Choreographer and dancer Seppe Baeyens (*1981) creates work that lies at the intersection of what is traditionally considered dance and theatre. He turns this boundary into a fertile artistic research space for a social and connective experiment. Since the beginning of his career, he has considered intergenerationality and diversity as essential conditions for presenting dance in its most human, vulnerable, and essential form. Tornar (2015), INVITED (2018), and Birds (2021), the three performances Baeyens created in recent years with the dance company Ultima Vez, are stepping stones in a broader project of artistic and social research.

Baeyens’ artistic practice is an explicit response to the many challenges of an increasingly diverse urban society. He primarily works with individuals and groups who, for various reasons, do not feel addressed by art and culture or lack access to it. To this end, Baeyens initiates intense and sustainable trajectories with social organizations and community projects. Within his new work structure, Leon vzw, he also organizes weekly open dance workshops where everyone is welcome.

Participation and co-authorship are key principles of Baeyens’ democratizing and connecting artistic vision. ‘Community’ is also a central keyword in his work. Creating a community is both a method and a goal. But Baeyens interprets this concept quite differently from current political discourse. Or rather: he doesn’t define it at all. It’s not a fixed idea but an attitude. The communal is a process. The community is not the starting point but the (temporary) result of a shared dance and living experience.

His new creation Kosmos (2027), in collaboration with KANAL-Centre Pompidou & KVS, is based on the idea of a museum for everyone: a museum where people can recognize themselves and feel welcome. In this performance, the museum visitor becomes a co-author of a shared choreography, breaking traditional patterns of museum navigation. Kosmos does not take place solely within the museum walls. Using the body as a living sculpture, Baeyens opts for long-term and ongoing interventions in which the boundary between the museum and public space becomes blurred.