In Ann Van den Broek’s work duality, the delicate balance between control and letting go, between the positive and the negative, between masking and honestly divulging is always palpable. A predilection for the dark and the tragic side often prevails, so it was about time the balance tipped to the other side: To that of lightness and feeling good, to laughing together, embracing each other, nostalgically remembering old, but pleasant memories: creating joy!
But the corona crisis put quite a damper on those notions. A universal event put this perspective under pressure: The universal became personal instead of the other way around.
Creating Joy is not an ‘everyday production’. The structure is fragmented, sketchy. A record of daily activities, searching for meaning, pleasure and the will to go on. How you can find comfort, strength and tranquility in your head with simple activities: baking bread, a massage, rays of sunshine in spring, a good conversation.
Once again Ann shows the world on stage and beyond in a unique mix of real-time and prerecorded images in combination with live performances tied together by a master of ceremonies. There will be screens, a movable and compact set, social distancing and dancers working from home via a livestream.
In doing so, Creating Joy is also an account of making theater in an uncertain period. A time that places enormous demands on the ability of the choreographer and her performers to adapt. After all, with or without an audience, postponement or cancellation hangs over every performance like the Sword of Damocles. And yet they have started working on this new project in high spirits. It’s all about creating joy!
concept and choreography Ann Van den Broek
original cast (on stage and at home) Gregory Frateur, Louis Combeaud, Marion Bosetti, Jean-Gabriel Maury, Carla Guerra
original music composed and written by Nicolas Rombouts, Gregory Frateur
video- and lighting design Bernie van Velzen
scenography Niek Kortekaas
styling costumes Ann Van den Broek
assistant choreography and rehearsal director Nik Rajšek
prefilmed guestperformers by Tijs Delbeke, Sjoerd Bruil, Nicolas Rombouts, Gregory Frateur, Frauke Mariën, Nik Rajšek, Niek Kortekaas, Jutta Troch, Pieter Theuns, Ann Van den Broek
inspired by the original song A Part Of Us All by Dez Mona and B.O.X.
voice of An Hackselmans in interview with Ann Van den Broek
photography Rio Stalens
first presentation April 1, 2021, online
Creating Joy is a production of WArd/waRD (NL/BE) in co-production with permanent partners Theater Rotterdam (NL) and ccBerchem (BE). The project is supported by Fonds Podiumkunsten (NL).
WArd/waRD
| Date | City | Venue | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Oct 2021 | Creating Joy | Rotterdam (NL), TR Schouwburg | |
| 02 Jul 2021 | Creating Joy | Amsterdam (NL), Julidans | |
| 01 Jul 2021 | Creating Joy | Amsterdam (NL), Julidans | |
| 05 Jun 2021 | Creating Joy | Rotterdam (NL), TR Schouwburg – cancelled | |
| 04 Jun 2021 | Creating Joy | Rotterdam (NL), TR Schouwburg – cancelled | |
| 03 Jun 2021 | Creating Joy | Nijmegen (NL), LUX – cancelled | |
| 02 Jun 2021 | Creating Joy | Breda (NL), Chassé Theater – cancelled | |
| 31 May 2021 | Creating Joy | Helmond (NL), ECI Cultuurfabriek – cancelled | |
| 27 May 2021 | Creating Joy | Leiden (NL), Theater Ins Blau – cancelled | |
| 26 May 2021 | Creating Joy | Almere (NL), Corrosia Theater, Film & Expo – cancelled | |
| 01 May 2021 | Creating Joy | Den Haag (NL), Korzo – cancelled | |
| 29 Apr 2021 | Creating Joy | Breda (NL), Chassé Theater – cancelled | |
| 24 Apr 2021 | Creating Joy | Utrecht (NL), Theater Kikker – cancelled | |
| 23 Apr 2021 | Creating Joy | Utrecht (NL), Theater Kikker – cancelled | |
| 21 Apr 2021 | Creating Joy | Arnhem (NL), Stadstheater – cancelled | |
| 20 Apr 2021 | Creating Joy | Almere (NL), Corrosia Theater, Film & Expo – cancelled | |
| 17 Apr 2021 | Creating Joy | Purmerend (NL), Theater De Verbeelding – cancelled | |
| 15 Apr 2021 | Creating Joy | Nijmegen (NL), LUX – cancelled | |
| 13 Apr 2021 | Creating Joy | Haarlem (NL), Toneelschuur – cancelled | |
| 10 Apr 2021 | Creating Joy | Maastricht (NL), AINSI Theater – cancelled | |
| 08 Apr 2021 | Creating Joy | Drachten (NL), Schouwburg De Lawei – cancelled | |
| 06 Apr 2021 | Creating Joy | Amsterdam (NL), Theater Bellevue – cancelled | |
| 04 Apr 2021 | Creating Joy | Rotterdam (NL), TR Schouwburg – ONLINE | |
| 03 Apr 2021 | Creating Joy | Rotterdam (NL), TR Schouwburg – ONLINE | |
| 02 Apr 2021 | Creating Joy | Rotterdam (NL), TR Schouwburg – ONLINE | |
| 01 Apr 2021 | Creating Joy | Rotterdam (NL), TR Schouwburg – ONLINE | |
| 27 Mar 2021 | Creating Joy | Leiden (NL), Theater Ins Blau – cancelled | |
| 26 Mar 2021 | Creating Joy | Helmond (NL), ECI Cultuurfabriek – cancelled | |
| 24 Mar 2021 | Creating Joy | Tilburg (NL), De Nieuwe Vorst – cancelled | |
| 18 Mar 2021 | Creating Joy | Rotterdam (NL), TR Witte de With – cancelled | |
| 17 Mar 2021 | Creating Joy | Rotterdam (NL), TR Witte de With – cancelled |
“Although the concept of this piece was in the making before the pandemic, the current situation gives it a more urgent layer.”
– Movementexposed.com (NL)
“A work-in-progress, Creating Joy is as much the vulnerable fruit of an unfinished concept as a masterclass in media-saviness applied to performance.”
– Springbackmagazine.com (UK)
“Creating Joy is a proposal, a sketch, a possibility. The song ‘A part of us all’, which keeps coming back, with the hypnotic songlines ‘these are times to cherish and things to live for, a part of us all’, evokes a paradoxical logic of what we have to surrender to and what is at the same time so clearly missing.”
– Theaterkrant (NL)