WORKS
SomeBodies
premiering in 2025
IMMERSIVE INSTALLATION
A permeable skin. A shared bone structure. A patchwork of borrowed hands and fingers and a sensation felt in the earlobe of the other. Whilst suddenly finding the eye of a stranger below your own eyebrow, you might encounter your body in the body of somebody else.
SomeBodies will be an interactive performance installation that combines elements of dance, visual art, text and the physical sensation and presence of its visitors to create an immersive experience.
Taking place in a pitch black dark cabinet divided by a transparent, reflective screen, two strangers are invited to sit across from each other, and simultaneously meet both the other and their own mirror image through the window in between them. The voice of an invisible narrator guides them through a ceremony that holds playful, game-like elements that carefully lead them into being curious about their bodily home, their identity and their interpersonal perception.This carefully directed meeting opens up a space for its visitors to hear, see and feel through an altered perspective and establish a surreal, but deeply personal connection with one’s own and the others’ presence.
CONCEPT Celine Werkhoven, Anna Zurkirchen FURTHER ARTISTS T.B.A.
FUTOUR
SITE-SPECIFIC DANCE PERFORMANCE (2024)
duration: 20 minutes
optional extended parade version: 40 minutes
FUTOUR is a site-specific, interactive dance performance, reflecting on the connection between the human entity and its environment, looking for the tension field between the artificial versus the natural and the futuristic versus the ancient. The performance invites viewers to pause and take in their surroundings through offering a moving collection of surprising perspectives .
Six mirror-faced, long haired creatures appear and move curiously through space, reflecting the architecture and environment around them. The movement of the dancers connects the performance space and the spectators, creating collages of historic and futuristic visions in the present moment.
As the group’s murmurations proceed through space, the creatures form an organism that is continuously dividing and fusing itself in order to find new patterns. Along the way, they find themselves connected through a common pulse that leads to increasingly synchronized movements. Their dance is accompanied by a raw and energetic soundtrack that mixes tribal and industrial tones.
CHOREOGRAPHY AND ARTISTIC DIRECTION Celine Werkhoven, Anna Zurkirchen COSTUMES Manuel Bischof MUSIC Misha Demoustier, Rint Mennes PERFORMERS Maria Sierra, Carolina Wilkinson, Loreen Jansen, Mira Sopart, Sarah Khalay, Marti Aparici, Alba F. Manzanero Francia PRODUCTION PARTNER BestKeptsSecretFestival, FHK
SONNET 3
VIDEO WORK (2024)
suitable as a vertical video installation or screening
duration: 10 minute loop
‘’Een klank met kracht, geen toon waarin het niets
Genaakt en duurzaam danst op wat verging’’ A.H.J. Dautzenberg
Through the medium of film, SKYPUNCH COLLECTIVE explores themes of decay, the intricate relationship between human and nature, and the delicate balance between the organic and the artificial.
SONNET 3 portrays the body as a dynamic entity, born in the earth, shaped and polished by its environment, morphing through different stages, until it returns again to the soils and waters, symbolizing the cyclical nature of life and death.
DIRECTION AND PERFORMANCE Celine Werkhoven, Anna Zurkirchen CAMERA Omri Bigetz SOUND COMPOSITION AND VOICE Celine Werkhoven EDIT AND COLOUR GRADE Anna Zurkirchen COSTUME Celine Werkhoven ASSISTENT Mira Sopart PROMPTED AND SUPPORTED BY Natuursonnetten – Rob Moonen and Anton Dautzenberg SUPPORTED BY DansBrabant
BothBodies
A VISUAL DANCE PERFORMANCE FOR TWO DANCERS AND THEIR REFLECTIONS (2023)
suitable for black box theaters or other blacked-out performance spaces
duration: 30 minutes
‘BothBodies’ is a search for grip within the intangible. Where does the Self end and where does the Other begin and does that boundary actually exist? Set in a scenography centered around a transparent, reflective screen, SKYPUNCH COLLECTIVE searches for both the strengths and limitations of human perception. In an analogue game for bodies, light and reflection, images are built up and broken down again, as fleeting and changeable as our experience of reality.
Through this work, Anna and Celine aim to create an immersive experience that resonates on both a deeply personal and a collective level. The viewer is invited into a sphere in which the senses are brought to the edge of what they can rationally comprehend, inviting them to perceive in a more intuitive way. Through the colliding and merging of the dancers’ bodies, and with the audience as their indispensable witness, the piece causes a disruption of the idea of a separate self.
CHOREOGRAPHY, SCENOGRAPHY AND PERFORMANCE Celine Werkhoven, Anna Zurkirchen LIGHT AND OUTSIDE EYE Manou Koreman COSTUME Celine Werkhoven MUSIC Celine Werkhoven, Julian Sartorius (‘Locked Groove’), Civilistjävel! (“B3)”)
NAÎAD
A DANCE PERFORMANCE ON WATER (2021)
duration: 20 minutes
On a mirrored cliff, a rock full of reflections, a creature appears. She moves to howling sounds, sometimes curious, sometimes monstrous. Two heads suddenly become four, her arms turn into legs, limbs grow out of her back and stretch out to new dimensions.
Her dance sets the rock in motion. A captivating game of holding on and letting go, falling and climbing, drowning and rising unfolds on and under the surface of the water.
‘NAÎAD’ is a performance that balances on the intersection of dance, music and visual art. The work makes use of its surroundings by making water an indispensable element of the performance. The scenography is built out of mirrors, to ensure that the immediate environment, such as the sky and the weather, are captured and form a part of the image. Throughout the twenty minutes of performance, alienating images, captivating movements and dynamic scenes pass by, accompanied by music specifically composed for this piece . The result is a performance that stimulates the imagination and submerges the audience into another world.
SCENOGRAPHY, CHOREOGRAPHY AND PERFORMANCE Celine Werkhoven, Anna Zurkirchen MUSIC Antonio Alemanno TECHNICAL DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION Ad Roefs PERFORMERS Arjan Gebraad, Ornella Prieto and others SUPPORT Bosch Parade and Balkonscenes/FPK
MIRROR
A WALKING PERFORMANCE THROUGH THE MUSEUM (2022)
duration: tailor made between 15 and 25 minutes
Two mysterious creatures move through the spaces, hallways and corners of the museum. Long skirts rustle past the audience, an arm points the way, bodies merge with the shapes of the painting behind them and a glimpse of a sculpture flashes by in the mirror shaped heads.
‘MIRROR’ is a wordless, performative tour through a museum or exposition space, in which two dancers use the language of movement to guide their audience through a space that comes to life. Their interaction with the artworks and the architecture of the building gently directs the viewer’s gaze. Their movements refer to the forms, stories and atmospheres present in the room. In their attempt to capture their surroundings, they capture both the outstanding and the subtle in meticulously timed turns, lines, jumps and shifts.
The mirrors in front of their faces turn the dancers into anonymous and constantly morphing beings, ready to reflect whatever appears on their surface. Like living image-catchers, they reflect the characteristics of the space, show an artwork from a surprising angle or draw attention to an otherwise unnoticed detail.
CONCEPT, PERFORMANCE AND MIRROR HEADS Celine Werkhoven, Anna Zurkirchen BLACK DRESSES Sasja Strengholt
CIRCE
SHORT DANCE FILM (2020)
duration: 16 minutes
Strange figures linger between the trees, a creature is born from a sea of grass and feathered bodies make their way through the dust.
‘CIRCE’ offers a view over a landscape filled with mythology and saga. Who lays eyes on its flowing hills and hidden caves is submerged in a realm of transformation, deception and seduction. ‘Circe’ is an intuitive journey that fades the border between man and animal, animal and man.
In this first production of SKYPUNCH COLLECTIVE, movement, sound, landscape and bodies form an alliance to awaken the sublime, ancient connection with nature that flows through our roots.
CONCEPT DIRECTION AND PERFORMANCE Celine Werkhoven, Anna Zurkirchen
CAMERA AND EDITING: Celine Werkhoven, Anna Zurkirchen COMPOSITION AND MUSIC Antonio Alemanno SCREENINGS Thessaloniki Cinedans International, Beirut International Women Film Festival, Near Nazareth Festival, Switzerland international festival, Inshadow Lisbon Screendance Festival, Dance On Screen Festival
