Cherish Menzo/ GRIP & Theater Utrecht icw Dance on Ensemble
2025
© Nick Mattan
© Nick Mattan
- Premiere May 2025 -
“We are in an alien world. Only awkward movement is possible.” (Bayo Akomolafe) Choreographer Cherish Menzo examines the figure of the monster in FRANK—short for Frankenstein. More than (re)producing a physical or visual portrayal of the monster, she is researching the monstrous as an embodiment of beliefs and narratives that terrify and horrify, and yet also attract us. Distortion is a choreographic leitmotif used to generate movement material and as a tool to devour the dance and loosen its structure. Cherish Menzo investigates the action of decay and how something gradually breaking down and becoming less or worse can affect one’s gestures.
She is joined by Omagbitse Omagbemi, Mulunesh, and Malick Cissé—performing artists from different generations—to construct a performance between the ritual, the apocalypse, and the carnival, where narrated identities are challenged, where flesh can deviate and be corrupted until it bursts and becomes unbearable. The dancers express their standing in the world with incoherent, broken-down movement in a scenery that collapses around them. In an increasingly unstable world of hiccups and unlikely events, often gruesome and violent, we are reminded of early horror movies and this eerie feeling, the flicker in the dark.
CONCEPT AND DIRECTION Cherish Menzo
CREATION AND PERFORMANCE Malick Cissé, Mulunesh, Omagbitse Omagbemi
SOUND DESIGN Maria Muehombo a.k.a M I M I
VIDEO DESIGN Andrea Casetti
SOUND AND VIDEO ENGINEERING Arthur De Vuyst
SET DESIGN Morgana Machado Marques
LIGHTING DESIGN Ryoya Fudetani
DRAMATURGY Johanne Affricot, Renée Copraij
MAKE-UP DESIGN Johanna Cool
TEXT Khadija El Kharraz Alami, Cherish Menzo
TECHNICIAN ON TOUR Ryoya Fudetani, Hadrien Jeangette, Arthur De Vuyst
GRAPHIC DESIGN Nick Mattan
PRODUCTION GRIP & Theater Utrecht (Dorothy Blokland, Dagmar Bokma, Anne Breure, Owen Cicilia, Kelly de Haan, Sophie de Loos, Hanne Doms, Maurice Dujardin, Seline Gosling, Anneleen Hermans, Tom Hemmer, Myrthe Ligtenberg, Rudi Meulemans, Lize Meynaerts, Klaartje Oerlemans, Jennifer Piasecki, Luisa Redenbacher, Florien Smits, Sylvie Svanberg, Ad van Mierlo, Pien Visser, Lenette Vlasman, Vincent Wijlhuizen, Nele Verreyken)
IN COLLABORATION WITH Dance On Ensemble
INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION A propic - Line Rousseau, Marion Gauvent
CO-PRODUCTION Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Carreau du Temple - Etablissement culturel et sportif de la Ville de Paris, Productiehuis Theater Rotterdam, Julidans Amsterdam, PACT Zollverein funded by the Ministry for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Festival Montpellier Danse 2025, le Centre Chorégraphique National d’Orléans – Direction Maud Le Pladec, Tanzquartier Wien, DDD – Festival Dias da Dança, festival d’Automne à Paris, One Dance Festival, Perpodium
WITH THE SUPPORT OF Centre nationale de la danse à Pantin, BRONKS, GC Pianofabriek, l’Atelier de Paris - Centre de développement chorégraphique national
WITH THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF the Flemish Government, Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government via Cronos Invest, BNG Bank Theaterprijs, Charlotte Köhler Prijs van het Cultuurfonds, Culture Moves Europe, a project funded by the European Union and the Goethe-Institut
This work was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.
