“This
performance
is a set of
building blocks”
Wim Vandekeybus on booty Looting and the 25th
anniversary of Ultima Vez
Ines Minten
Ines Minten is a freelance
cultural journalist and
editor. She studied German
languages​​, journalism and
theater studies.
We talk to Wim Vandekeybus on his second free day in two years. It’s full steam ahead at Ultima
Vez and there are signs that this will continue this coming season as well. A new building. A 25th
anniversary. Revivals of some of the most diverse performances in the repertoire. But above all the
Belgian premiere of booty Looting, a performance that seeks truth and proclaims lies, writes fiction
and constructs history, that exposes and reverberates, analyses and charts.
I
t is the most analytical Ultima Vez performance so far.
This is how booty Looting has already been described.
Wim Vandekeybus subscribes to this. ‘An Austrian
critic wrote this after the world premiere at the Venice
Dance Biennale in June’, he says. ‘And it is true. Reference
and analysis have become the form of the performance.’
Reconstructing a fictional life
The core of booty Looting is the character Birgit Walter.
She is an anthropologist, actress, mother and wife. Or
maybe not. She’s a femme fatale, a fatal woman, she
is Medea, Romy Schneider. Or not? ‘It’is good to start
out from a fictional character’, says Wim Vandekeybus.
‘A fictional character who has the name of the actress
playing the part. The character Jerry (Jerry Killick –
IM) creates the reconstruction of her life. What then
happens is what always happens when you admire
someone: you tell their story but at the same time
you steal from them, you run away with them.’ Lots of
things are ultimately created in this way: truth, history, a
performance. ‘Until now I have always refused to reveal
my points of reference’, explains Wim Vandekeybus.
‘It is something I simply don’t like to do. But of course
I too work in this way. In booty Looting I do reveal my
references, but obliquely: at least 30% is made up.’ One
of the references is the influential German artist Joseph
Beuys (1921-1986). Whenever he used felt in a work
he always told the same story. During WW II he worked
for the Luftwaffe. While he was on a mission in the
Crimea his plane crashed. The pilot was killed instantly
but he – Beuys – was rescued by Tartars. To save him
from hypothermia they smeared fat all over his body
and wrapped him in felt. Behold the reference of the
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reference. Afterwards it turned out that Joseph Beuys
was quite creative with the truth. The pungent smell of
fat and felt awakened the artist in him and remained a
lasting source of inspiration. In reality there was neither
fat nor felt. ‘It now appears he was never in that plane.
In fact he worked for the postal services…’
Distortion of the memory
What is truth and what is a lie? How constructed is the
truth and how true to life is the lie? It is from questions
like this that booty Looting grew. They all come together
in one key element: memory and how it shapes things.
The title of the performance refers to this. Booty Looting
refers to a double form of plundering: stealing what
has already been stolen, plundering what has been
plundered, looting the booty. On stage there are eight
figures: six performers, the musician Elko Blijweert and
rock photographer Danny Willems. The photographer
makes the distortion of memory, looting the booty,
concrete.
‘I am fascinated by photography and what it can
generate’, explains Wim Vandekeybus. ‘A photo adds
something, transforms, omits things, can deceive
the viewer.’ Danny Willems takes photos during the
performance. The results are projected live onto a large
screen. In this way the audience can follow the process
of reality and fiction: what is happening on stage and
what can we see in the photo? Only rarely do both
display the same thing. ‘Memories are often created
or distorted from photos’, Vandekeybus points out. He
gives an example that Jerry Killick brought up during
rehearsals. There’s a picture of a boat trip on the wall
in his house. His children have lively memories of that
43
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outing, even though they were too young to actually
remember it.
Movement, words and music are given an equal place
alongside photography. Indeed these too can affect
the imagination, evoke images and manipulate. ‘If I tell
you something, you form an image of it, just as when I
show you a photo. The same with music. Every medium
adds something or erases something.’ This is why
Vandekeybus wants no hierarchies in this performance.
Memory is constantly honed by what you experience. ‘A
harsh event can suddenly make something ugly that you
used to find beautiful – and suddenly a good memory
becomes a bad memory.’ He tells the story of a boy who
tells a girlfriend that he has only two powerful memories
of his father’s funeral: the coffin being taken outside
and her father crying out loud. ‘The girl is stunned and
tells him that her father never made the funeral because
he missed his plane. What must the boy do with this
memory? It is the memory of an extremely important
moment in his life and it appears incorrect. Should he
keep it or discard it?’ Does Vandekeybus himself have
distorted memories like this? ‘I’m sure I have masses
of them’, says the choreographer. ‘But I am not aware
of them. You also see it in simple things: you remember
having an enormous horse when you were a child, but
later on it emerges that it really was quite small. You
have grown, so your reference has changed.’ This is
precisely what happens with more complex material.
‘I associate memory very closely with emotion, far more
than with reason. Maybe this is a personal thing…
You always remember the bad things more than the
good. It is the same with performances: after a feelgood play you go home feeling happy, but the emotion
fades. On the other hand, a play that upsets you…’
Consequently, booty Looting is anything but a feelgood play. ‘It demands a lot from the audience’, says
Vandekeybus. ‘This is also something I set out to do:
how can I manipulate the audience? I did not want just
a single story that continued on to the end in a single
line. In booty Looting we play with the audience: we put
them on a false trail, turn back, build up something and
break it down. This performance is like a set of building
blocks.’ Booty Looting constantly evokes questions and
this is a puzzle the audience has to work out: is this real
or not? Joseph Beuys is real – but who is Birgit Walter?
Does my memory serve me well or is it playing tricks
on me? ‘And then I got rid of a few scenes, otherwise
people would be too confused’, smiles Vandekeybus.
Ultima Vez, booty Looting
© Danny Willems
Catapult into what is to come
Booty Looting is the only creation on the Ultima Vez
programme this year. ‘This is my second free day in
two years and that’s too much’, says Vandekeybus.
‘Sometimes you have to take time to do other things,
occasionally grab a book and read. Only if you do
this will you have the room to create new things.’
Does this mean that Ultima Vez is now heading for
a calm season? Not at all. The programme consists
of an interesting range of performances. The spoken
performance Bêt noir (the Oedipus story adapted by Jan
Decorte, but then revived à la Ultima Vez), the youth
performance Radical wrong, and NieuwZwart (words
by Peter Verhelst and music by Mauro Pawlowski in
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combination with the explosive violence of Ultima Vez),
and not forgetting What the Body does not Remember –
the first Ultima Vez-production, now precisely 25 years
old.
Will Vandekeybus be making a jubilee programme
this year? A synopsis of past creations? ‘I see it as a
catapult into what is to come’, he says. ‘You could see
it as the range of what Ultima Vez has to offer. But then
it is only a small section of the range… After all, I have
done 27 productions.’
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Joseph Beuys
But why precisely What the Body…? ‘After 25 years
it is probably logical to do a revival of one’s very first
production. On the other hand it contains beautiful
movements, poses and scenes which have long
disappeared from my work and which I think are very
much worth presenting to a modern audience. After
ten years you have a completely different audience
watching your work anyway. And now we are talking
about 25 years… How many of today’s audience saw
the first series of What the Body? Some of the cast in
booty Looting were not even born! This is why I am very
glad that we can stage these two performances together
in Prague and elsewhere. So that anyone can see the
first one and then soon after that the most recent. What
is even more interesting is that in this way they can
enter into a dialogue with one another. So I hope that
more theatres will show an interest in presenting the two
together on their programme.’
Black Ponds
Ultima Vez will also be celebrating its 25th anniversary
with a new building. Behind a big old iron garage door
in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek is where Ultima Vez, the dance
and theatre company Peeping Tom, Khadouj Films (run
by Lut Vandekeybus – Wim’s sister) and Soit, Hans Van
den Broeck’s company, are housed. Ultima Vez is the
owner, the others rent.
Until recently Ultima Vez was spread over several
locations in Brussels: offices on Koolmijnenkaai by
the canal, a rehearsal room in Elsene, storage space
somewhere else. It was not easy to find a large enough
space in Brussels, especially not one that was suitable
for turning into dance studios. But time was running
out. The building in Elsene had a new owner and he
wanted to use it for other purposes. It was suggested
that Ultima Vez move to the Rosas premises, but it is
not large enough to accommodate a second company of
this size. The former Minister of Culture, Bert Anciaux,
had run out of available funds. Nevertheless, the
government was able to grant a starter’s subsidy as
long as the building was purchased in 2008. At the last
moment the company found the current premises in
Zwarte Vijversstraat, an old factory that manufactured
raincoats. With 250,000 euro starter’s subsidy, 300,000
euro from the VGC, 300,000 from FoCi (Fund for
Cultural Infrastructure), 300,000 euro of their own and
a loan of one million, the new place was purchased.
Renovation started in February 2011.
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The official inauguration of ‘de Zwarte Vijvers’ (the Black
Ponds) which is what the staff now call their building,
will take place in the autumn. In reality the offices had
already moved to Molenbeek on 12th June 2012, 25
years to the day after the opening performance of What
the Body does not Remember. A beautiful symbol for a
building that will play an important part in Ultima Vez’
future. Vandekeybus himself had already moved into the
studio a few months before. ‘We had rehearsed here
only once and I did not want to leave.’ At the time there
was only one toilet and a shower with cold water. ‘But it
is such a wonderful building.’
The large studio in which Vandekeybus created booty
Looting is 23 metres long, 16 metres wide and 9 metres
high. It has natural light, but there are window shades
which can be drawn to create a black box. In this
large studio, the architect Marcel Rijdams designed
a smaller, suspended, version. The two studios have
their own showers and sanitary facilities so that they
can be used independently. This is useful, since the
arrangement allows Vandekeybus to work on two
creations simultaneously. Moreover, if Ultima Vez does
not need a studio, or only one, they can be rented out
to other groups. This not only lightens the burden of the
loan, but also responds to a need for rehearsal rooms
in the dynamic city of dance that Brussels is. ‘The
building only has a rough finish, but that’s fine’, says
Vandekeybus. ‘It suits us very well.’
Open house
The Zwarte vijvers will be an open house primarily for
young talent in the world of dance. In September Wim
Vandekeybus will be giving an intensive three-week
workshop. ‘500 candidates once again showed up for
the last audition’, he explains. ‘And the final forty of
them were all exciting performers. But yes, you only
need a handful for a production. So I thought: I will
invite them all! For three weeks, six days a week they
will be working alternately with dance and three theatre
teachers. And of course I will be walking around all the
time. The workshop is free – as a gesture because it is
the first time. Giving a workshop like this is interesting
for all those involved. It is also a way for me to keep
up to date with my own way of working and thinking.
Before it starts I never actually feel like doing it. But this
changes once I start working. I always say: I’m not a
teacher, but you can work with me. I think it is important
to pass on my knowledge and watch people and I am
good at getting something out of them. I also think it
is crucial that dancers learn to speak on stage. Some
of them get it completely wrong but you always come
across untapped talent.’
Young talent should be given opportunities, says
Vandekeybus, just as he was when he wanted to prove
himself as a young, penniless, creator. ‘I used to borrow
cameras from people and not give them back because
they never asked me for them. In the end they even
gave me the manual: We have bought a new one so
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Ultima Vez, booty Looting
© Danny Willems
keep it… One day I visited Joannes Van Heddegem,
who worked in the audiovisual department of Leuven.
I have to be able to edit, I said, can I get an editing
studio? He could give me just one day, but a week later
I was still there. Occasionally he would come, look and
shake his head, but he always went away and left me
to it. And now he is chairman of Ultima Vez’ Board of
Directors. I love it when things like this happen.’
Ultima Vez also wants to provide the neighbourhood
with an open house. ‘This doesn’t mean hanging up a
large flag on the facade with ‘Ultima Vez’ and ‘feel free
to come inside’ on it. ‘I don’t think this would work in
Molenbeek’, says Vandekeybus. ‘We want to bring in the
neighbourhood through the many organisations located
here. For example, I would like to do something with
the Fanfakids again. I have already worked with them in
the past (for the youth version of Bêt noir in 2005 – IM)
and now they’re located only fifty metres away from us.
Our public-oriented activities have also visited quite
a few other local organisations’, he continues. ‘We
really do not want the whole of Molenbeek to descend
on us all at the same time, but we do want to explore
the possibilities and then do something with them. If in
September 40 dancers from all over the world come in
and out of here every day, eat in restaurants and shop
at the local grocery store, this will automatically create a
certain dynamism and curiosity about what is happening
behind the big gate. It should develop slowly.’ n
booty Looting
Wim Vandekeybus
Ultima Vez
15 September 2012
De Warande, Turnhout
9 October 2012
Magdalenazaal,
Cultuurcentrum Brugge
11 October 2012
Cultuurcentrum De Spil,
Roeselare
13 October 2012
Cultuurcentrum Kortrijk
18-20 October 2012
deSingel, Antwerpen
22 November 2012
Cultuurcentrum Hasselt
28-29 November 2012
Stadsschouwburg, Leuven
→→www.ultimavez.com
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