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KVS

THE RIVER AND THE DEVIL

Paula Almiron
Work in Progress
Wed 20.11.2024 18:00 - 19:00
KVS, Brussels
-2
Tickets
20.11.2024
18:00 - 19:00
Tickets

The River and The Devil invites the audience into the ruins of a disappearing river.

It is said that during colonial times, in the Bolivian Andean Plateau, the colonizers were speaking of the river Desaguadero as a diabolical body of water. They aimed at transforming the uncontrollable forces of the river into an evil force to be extracted. The accumulation of continuous destruction and extractivism resulted in the ongoing desertification of the river; the transformation of its body from water to salt. The River and The Devil is both a dance piece and a collective storytelling. I invite the audience to dive in a circulation of words, sounds, gestures and objects; to tell the story of a river inside its ruins. Navigating the ruins of a river implies accepting to live with remnants and with broken bodies, and to make sense of the senselessness.

A choir of voices reading like a wave, reminding us that history is not linear, but rather different fragments being constantly modified. The river turned into broken pieces hiding and moving towards us unannounced. What remains after the river’s disappearance? Perhaps, we’re left with beliefs, the whistling of spirits and stories being told in the dark. 

Part of

PAULA ALMIRON was born in Buenos Aires and lives in Brussels. Her practice unfolds at the intersection of choreography, writing and geology, focusing on the constant intra-action between the social, the spiritual and the geological worlds. She obtained a Master's degree in ISAC, Brussels (2019). Previously, she studied a BFA in Theatre at the National University of the Arts (2007) and the dance program Arte XXI (2008), both in Buenos Aires. She recently graduated from a formation on Fascia & Somato-Psycho-pedagogy (2024, Body Mind Academy). Since 2019, she has been working around the notion of ‘water choreographies’. Her works Always Coming Hole (2021) and The River and The Devil (2025) emerged in relation to a desertifying group of bodies of water from the Bolivian Andean plateau.

In this frame, she’s currently investigating blood-choreographies and liquid writing. She collaborates with Wouter De Raeve in I Build My Language With Rocks in the Northern Quarter in Brussels. They coordinated M33, a space devoted to the local movements of the neighborhood, and they curated Swamp Sacrifices, a program around the relation between the swamp of Brussels and the notion of non-productivity. Paula works as a dancer, choreographer, mentor, outside eye and teacher, collaborating with Louise Vanneste, David Weber-Krebs, Wouter De Raeve, Eliane Bertschi, Diana Szeinblum, and others. Her work has been shown at Bâtard Festival (Brussels), Veem House for Performance (Amsterdam), Kanal-Centre Pompidou, Kunsthalle Zurich, Munar Arte (Buenos Aires), Kunsthaus Zurich, Teatro 25 de Mayo (Buenos Aires), Sala de Belleza (Bogotá), …

 

 

Credits

CONCEPT, REGIE & PERFORMANCE / CONCEPT, MISE EN SCÈNE & PERFORMANCE / CONCEPT, DIRECTION & PERFORMANCE Paula Almiron DRAMATURGISCHE ADVISEURS / CONSEILLERS DRAMATURGIQUES / DRAMATURGICAL ADVISERS Simon Asencio, Louise Vanneste, David Weber-Krebs CONCEPTUELE DRAMATURG / DRAMATURGE CONCEPTUEL / CONCEPTUAL DRAMATURG Wouter De Raeve ZOUTSCULPTUREN & VISUEEL ARTIEST / SCULPTURES DE SEL & ARTISTE VISUEL / SALT SCULPTURES & VISUAL ARTIST Florencia Almiron GELUIDSONTWERP / CONCEPTION SONORE / SOUND DESIGN Vica Pacheco VERDELING VAN GELUID / SPATIALISATION DU SON / SPATIALIZATION OF SOUND : Simon Lehmans LICHTONTWERP / CONCEPTION LUMIÈRES / LIGHT DESIGN Estelle Gautier RESIDENTIE-ONDERSTEUNING / SOUTIEN EN RÉSIDENCE / RESIDENCY SUPPORT wpZimmer, kunstencentrum BUDA, kunstenwerkplaats, C-TAKT, La Bellone Maison de Spectacle, La Serre Arts Vivants (Montréal), CND Paris, SEN (Studio Etangs Noirs), Tenerife LAV, GC Het Huys, Meyboom Artist-run Spaces & PROXIMAMENTE festival residency 2024. COPRODUCTIE / COPRODUCTION KAAP, C-Takt network & kunstenwerkplaats PRODUCTIE / PRODUCTION Four-Thirty-One vzw & Hiros MET STEUN VAN / AVEC LE SOUTIEN DE / WITH THE SUPPORT OF The Flemish Government & Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie