United Kingdom booty Looting by Ultima Vez 12 & 13 November 2013, at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, £25 £20 £15
For booking information visit southbankcentre.co.uk or phone 0844 847 9915.
Southbank Centre presents the UK première of booty Looting by renowned Belgian filmmaker and choreographer Wim Vandekeybus and his company Ultimza Vez. Vandekeybus is known for pioneering multi-disciplinary performance and his work often explores the physical risks of dancing. He has collaborated with the likes of David Byrne, Jan Fabre and Marc Ribot.
In booty Looting music, dance, theatre and photography are on an equal footing, and the work features four dancers, two actors and a musician. The work tells the story of actress Birgit Walter, with the performers documenting her life, portraying her as both femme fatale and an ill-fated woman.
Rock photographer Danny Willems joins the performers on stage and takes photos of the action. These images are then displayed live on a screen at the back of the stage forming a backdrop to the rest of the performance. Through the work Vandekeybus is questioning society’s obsession with documenting daily life through photography, and the way the resulting images are often used to exaggerate or distort the reality.
The use of photography in the work also enables Vandekeybus to talk about memory, and explore the memory of performance. He said “memories are often created or distorted on the basis of photographs… Taste and touch are much more sensitive, but the visual is dominant. Which is why you can perfectly well remember things you have never experienced, simply because you have seen pictures of them.”
CAST AND CREATIVES:
CREATED WITH & PERFORMED BY Jerry Killick, Birgit Walter, Elena Fokina, Dymitry Szypura, Luke Jessop, Kip Johnson
ORIGINAL MUSIC LIVE Elko Blijweert
LIVE STILL-PHOTOGRAPHY Danny Willems