THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER 2.0

Jan Martens & GRIP

2025
© Alwin Poiana
© Studio Rios Zertuche
“…when you ask a person to jump, his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so that the real person appears.” - Philippe Halsman

– World premiere:  september 2025, Biennale de la danse 2025, Lyon, FR –

‘Open all pores to this gem. And above all, don't forget to breathe.’ wrote the Nieuwsblad in 2014 about THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER. The reviews back then did not lie: this production marked the absolute breakthrough for Jan Martens, with an extensive international tour of more than 100 performances.

In 2025, Jan Martens and GRIP are recreating this successful show with a new cast. Over the past few years, various dance academies took up this choreographic material: for large groups, amateurs or professionals – the work continued to capture the imagination because of its physical challenge and choreographic ingenuity. THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER has become an audience favourite and a landmark among performances that focus on exhaustion and repetitiveness.

The American photographer Philippe Halsman once said: “When you ask a person to jump, his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so that the real person appears.” With THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER Jan Martens took this statement as a starting point and exposed through the jump the person behind the dancer.

In THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER, the dancer is defined as a pure performer, striving after perfection. Subjected to a complex, mathematical, vigorous and exhausting choreography executed in forced uniformity, the eight dancers ultimately slip up. And then their masks fall.

Thanks to its radical choreographic form, THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER revealed the audience’s perception of dancers, choreographers, spectators and the cultural policy at the time. Ten years on, these questions are still very much relevant due to current political and social trends: Where does the thin line between art and entertainment lie? Who are we as an audience when we contemplate the suffering of dancers from the theatre like a bullfight in an arena? Is contemporary dance striptease for the elite? THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER makes the viewer shift in his position: from being merely subjected to the experience to actively reflecting on it.

THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER was selected for The Theatre Festival in Belgium as one of the most important performances of 2014. The jury wrote: ‘The performance possesses the concentration of a breath-taking trip, including clever dramaturgy and fantastic lighting design. The small changes in light, sound or movements also make you look at the bodies differently each time. With this creation, Jan Martens shows his versatility as a promising choreographer. After the more intimate duets, he now opts for mathematical dance patterns that make the dancers suffer. Watching them suffer is also suffering. And it is realisation. To realise that we rush through life senselessly.’

tour dates

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press quotes

THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER is the most critical performance by Martens up until today. It reveals the mechanism of looking in the theatre and our longing for entertainment, by demanding the stage to be a place for an encounter between one man and another. 
- **** Charlotte De Somviele, De Standaard, 08 April 2014

a work in empathy with the world
- Philippe Noisette - Les Echos, 23 March 2015

A breath-taking physical performance that is sure to be remembered for a long time to come.
- Maud Cucchi, Le Droit, 22 October 2015

A literally breathtaking dance that makes the specator an embarassed voyeur, witness of so much willingly suffering. Yet at the same time all that jumping makes up a clear statement about the raging chaos with which we rush through a more and more superficial life.
- **** Els Van Steenberghe, Knack Focus, 09 April 2014

It was a wave of energy, and their sheer determination swept over the audience and filled us with awe.
- Rachel Silver, The Peak, 6 November, 2015

Open all pores to this gem. And above all, don't forget to breathe.
- Magali Degrande, Het Nieuwsblad, 4 April 2014

Jan Martens conjures a mesmerizing choreography of nothing but jump strength and geometry.
-
 **** Annette Embrechts, De Volkskrant, 24 March 2014

THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER makes an indelible impression.
An impressive feat of perfectly synchronized endurance.

- Mirjam Van der Linden, De Volkskrant, 31 March 2014

durational dance as a killer workout
- Brian Seibert, The New York Times, 28 September 2014

credits

CHOREOGRAPHY: Jan Martens
ARTISTIC ASSISTANCE: Naomi Gibson
ARTISTIC ASSISTANCE / COACHING: Steven Michel, Piet Defrancq
PERFORMERS: Pierre Bastin, Camilla Bundel, Jim Buskens, Zoë Chungong, Simon Lelièvre, Florence Lenon, Elisha Mercelina, Dan Mussett, Pierre Adrien Touret, Zora Westbroek, Maisie Woodford, Paolo Yao
ORIGINAL CAST: Piet Defrancq, Naomi Gibson, Nelle Hens, Julien Josse, Kimmy Ligtvoet, Cherish Menzo, Steven Michel, Laura Vanborm and/or Morgane Ribbens, Ilse Ghekiere, Victor Dumont, Connor Schumacher, Caspar Knops, Amerigo Delli Bove, Daniel Barkan
DRAMATURGY: Renée Copraij
COSTUME DESIGN: to be confirmed
LIGHTING DESIGN: Jan Fedinger
TECHNICIANS ON TOUR: to be confirmed
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Nick Mattan

PRODUCTION: GRIP (Hanne Doms, Anneleen Hermans, Rudi Meulemans, Klaartje Oerlemans, Jennifer Piasecki, Sylvie Svanberg, Nele Verreyken)
INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION: A propic / Line Rousseau, Marion Gauvent
DOG DAYS 2014 COPRODUCTION: Frascati Producties, SPRING performing arts festival, DansBrabant, La Briqueterie CDC du Val-de-Marne, tanzhaus nrw and TAKT Dommelhof
DOG DAYS 2025 COPRODUCTION La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand, Maison de la danse, Lyon/Pôle européen de création, en soutien à la Biennale de la danse 2025, Theater Rotterdam, Perpodium
RESIDENCIES: Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand
DOG DAYS 2014 WITH THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF: The Flemish Government and Performing Arts Fund NL
DOG DAYS 2025 WITH THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF: The Flemish Government, Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government via Cronos Invest
DOG DAYS 2014 WITH THE SUPPORT OF: workspacebrussels en wpZimmer
THANKS TO: Dansateliers, Conny Janssen Danst, JAN en ICKamsterdam

WITH THE SUPPORT OF Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels