In the duet D̶A̶R̶K̶MATTER, Cherish Menzo and Camilo Mejía Cortés, with the help of a Distorted Rap Choir, search for ways to detach their bodies - and the everyday reality in which they move - from a forced perception. This results in a complex conversation that they both want to enter into and transcend - a duality that D̶A̶R̶K̶MATTER feeds into.
concept & choreography Cherish Menzo | creation & performance Cherish Menzo & Camilo Mejía Cortés | light design Niels Runderkamp | music Gagi Petrovic & Michael Nunes | mastering Gagi Petrovic | costume design JustTatty.com | scenography Morgana Machado Marques | dramaturgy Renée Copraij en Benjamin Kahn | vocal & textcoach BOИSU en Shari Kok-Sey-Tjong | artistic advice Christian Yav en Nicole Geertruida | voices Distorded Rap Choir www.distortedrapchoir.com | technique Niels Runderkamp, Amber Stallenberg/Nele Verreyken | production GRIP, Frascati Producties | coproduction Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussel, BE), CCN-Ballet national de Marseille dans le cadre de l’accueil studio / Ministère de la Culture (FR), actoral festival (Marseille, FR), STUK (Leuven, BE), La Villette, Paris (FR), Beursschouwburg (Brussel, BE), Festival d’Automne à Paris (FR), De Coproducers (NL), Perpodium (BE) | residencies SSTUK (Leuven, BE), La Villette, Paris (FR), Frascati (Amsterdam, NL), Beursschouwburg (Brussel, BE), CCN-Ballet national de Marseille dans le cadre de l’accueil studio / Ministère de la Culture (FR), Productiehuis Theater Rotterdam (NL) | in collaboration with Trill (Leuven, BE), WijzijnDOX (Utrecht, NL) | with the financial support of the Vlaamse Overheid, Fonds Podiumkunsten, Ammodo, de Taxshelter van de Belgische Federale Overheid, Cronos Invest | thanks to Eric Cyuzuzo, Jan Fedinger, Dries Douibi
For D̶A̶R̶K̶MATTER, Menzo takes inspiration from posthumanism, transcending the physical. She also takes a close look at Afrofuturism, which looks at science fiction, technology, fantasy, etc. from an African or black perspective. The human form becomes something socially engineered and allows us to dream. Menzo weaves in a poetic layer for which she draws her inspiration from astronomy. Among other things, she looks at dark matter and black holes that meet and collide to give birth to a new, futuristic and enigmatic body.
Just as in JEZEBEL, she further stretches her movement language by integrating the Chopped & Screwed method. This is a remix technique from the hip-hop world in which the tempo of the music is sharply reduced.
A ten-man choir of local performers - the Distorted Rap Choir - accompanies her with their alienating rap anthems. D̶A̶R̶K̶MATTER aims for a thorough reshuffle of our atoms, in search of a new form for - and way of looking at - our body and the complex outside world it relates to.
Thanks to its bold lighting design, chilling soundtrack and haunting rap songs, D̶A̶R̶K̶MATTER is not only a fascinating descent into the heart of the darkness that lurks within us all, but also a poetic critique of representation that celebrates the richness of being black. D̶A̶R̶K̶MATTER is a dislocating trip through the darkness.
★★★★ De Standaard
