In The Afterglow

In the Afterglow is an ode to the mother and to ballet. 31-year-old Emiel Vandenberghe dances a duet with 82-year-old ballet legend Birgit Keil. An encounter across generations, master and pupil, artistic mother and son. The ancient relationship between mother and child forms the beating heart of a physical and emotional investigation within a professional context: what does it mean to share the stage with the body that created you, as a human and as a dancer? The afterglow here refers to the moment after the brightest flash: the glow that remains after the sun has already set. It’s the residual light, the glow that lingers when something has been done, experienced, achieved; the feeling that lasts after success, virtuosity, a high point. Both Emiel Vandenberghe and Birgit Keil still feel the hang for technical perfection glowing in their bodies, even though they are past the climax of their ballet careers. They still have the ability to continue dancing in its afterglow, through an old language that is still felt, but no longer practiced in the strict hierarchical context of classical ballet. In the Afterglow will be a futuristic Pietà: not a religious scene, but a moving sculpture where care, balance and surrender circulate. Not one body that lifts the other, but a constantly changing constellation of carrying and being carried. In this performance, Vandenberghe wants to find a balance between striving for technical perfection and a deeply personal, almost instinctive translation of the bond between mother and child, dancer and icon, discipline and surrender.