If you don’t have to land, anyone can fly.
On a stage filled with crash mats, the floor is forgiving, and the sky is the largest space to explore. Acrobatic tricks that normally can’t be performed on stage are now given the space to be developed and shown. A soft mat quickly reminds us of sleeping, rest and fragility, however the opposite is equally true. In using softness you can be hard, by resting one moment you can go full speed the next, working through fragility gives you confidence and only by sleeping can we truly be awake.
In our daily life, we often speak about the highest attainable result, succeeding and reaching for the top. But isn’t the falling, trial and error just as important, if not more important? In the acrobatic performance MAT, director Zinzi Oegema and co-director Hanneke Meijers dive deeper into this theme. Because what profession understands the art of falling better than circus.
Biographies
Zinzi Oegema (NL, 1989), started with circus at the age of four with Circus Elleboog, the youth circus of Amsterdam. When I graduated from high school at sixteen, I had doubts about my study, chemistry or biology. In the end, I chose my passion and followed the first bachelor in circus arts in Rotterdam, Codarts Circusarts.
I specialised in partner acrobatics. Together with Evertjan Mercier, I form the duo Zinzi & Evertjan. Our act View has been awarded several prizes. With the French company XY we performed all over the world between 2014 and 2018. In 2019 Common Ground premiered, the big circus theatre show of collective Common Ground that we started together with four colleagues.
About the collaboration: TENT house for contemporary circus (NL), Jacksons Lane (UK) and Split Second (UK) have joined forces for an international collaboration as part of the Fast Forward Program, an initiative of the Performing Arts Fund NL.
This program offers talented mid-career makers from the Netherlands the opportunity to spread their wings internationally and to work with leading foreign producers. This co-production MAT is just one of three parts in this colaboration.
Practical
Practical Information
Set-up: Indoor
Running time: approx. 70 minutes
Touring party: 6 or 7 artists, 2 technicians, 1 producer
Age guidance: all age groups
Minimum tech requirement: 10m deep x 10m wide
Credits
Director: Zinzi Oegema
Co-director: Hanneke Meijers
Scenography & Concept: Hanneke Meijers
Performers: 6 to 7 UK and Dutch performers (TBC)
Producers: TENT & Split Second
Partner and co-producer: Jacksons Lane
Trailer: Luke Lentes
Music: My Blue Van
Funding: Performing Arts Fund NL, Fast Forward Program
Upcoming Tour Dates
Coming soon