Ashes

In the intersection between theatre and dance, it is especially the duos that light the flame of desire in their approaches, evasions and separations. Amusing and touching.

- Thomas Stélandre, Liberation

Les ballets C de la B (Les Ballets Contemporains de la Belgique) was created in 1984 and in its more than 20 years of existence it has established itself as one of the most prestigious and avant-garde companies both inside and outside Belgium. Its shows - popular, anarchic, eclectic and committed - have been performed all over the world and received numerous awards. Les Ballets C de la B has become an artistic platform for choreographers Koen Augustijnen who, at the 2007 Festival de Otoño, presented IMPORT EXPORT, also for Les ballets C de la B. This year, he brings us Ashes, which features the music of Handel, specially arranged by composer Wim Selles together with the voices of Belgian counter-tenor Steve Dugardin and soprano Amaryllis Dieltiens. They are accompanied onstage by five musicians on violin, cello, lute, accordion and marimba.

The main theme of this new work, which was first performed in February this year in Zurich, is impermanence, as the website for Les ballets C de la B explains: "Nothing is forever. How do we deal with this? The performance is about the things people do (or do not do) in order not to lose what they have attained. It is about the constant duality of everyone's lives, between holding on to something and the art and difficulty of letting go."

www.lesballetscdela.be