Impressions of TRIPTYK

‘Toujours de 3/4 Face’ by Loraine Dambermont

‘Triptych’ with solo dance pieces by Fanny Brouyaux, Loraine Dambermont and Leïla Ka at the Alter Schlachthof Eupen

By Natalie Broschat

Since 2017, the Alter Schlachthof Eupen, which primarily presents circus and theatre, has been part of schrit_tmacher just dance! and cooperates with its 30-year-old neighbouring festival in Aachen as part of its own festival ‘Scenario’, which is celebrating its 24th edition this year. And in 2025, a very special dance form will be presented there: the solo. Three young choreographers contribute three wonderful solos under the title ‘Triptych’: ‘To be schieve or a romantic attempt’ by the Belgian Fanny Brouyaux, ‘Toujours de 3/4 Face’ by Loraine Dambermont, also from Belgium, and the award-winning ‘Pode Ser’ by the successful and globally sought-after French dancer Leïla Ka.

‘Toujours de 3/4 Face’ by Loraine Dambermont

As soon as the projector is running, we continue with the solo ‘Toujours de 3/4 face’ by Loraine Dambermont. A high-energy solo in which she embodies the speech of the same name and the combative calls and gestures of the Belgian Johnny Cadillac. The audience hears Cadillac explain over the loudspeakers ‘comment se battre’, i.e. how to fight; that the frontal body must never be exposed in a fight, otherwise the attack surface is of course far too large. The corresponding, very amusing video can be seen on YouTube. In the course of the piece, Loraine Dambermont now abstracts the movements and makes them completely her own. She takes on the exuberant masculinity in a concrete way and precisely imitates the combat announcements and movements. Each of Cadillac’s ‘BamBam’ is physically on point, again and again. Dambermont takes the movements further, making them softer and more expansive, taking up the entire stage and thus transforming them into a dance-like quality. The solo takes on a life of its own and is supported and fuelled by the sound of Victor Petit. The way Loraine Dambermont has taken Johnny Cadillac’s concrete movement vocabulary into her female body and transformed it into something powerful and new is truly impressive. Her choreography creates a trance-like maelstrom in which she alternates between struggle and empowerment with suppleness and precision.