Fondazione Pontedera Teatro
in collaboration with Fondazione Fabbrica Europa

Five bodies meet at a locale without a name, perhaps even in the middle of the night. On the rhythm of the circumstances they slowly grow towards one another, the way trash sometimes gathers in a deserted street. But their synergy confers unexpected power on them. They coalesce in one of the most expressive manifestations of humankind: laughter. Resulting in an encounter that becomes a dangerous feast of shared ecstacy.
With AH/HA, Lisbeth Gruwez moves on to the cutting edge of its investigation of the ecstatic body. The performance explores the wealth of plastic variations of the laughing body, making its physical and psychic impact tangible for the viewer.
AH/HA is the first group performance of Voetvolk.

Lisbeth Gruwez (Kortrijk, Belgium 1977) started classical ballet and in 1991 she was admitted at the Stedelijk Instituut voor Ballet in Antwerp. Afterwards she studied contemporary dance at P.A.R.T.S. . Since 1999 she has been working with Jan Fabre, performing in As Long As the World Needs a Warrior’s Soul, followed by Je suis sang. In 2001 she starred in Pierre Coulibeuf’s film Les Guerriers de la beauté about Jan Fabre’s work. In 2002 she starred in Images of Affection for Needcompany|Jan Lauwers. In 2004 Jan Fabre created for and with her Quando l’uomo principale è una donna. Together with Maarten Van Cauwenberghe she founded Voetvolk in 2006 and in 2007 they premièred with their first creation Forever Overhead. In 2010 she created her first group performance HeroNeroZero and played the leading roll in a short movie by Silvia Defranc. In 2011 she created the performances L’Origine and It’s going to get worse and worse and worse, my friend.

Voetvolk vzw – Lisbeth Gruwez & Maarten Van Cauwenberghe
AH/HA
concept & choreography: Lisbeth Gruwez
composition, sound design & assistance: Maarten Van Cauwenberghe
dance: Mercedes Dassy, Anne-Charlotte Bisoux, Lisbeth Gruwez, Vincente Arlandis Recuerda, Lucius Romeo Fromm
stylist: Catherine Van Bree
artistic advisor: Bart Meuleman
light design: Harry Cole
light assistance: Caroline Mathieu
contributor production:: Liesbeth Stas
production: Voetvolk vzw
co-production: Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis, Next Festival, The­ater Im Pumpenhaus, Théâtre d’Arras / TANDEM ARRAS-DOUAI, Dampfzentrale, Le Triangle – scène conventionnée pour la danse-Rennes, Théâtre La Bastille, Les Brigittines, AndWhatBeside(s)Death, MA – Scène nationale de Montbéliard and Troubleyn | Jan Fabre
residencies: Troubleyn | Jan Fabre, KVS, Les Brigittines
supported by NONA, Provincie Antwerpen and De Vlaamse Gemeenschap
international distribution: Key Performance