To the main content To the footer
KVS

Mimi's Shebeen geselecteerd voor het TheaterFestival Vlaanderen!

Brussels, they’re back! From 7 to 17 September the TheaterFestival will be enchanting Brussels theatre goers with the most engaging, socially relevant and innovative work created by Flemish, Brussels and Dutch creators and companies in the past season, as selected by the festival jury. And that jury had some good news for us, because KVS face Alesandra Seutin and her team have been selected with their creation Mimi’s Shebeen! We are incredibly proud of Alesandra and her team, and we look forward to welcoming them back to KVS.

The TheaterFestival jury showered the performance with the following praise: 

When the curtain opens, Tutu Puoane is waiting for us in a sheer endless dress. Above her, an enormous ventilation fan indicates that we find ourselves somewhere deep under the city. The folds of her dress hide eight performers within. The tone is set: this will be a multidimensional performance. The time is here and now, but also yesterday and tomorrow. Percussion accompanies the invocation of ancestors and poetic texts elicit reflections about exile, immigration and humanity.
 
A shebeen is an underground bar where home-brewed alcohol was sold during Apartheid in South Africa. It is a space (often run by women) to meet one another and to discuss political and social questions. Choreographer Alesandra Seutin uses this metaphor to create a dark yet electrifying echo chamber in which dance, modern songs, sound archives and poetry intermingle. Inspired by the legacy of the exiled South African singer and political activist Miriam Makeba, set to texts by Lebo Mashile and Lisette Ma Neza and music composed by Angelo Moustapha and Zouratié Koné. All in an ephemeral scenography that constantly draws the gaze upwards. Are we looking at ghostly spectres or at a real uprising? Grief, celebration and resistance melt together into a force to be reckoned with.
 
The jury was impressed by Mimi’s Shebeen’s effortless capability to immerse the viewer completely and to draw them into a completely intuitive viewing experience. Through her impressive ensemble, each with their own signature styles, Seutin’s choreographic vocabulary manages to integrate the ‘collective individuality’ of African heritage into a multidimensional discourse, anchored in the local and contemporary performing arts field. An exceptional occurrence.

If you missed the performance last spring, you’ll have another chance to attend this exceptional event on 7 and 8 September at KVS BOL. We can’t wait to welcome you to the shebeen as well as all the other wonderful creations the festival has to offer – because this year KVS will be the beating heart of the festival as its central headquarters.