Freespace Dance 2023: Voetvolk / Lisbeth Gruwez and Maarten Van Cauwenberghe – It’s going to get worse and worse and worse, my friend

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A compelling exploration of the power of speech and gesture to manipulate both orator and audience from Belgian dance company Voetvolk

Presented as part of our 2023 Freespace Dance series showcasing the work of contemporary women choreographers, Voetvolk’s It’s going to get worse and worse and worse, my friend looks at the persuasive power of oration, and the ability of words and gestures to stir and manipulate emotional and visceral response.

Alone under a spotlight, and dressed in the androgynous uniform of authority, Belgian choreographer Lisbeth Gruwez casts a powerful spell over the audience as she performs to a soundtrack mixed live by partner Maarten Van Cauwenberghe and punctuated with fragments of a speech by ultra-conservative American televangelist Jimmy Swaggart. At first cool and measured, Gruwez’s controlled and ritualised gestures – a precise vocabulary of movements gleaned from studies of speeches by politicians and dictators – become more and more impassioned, gaining momentum as the energy of the speech intensifies and rising to a state of ecstatic trance.

Compelling and alarming, It’s going to get worse and worse and worse, my friend explores how charismatic orators can induce calm and stir anxiety, how words and gestures can be used to comfort and dominate, and how speeches can take on a force of their own, exerting preternatural power over the emotions of both speaker and audience.

Alongside the performances, Lisbeth Gruwez leads a professional workshop on improvisation and technical skills, 24 April (7:30pm–9:30pm). See details on individual event page.

Note: A pre-show participatory physical introduction session (in Cantonese) introducing related choreographic concepts and movements is available on 26 April (7:00pm–7:30pm). This session is open to ticket holders only. Please register here.

“Rarely have image, movement, light and sound invigorated each other so powerfully” – Jury TheaterFestival 2012

“The power relation between male voice and female performer…becomes a marvellously threatening pas de deux” – Sarah Vankersschaever, De Standaard

“The fusion of sound, choreography and light keeps the public enraptured. Once more Lisbeth Gruwez succeeds in keeping the audience spellbound” – Eline Van de Voorde, Cutting Edge