About this event
The Clash Machine is a collective that emerged when a group of unconventional artists from the worlds of dance and Belgian wrestling worlds met. Members of BYWS (Brussels Young Wrestling Style) reclaim brutality and conflict. Trained by coach Nsimba (aka Shao aka Cowboy pas fatigué, a star of Belgian and Congolese wrestling), they question violence with their performance. Previously, they fought it out at techno parties, benefit nights, and neighbourhood festivals. Now, The Clash Machine presents their first real show: a whirlwind performance pumped full of synthetic hormones. Through the art of wrestling, they blur the boundaries between fiction and reality. The Clash Machine breaks the fourth wall with a barrage of punches, creating connective, loud, exuberant, and sweaty moments. In the ring, they play with the usual wrestling dichotomy: heroes versus villains (babyface versus heel), a narrative onto which the audience can project their own emotions, as a form of catharsis. Driven by the urgency of the present and true to the spontaneity of the wrestling world, The Clash Machine allows itself to be transformed by the reality that storms into the performances. In a broader sense, The Clash Machine comments on neofascism employing tactics similar to those of wrestling: creating distance from its violence and sensationalizing it, while also playing with the boundaries between fiction and reality. In response, the collective reclaims the narratives surrounding violence and, through wrestling, inspires the audience to fight back. • Loü Viret, also known as L’Bouro du Bitume, has been dancing since childhood. Now he wants to reinvent dance by pushing its boundaries; he enjoys dancing just as much at parties as at demonstrations, on theatre stages or (as in this case), in the ring. • Violette Lacroix, although everyone calls her Vio. In the ring, she is the romantic Marry Me Nathalie. Before she started wrestling, she took lessons in the ‘catwalk’ category of ballroom dancing at the Kiki House of Gabbana. • Justine Richard, performer and poet, is occasionally possessed by Mimi la Rage, a brawler and notorious cheat, who storms the ring to crush bones under her platform soles. • Aimé Gaster, also known as Erotiko, grew up on the streets of Marseille. He is an agitator, a troublemaker, a dancer, and a wrestler who captivates the audience as much with words as with his body.
