commissioned by Opera Ballet Vlaanderen
What does it mean to dance together? How do you build a community? Do you have to share the same values?
The Argentinian choreographer Lisi Estaras works for a year with a diverse group of fifty dancers from Ghent around encounter, intimacy and understanding. Their identities and backgrounds form the basis for this large-scale dance theatre performance. For the occasion, the Ghent opera hall has been converted into a spectacular ballroom in which the at times stirring, then melancholic, tangos of the Argentinian composer Eduardo Rovira lead the dance. This undeservedly unknown tango innovator mingles musical influences from the most diverse styles in his compositions. That is precisely why they are the perfect soundtrack for the highly diverse stories that the inhabitants of the city of Ghent carry with them. A new society as a hybrid construction: the foundation for A Bigger Thing.
Concept, direction and choreography Lisi Estaras
Music Eduardo Rovira, Tania Gallagher and Bart Demey (Nid & Sancy)
Dramaturgy Koen Bollen, Sara Vanderieck
Cast Karim Kalonji-Nyengabala, Sophia Rodriguez, Elie Tass, De Goestedoenders led by Léonthine Van Wassenhove, Emile Cardinael and Wendy Tuyttens, Platform K led by Frauke Seynnaeve and Fanny Vandesande with special thanks to Fernando Amado, Jong Gewei led by Elise De Vos, Dansgroep Endedans led by Marie-Louise Wilderijckx, MOVBOD/DEVLOER led by Emilie de Vlam, a group of twins
Orchestra SONICO musicians and Symphonic Orchestra Opera Ballet Vlaanderen
Conductor Ariel Eberstein
Scenography Bert Serneels
Costume design Marie Szersnovicz
Lighting design Helmut Van den Meersschaut
Dancing coach Karim Kalonji-Nyengabala, Sophie Rodriguez, Elie Tass