Waterlanders

Waterlanders features de Châtel’s typical style with repetitive, ritualistic movements and shifting lines and patterns. After the successful performance Ló (a choreography for seven dancers and seven horses), Waterlanders is Krisztina de Châtel’s second outdoor choreography.

Liberated from the constraints of the theatre, Krisztina de Châtel fully exploits the possibilities of the Zeeland landscapes. Krisztina de Châtel’s choreographies are characterised by struggle: the dancers’ struggle with themselves but also with the surroundings – horses, an earthen bank and a metal ball are but a few examples from the past.

In Waterlanders the dancers engage in a struggle with two natural elements: water and wind. Both have specific characteristics which can provoke unusual events such as whirlwinds, floods and other powerful natural phenomena which should not be underestimated. In Waterlanders these characteristics are used to challenge the dancers. Images of water’s violent force form the backdrop for this choreography. Waterlanders is a choreography for ten dancers: eight on solid ground and two in water-filled cylinders. The décor is formed by the landscape of the various locations, three wind machines and two transparent cylinders that slowly fill up with water.

The dynamic with which de Châtel subjects nature to her laws is wonderful. (…) With its mythical lighting this earthy choreography has an intoxicating effect. (de Volkskrant)

The sophisticated lighting makes Waterlanders a fascinating visual spectacle in which the spectator feels strong empathy with the dancers’ concentration and physical effort. (NRC Handelsblad)

premiere 20 June 2001, Allersmaborg, Ezinge (Groningen)
choreography Krisztina de Châtel
music Dirk Haubrich
videoprojections Bea de Visser
light Mike van de Lagemaat
photography Deen van Meer