Zooi

When a dancer lifts a ballerina into the air and lets her glide through space, we can just call it art. But when a garbage man throws a bag through the air, we say they chuck them. Choreographer Krisztina de Châtel questions these assumptions by exploring the beauty of garbage collection in the choreography Zooi.

The performance, which is a collaboration between Dansgroep Krisztina de Châtel and the Department of Waste Collection of the Borough of Amsterdam Oud Zuid, involves dancers, garbage men, street sweepers and their trucks.

Krisztina de Châtel always tries to involve ‘normal people’ in her work. While cycling to her dance studio, she was inspired by the sight of the garbage men at work. De Châtel: ‘When I looked at their routine movements, I saw beauty in it. In their brightly coloured outfits they threw the bags into trucks with a majestic swing. I noticed an exceptional physical energy. I connect their work and movements with my dance material. It is exciting to transform something which is apparently so mundane into something unusual.’

premiere 14 July 2005 Over het IJ Festival, Amsterdam
choreography Krisztina de Châtel
dance Gaia Gonnelli, Sanja Hasagic, Cecilia Moisio, Massimo Molinari, Keyna Nara, Swantje Schäuble, Goran Turnšek, Igor Bacovich (stagiair), Barbara Devens (stagiaire)
garbage men Hafid Asbaa, Antoon van Druten, Tom van Dijk, Roberto Giancola, Abdurrahim Hakbilen, Gerard de Jong, Jegnie Linger, Roy Nelstein, Sam Pencinkaya, René van Poelgeest, Sjaak Scherpenhuizen, Manfred van der Vuurst, Michael Zeelenberg
stagedesign Krisztina de Châtel, Peter de Kimpe
music soundscapes of Han Otten and Danny Weijermans (Soundpalette), operafragments from Gioacchino Rossini
light Bernie van Velzen
costumes Edith Ordelman
photography Deen van Meer