Dance
Ben en Vero 2025 - Benjamin Vandewalle

What happens when two dancers with very different lives meet? Veronique learned to dance at Platform K, a dance company for dancers with disabilities. Benjamin has disciplined his dancing body through years of ballet and contemporary training. They find each other in a dance that does not shy away from risk. They love to challenge each other, to push themselves physically, mentally, and spiritually to the limits of what they think they are capable of.In dialogue with live musician Pak Yan, they build a universe of sound, movement, and text that impresses through its authenticity. Pak Yan intervenes in the encounter between Ben and Veronique from a self-built island of contact microphones, samplers, and electronic instruments. Together, the three of them search for a fusion of different styles and disciplines, where it is no longer clear who supports, leads, or inspires whom. They want to leave hierarchical structures based on physical abilities, gender, and age far behind. The more the two dancers and the musician discover their own creativity, the freer they feel, in their encounter with themselves and with each other. In doing so, do they also liberate contemporary dance performance from its conventions of formality and virtuosity? The result is, in any case, a surprisingly intimate and deeply human connection in dance and music—at times stubbornly confrontational, but often gentle, and always playful, light, layered, and fluid.

By and with Veronique Mees and Benjamin Vandewalle Live music Pak Yan Lau Scenography Erki De Vries Light design Lucas Van Haesbroeck Technicians Tijmen Vandamme, Janneke Donkersloot Costume 10.2 by J Boy Dramaturgy Robert Steijn, Mira Bryssinck Interviews and Audio Recording Eva De Groote/Audiomakerij Selkie Production Caravan Production Movement assistance Veronique Jessi Zhang, Magdalena Öttl In collaboration with Platform K Coproduction KAAP, Viernulvier, SOaP, C-Takt, Perpodium With the support of the Flemish Authorities, the Flemish Community Commission and taxshelter of Belgische Federale Overheid by Cronos Invest