The show “any attempt will result in dismembered bodies and broken bones”(“any attempt will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones”) presents at Piraeus 260, the pioneering Belgian choreographer Jan Martens, on July 14 and 15.

Inspired by the global wave of protest and the need for social solidarityJan Martens returns to the Festival after 2016 in collaboration this time with the Berlin group Dance On.

The show borrows its catchy title from a controversial phrase Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed to Hong Kong protesters in 2019. With the Chinese president’s phrase translated and broadcast around the world in many different ways, Martens observes that the language in our time also functions as “ideological tool”.

In addition to dance, the creator therefore brings language itself to the stage as a performance medium, introducing spoken excerpts from “Spring” by the Scottish author Ali Smith, but also written expressions of hate from the internet, which are projected fragmentarily behind the dancers. .

The show, which premiered at the 2021 Avignon Festival, features a diverse group of 17 dancers, aged from 18 to 71 yearswhich despite the significant differences between them, form an ideal community.

As Jan Martens himself observes “the idea of ​​a harmonious social coexistence is perhaps nothing more than a utopia that we must constantly defend against reactionary voices the possibility of being different together”.

With this amazing composition, the Belgian choreographer transforms the stage into a space of a possible democracy, where music sounds like a cry and protest is a common necessity. The personal voice of each male and female dancer “claims” her presence on the stage, while everyone together searches for the possibilities of a common, group voice.

Freedom in the work is about something that can exist as an act when we all do something together.

The power of diversity

With the help of 17 performers , Jan Martens presents a choreography that explores various forms of activism as collective acts in the world, in the face of climate or social challenges. Based on the intensely rhythmic Harpsichord Concerto by contemporary Polish composer Henryk Gurecki, the choreography is interspersed with protest pieces from the 1960s to the present day.

Martens has created a performance about the power of being different among others, but also about the symbiosis of separate individualities, illuminating the distinct dance “signature” of each of his performers.