27th May.
At a time when polarization and successive crises are driving us apart, Beutler and her team emphasize what connects us. The dance opera searches for a new balance of humans, animals, plants, fungi, bacteria and technology; as a dream of the future in which all elements live together in harmony.
Inspired by the inextricable connections of fungal threads in a mycelium, the performers build a polyphonic and infinitely repeating interplay. The physical boundaries between stage and audience are stretched and the visitor experiences a performance in which music, song, dance and decor merge into an eco-futuristic ‘joint singing for more cohesion’. The voices of the performers, the local city choir led by the young composer Timo Tembuyser, the decor by Lena Newton and the electronic soundscapes by composer Gary Shepherd form a Gesamtkunstwerk as a collective breathing.
After the world premiere, the Dutch premiere will follow during O. Festival on 27th May in Theater Rotterdam. The company will perform at Julidans in Internationaal Theater Amsterdam on 8th and 9th July. After a short summer break, the dance opera can be seen in the major theatres in the Netherlands from September to November 2025. Each location will be performed by a locally recruited amateur choir.
A more in-depth programme will be organised in the foyer in parallel with the performance. Nicole Beutler Projects will work with (local) performers and art students for this. For example, from an hour before the performance, visitors are welcome to visit the climate psychologists in De Groene Kliniek or on the balance board of artist Julien F. Thomas.
Trilogy RITUALS OF TRANSFORMATION
NOW WE ARE EARTH / An Orchestra is the third part of the trilogy RITUALS OF TRANSFORMATION (towards a new humanity). In this trilogy, Beutler designs hopeful visions of the future for humanity’s place on earth in times of climate crisis.
Now that we are inundated with doomsday scenarios, theatre offers us the chance to imagine our potential for healing. In the first part GINKGO or: 56 million years ago there were palm trees on the North Pole (2022) we said goodbye to the man-made world. In the second part ATMEN / evolution is silently unfolding (2023) nature came back to breathe. The final piece focuses on a new balance. Although NOW WE ARE EARTH / An Orchestra is part of a larger story, the performance can also be viewed on its own.
