A completely naked performer uses the languages of circus and dance to speak to us about the human body and show us how movement builds identity. A surprising and moving show that cannot fail to raise a smile or two.
Some years ago, an anonymous joker said to the circus performer and dancer Alexander Vantournhout that his neck was so long they should call him “ANECKXANDER”. Now, taking this apparently trivial anecdote as their starting point, the artist Alexander Vantournhout and dramaturge Bauke Lievens have created a choreographic circus show that speaks to us of the human body and how others see it. Because, aware that, for the audiences that will see this production, he is a physiognomy, a form, a body, Alexander/Aneckxander tries to escape this simplistic reduction by twisting his body into incredible, alienating shapes. He will do so completely naked except for a pair of platform shoes and some boxing gloves. These props may be designed to conceal the artist’s small fists and to dissimulate his short stature, but what they really do is to magnify the weaknesses or imperfections that he wants to hide from us. The result is that, in ANECKXANDER, gestures and postures – which require extraordinary technique – serve to illustrate the tragic autobiography of a body absorbed in its own fragility and solitude. And the repetition of the tragedy opens the door to humour, the perfect complement for this delicate, sensitive show, at once funny and moving, whose protagonist is the human body, as it enables us to discover the most extreme and innovative facets of contemporary circus.
A collaboration with Bauke Lievens in the context of the research project "Between being and imagining: towards a methodology for artistic research in contemporary circus", financed by the research fund of KASK School of Arts, Gent (BE).
Coproduction: PERPLX-Marke (Belgium), CircusNext, Subsistances - Lyon (France) and the Novog Cirkusa Festival of Zagreb (Croatia).
In cooperation with the Flemish Government, the West Flemish Government and CircusNext.
Residencies: Vooruit (BE), Circuscentrum (BE), CC De Warande (BE), Humorologie (BE), Centro Cultural Vila Flor (PT), Les Migrateurs (FR), Subtopia (SE), Cc De Spil (BE), La Brèche (FR), Subsistances (FR), STUK (BE)
Autoria: Alexander Vantournhout i Bauke Lievens ; Dramatúrgia: Bauke Lievens; Assessorament de dramatúrgia: Dries Douibi i Gerald Kurdian; Mirada externa: Anneleen Keppens, Lore Missine, Geert Belpaeme, Lili M. Rampre i Methinee Wongtrakoon; Interpretació: Alexander Vantournhout; Composició musical: Arvo Pärt; Vestuari: Nefeli Myrtidi, Anne Vereecke; Disseny d'il·luminació: Tim Oelbrandt i Rinus Samyn; Producció: Not Standing vzw; Fotografia: Bart Grietens;
