histories of dance that coexist and collide inside his own body – ballet, but also the Kuduro from Angola and Alanta from Nigeria, among other bodily codes. From the unresolved tensions between these differences emerges a dance that is simultaneously a solo by Willemse and an ensemble piece with versions of his previous selves in limbo between presence and absence. The ghostly presence of these bodies that are rendered invisible or suppressed – as certain histories often are – repossess Willemse’s body. Both an exercise and an exorcism, Willemse opens a window into the Black experience within European contexts with its dissonances and tragic absurdities. Multiple consciousnesses are given the room to rehearse reclaiming both Willemse’s body and the theater stage.