22 — 26.05
“We are in an alien world. Only awkward movement is possible.” (Bayo Akomolafe) Choreographer Cherish Menzo examines the figure of the monster in FRANK—short for Frankenstein. More than (re)producing a physical or visual portrayal of the monster, she is researching the monstrous as an embodiment of beliefs and narratives that terrify and horrify, and yet also attract us.
Distortion is a choreographic leitmotif used to generate movement material and as a tool to devour the dance and loosen its structure. Menzo investigates the action of decay and how something gradually breaking down and becoming less or worse can affect one’s gestures. She is joined by Omagbitse Omagbemi, Mulunesh, and Malick Cissé—performing artists from different generations—to construct a performance between the ritual, the apocalypse, and the carnival, where narrated identities are challenged, where flesh can deviate and be corrupted until it bursts and becomes unbearable.
The dancers express their standing in the world with incoherent, broken-down movement in a scenery that collapses around them. In an increasingly unstable world of hiccups and unlikely events, often gruesome and violent, we are reminded of early horror movies and this eerie feeling, the flicker in the dark.
"Menzo is a bold performer, she's got nerve, she's got a very still steeliness about her and she's got important things to say." - Lyndsey Winship, 2022, The Guardian
"Although Menzo’s works are decidedly political, they seem to take a different route to politics than more conventional activist performance. By “stretching the notions of time,” Menzo aims to “generate new readings” for the black body." - Jonas Rutgeerts, 2025, The Drama Review
Presentation: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, KVS
Concept and direction: Cherish Menzo | Creation and performance: Malick Cissé, Mulunesh, Omagbitse Omagbemi | Sound design: Maria Muehombo aka M I M I | Video design: Andrea Casetti | Sound and video engineering: Arthur De Vuyst | Set design: Morgana Machado Marques | Lighting design: Ryoya Fudetani | Dramaturgy: Johanne Affricot, Renée Copraij | Costumes : Cherish Menzo | Make-up design: Johanna Cool | Text: Khadija El Kharraz Alami, Cherish Menzo | Artistic advice: Khadija El Kharraz Alami, Nicole Geertruida | Technicians on tour: Ryoya Fudetani, Hadrien Jeangette, Arthur De Vuyst | Graphic design: Nick Mattan | Thanks to: Mildred Caprino, Anne Goedhart, Rodney Frederik & Winti Formation “Krin Ati,” Daryll Geldrop, Ernie Wolf, Sandra Menzo, Shavelie Menzo, Madeleine Planeix-Crocker, Sarah Garnaud, Alice Bröker | Texts: Cherish Menzo, Disembodied Narrator, inspired by and with fragments of the introduction text of The Host in Wes Andersons Astroid City and George Orwells, 1984; Fragments, alterations, and reinterpretations of chapter 4 van Mary Shelley, The Modern Prometheus; Cherish Menzo, THE WITNESS, THE MONSTROUS; Chaka Demus and Pliers, Sister Nancy, Toots & the Maytals, Bam Bam | Inspiration, references, bibliography: Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks; Grada Kilomba, Plantation Memories, Episodes Of Everyday Racism; Julia Jristeva, Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection; Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus; Christina Sharpe, Monstrous Intimacies; Saidiya Hartman, Venus in Two Acts; Susan Stryker, My Words to Victor Frankenstein above the Village of Chamounix Performing Transgender Rage; For the Wild: Dr Bayo Akomolafe on Coming alive to other senses /300 (podcast) ; AS TEMPERATURES RISE, EP 9. Bayo Akomolafe: Monsters, Fugitivity and Sitting in the Lostness of Things (podcast) ; Peter Hutchings, The Horror Film ; Wes Anderson, Asteroid City (The Host and General Gibson) ; Allan Lloyd Smith, This Thing of Darkness’ Racial Discourse in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Production: GRIP & Theater Utrecht (Dorothy Blokland, Dagmar Bokma, Anne Breure, Owen Cicilia, Kelly de Haan, Hanne Doms, Seline Gosling, Anneleen Hermans, Tom Hemmer, Myrthe Ligtenberg, Rudi Meulemans, Lize Meynaerts, Klaartje Oerlemans, Jennifer Piasecki, Florien Smits, Sylvie Svanberg, Ad van Mierlo, Vincent Wijlhuizen, Nele Verreyken) | In collaboration with: Dance On Ensemble | International distribution: A propic - Line Rousseau, Marion Gauvent | Coproduction: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Carreau du Temple, Productiehuis Theater Rotterdam, Julidans, PACT Zollverein, Montpellier Danse, Centre Chorégraphique National d’Orléans, Tanzquartier Wien, DDD - Festival Dias da Dança, Festival d’Automne à Paris, One Dance Festival, Perpodium
With the support of the Ammodo Foundation, the Government of Flanders, the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government via Cronos Invest, BNG Bank Theaterprijs and the Cultuurfonds Talentprijs Charlotte Köhler, Culture Moves Europe | Thanks to the Centre national de la danse, BRONKS, KWP Kunstenwerkplaats, Atelier de Paris
