« It’s going to get worse and worse and worse, my friend! » - be prepared. Lisbeth Gruwez and Maarten Van Cauwenberghe are the associate artists of Quartz and propose here a solo performance of a rare power. Incorporating the gestures of force and diktat of big orators, Lisbeth Gruwez hypnotises us with the power of a leader, the one who drives us towards revolutions and wars, the one who makes us believe the unbelievable, the one who incites us to act for better or worse. The speech is a powerful weapon but a body that serves this speech is certainly even more. All through the play the virtuosity is getting stronger and magnetises our senses. Fascinating!
LISBETH GRUWEZ
Le Quartz associated artist with Maarten van Cauwenberghe (2017-2020)
Lisbeth Gruwez (1977) is a Belgian dancer and choreographer, half of Voetvolk’s artistic team. She started practising classical ballet at the age of 6 and studied at the ‘Stedelijk Instituut voor Ballet’ (Antwerp), combining high school with a professional dance education. Once graduated, she joined P.A.R.T.S. (Brussels) to study contemporary dance. In 1999 she started working with Jan Fabre, being part of his guerriers de la beauté. Having performed in As long as the world needs a warrior’s soul (2000) and Je suis sang (2001), she rose to international fame because of Quando l’uomo principale è una donna (2004), the solo Jan Fabre created specifically for (and with) her. Apart from working with Fabre, she also collaborated with Ultima Vez (The Day of Heaven and Hell), Jan Lauwers|Needcompany (Images of Affection), Grace Ellen Barkey (Few Things), Riina Saastamoinen (Cry Me a River) and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (Foi).
In 2007 she founded Voetvolk, together with Maarten Van Cauwenberghe. Their work is an ongoing conversation between corporal and auditive movement, in order to achieve a symbiosis between the aural and the visual/physical. Apart from establishing her own choreographies with Voetvolk, Lisbeth Gruwez has danced in Arco Renz’ i!2, together with Melanie Lane, and she also played the leading role in Lost Persons Area, Caroline Strubbe’s first feature film. Gruwez danced in videoclips for A Brand (“Hammerhead”), Juliette and the Licks (“Death of a Whore”), Dirk Braeckman (promoting A.F. Vandevorst’s winter collection) and MUGWUMP (“At the Front”). She is also one of the “KVS faces”, the open ensemble of artists and thinkers associated with the Royal Flemish Theatre of Brussels.
