Koen Augustijnen worked closely with Les Ballets C de la B since 1991, initially as a dancer in performances staged by Alain Platel (Mussen, Bonjour Madame, La Tristeza Complice), Hans Van den Broeck (How to approach a dog) and Francisco Camacho (Prénom:Le). From 1997, he became one of the company’s house choreographers.
To Crush Time (1997), his first self-choreographed production, was followed by Plage Tattoo (1999) co-directed together with three musicians from Zita Swoon and with Tamayo Okano. His third major production was Ernesto (2000), a dance solo and docudrama, co-directed with his brother Sven Augustijnen, which in turn was followed by Just another landscape for some jukebox money (2002). bâche (2004) brought him an international breakthrough, followed by Import/Export (2006), Ashes (2009) and Au-delà (2012)
TRAILER bâche
TRAILER
IMPORT/EXPORT
TRAILER ashes
Apart from les Ballets C de la B, in this period he also joined forces with dEUS (live concerts, video clips), choreographed for Ivo Van Hove and Toneelgroep Amsterdam (RENT, True Love, Carmen, Perfect Wedding) and for Arne Sierens and Compagnie Cecilia (Altijd Prijs), and co-directed for Stalker Theatre Company (Incognita), among other things. In 2009 he also created a mass choreography for Nic Balthazar’s video clip Dance for the climate. In 2011, he created the performance Oogst in collaboration with TG STAN.
BADKE
In 2013 Augustijnen left les ballets C de la B and started working freelance.
He joined forces with Rosalba Torres Guerrero and dramaturge Hildegard De Vuyst to direct Badke. This is a dance production in which 10 Palestinian dancers from different dance backgrounds come together and update the Arabic dabke dance in a contemporary setting. This traditional dance was injected with contemporary information, deconstructed and put back together again. Since its creation, Badke has toured worldwide for 4 years with widespread public and critical acclaim.
Production: KVS, Les Ballets C de la B, A.M Qattan Foundation.
Agent: Frans Brood Productions
Info: www.fransbrood.com
trailer: youtube
“A firework of a dance performance as is rarely to be seen in Zurich.”
(Lilo Weber, Nue Zürcher Zeitung)
“Without any problem these young dancers jump from tradition to modernity and back. If it depended on them, the Middle-East conflict would have been solved already.”
(Maya Künzler, Tages-Anzeiger)
TOUR BADKE
2013
Zürich: 29, 30, 31 augustus - Zürcher Theater Spektakel (CH)
Brussels: 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21 sept - KVS (B)
Enschede: 8 nov - Wilmink theater (NL)
Genk: 11 nov - CC-Mine (B)
Amsterdam: 14, 15 nov - De Brakke Grond (NL)
Den Haag: 16 nov - Korzo Theater (NL)
Groningen: 23 nov - Stadsschouwburg (NL)
Antwerp: 27 nov - CC Berchem (B)
2014
Nazareth: 23 april ( PAL)
Jeruzalem: 26 april (PAL)
Ramallah : 29 april - Cultural Palace (PAL)
Marseille: 30 june- 1 july - Festival de Marseille (F)
Kalamata: 19-20 july – Kalamata Festival (GR)
Nantes: 9, 10 oct 2014 - Le Lieu Unique (F)
Luxemburg: 14,15 oct 2014 - Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg (LUX)
St.- Quentin-en-Yvelines: 17 oct - Le Prisme (F)
Utrecht: 27 oct - Stadsschouwburg (B)
Brugge : 29 oct - CC Brugge (B)
Ieper: 2 nov - CC Ieper (B)
Wenen: 6,7 nov - Tanzquartier Vienna (OST)
Antwerpen: 13,14 nov - de Singel (B)
Brussel: 18, 19, 21, 22 nov - KVS (B)
Gent: 26, 27, 29 nov - Vooruit (B)
Albi: 2 dec – Scène Nationale Albi (F)
2015
Brest: 27, 28 feb - Le Quartz (F)
Straatsburg: 5 april - Pôle Sud (F)
Oostende: 10, 11 april - CC De Grote Post (B)
Boulazac: 14 april - Théàtre De L'Agora (F)
Parijs: 16,17,18 april - Le Cent Quatre (F)
Salzburg: 26,27 juni (AU)
Kinshasha: 3, 4, 5 juillet (Congo)
Manchester: 11 juli -The Lowry Manchester (UK)
Londen 14 juli - The South Bank Centre (UK)
2016
NYC + USA Tour: 10-20 feb – New York Live Arts (USA)
Turnhout: 24,25 februari – CC De Warande (B)
Genève: 1 maart – Théâtre Forum Meyrin (CH)
Cognac: 5 maart - L’avant Scéne (F)
Brussel: 8, 9, 11, 12 maart - KVS (B)
Chateauvallon: 15 maart (F)
Villeneuve D’Asq: 22, 23, 24 maart – La Rose de Vent (F)
Rouen: 25 maart – Le Hangar 23 (F)
Bezons: 29 maart (F)
Belfort: 1 april – Le Granit (F)
Lyon: 6, 7 april – La maison de la danse (F)
Clermont-Ferrand: 12, 13 april – La Comédie (F)
Saint-Etienne: 15,16 april – Opéra (F)
München: 19 april – (D)
Abou Dhabi: 7, 8, 9 sept – NY University (UE)
La Rochelle: 17,18 oct – La Coursive (F)
La Roche sur Yon: 19 oct – Le Grand R (F)
Diest: 26 oct – CC Diest (B)
Ferrara: 29 oct – Teatro Comunale (I)
Stockholm: 4,5 nov – Dansens Hus (Z)
Malmö: 8 nov – Dansstationen (Z)
Gôteborg: 10 nov – Kulturivast (Z)
Kungsbacka: 11 nov (Z)
Jönkoping: 13 nov – Kulturhuset (Z)
Vasteras: 15 nov – Konserthus (Z)
Karlskrono : 17 nov – Konserthusteatern (Z)
Umea: 19 nov – Norrlandsoperan (Z)
Colombes : 24 nov – L’Avant scéne (F)
Maubeuge: 25 nov – Le Manège (F)
Ludwigshaven: 30 nov – Theater im Pfalzbau (D)
Châteauroux : 4 dec – Equinoxe (F)
Noisy le Sec: 9 dec – Théâtre des Bergeries (F)
Brétigny: 10 dec – Théâtre du Brétigny (F)
Besançon: 13, 14 dec – Scéne Nationale (F)
Gent: 16,17 dec - Kunstencentrum Vooruit (B)
GUDIRR GUDIRR
In 2013 he directed Gudirr Gudirr in Australia, a dance solo for the Australian dancer Dalisia Pigram and the Marrugeku Company, which makes innovative intercultural dance. In 2015 this performance won an Australian Dance Award as best independent dance production of the year.
Plus d'info: www.australiandanceawards.net
Drawing on a physicality born of Dalisa’s Asian-Indigenous identity, on her acrobatic skills and on her traditional and contemporary dance experience, together with Koen she built up a dance language to capture a moment in time for her people. Gudirr Gudirr is a warning call to a community facing massive industrialisation on traditional lands, loss of language and major gaps between indigenous and non-indigenous wellbeing. Gudirr Gudirr had a great opening at the Massive Dance festival in Melbourne in March.
TOUR GUDIRR GUDIRR
Melbourne: 13-16 maart 2013- Massive dance festival (AUS)
Broome: 28, 29, 30 sept - Shinju festival (AUS)
Ludwigshaven: 23 oct (D)
London: 30, 31 oct - The Place (UK)
Sydney: jan 2014 – Sydney Festival and Carriageworks (AUS)
Brugge: feb - CC Brugge Magadalena zaal (B)
Granada: feb (SP)
Sevillia: feb (SP)
Luxemburg: 25 juni - Les Théàtres de la Ville de Luxemboug (LUX)
Glasgow: 2, 3 juli - Tramway (UK)
Amsterdam: 5,6 juli –Juli Dance Festival- Theater Mozaiek (NL)
Toronto: 6-9 mei - Harbourfront -World Stages Festival (CA)
Perth: 8-10 juli - State Theatre Centre as part of NAIDOC week (National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Committee) (AUS)
Darwin (AUS)
Noumea (New-Caledonia)Kalgoorlie (AUS)
paswoord: gudirrtrail
Marrugeku’s Gudirr Gudirr was produced by Stalker Theatre and co-commissioned by the City of Melbourne through Arts House (AUS), Theater Im Pfalzbau, Ludwigshaven (DEU) and Les Théàtres de la Ville de Luxembourg (LUX)
Plus d'info: www.marrugeku.com.au
Agent: Frans Brood Productions
“Gudirr Gudirr is a truly timely work that should be seen widely. Showing all the signs of careful collaboration from a gifted team, it conveys complex experience in the shape of Dalisia Pigram, who shows us in the sharply shifting facets of her performance the rich and troubled life of her community and of this country.”
(Virginia Baxter, RealTime Arts)
In The Truth Commission Koen Augustijnen collaborated with the directing duo Chokri and Zouzou Ben Chika. One hundred years after the world expo in Ghent (Belgium), where 120 Senegalese and 60 Philippine people were exhibited, Chokri and Zouzou Ben Chika took the initiative to organize a “Truth Commission” in the old courthouse in Ghent. Were those exotic attractions racist? Or were they an example of a positive cultural exchange? Koen revised a dance solo by the dancer Chantal Loial. The solo is shown as his personal testimony and he verbally defends this work with passion. The production was invited to South Africa (Johannesburg) in February 2014.
Production: Action Zoo Humain
Info: www.actionzoohumain.be
SEHNSUCHT
Sehnsucht, LIMITED EDITION was made in 2014 and opened on 6th March in the Oldenburgische staatstheater in Germany. The company then moved to Mainz. Under the wing of TanzMainz, this dance piece was programmed until 2017.
It is an encounter between six contemporary dancers at Tanzcompagnie Mainz with the brilliant Belgian accordionist Philippe Thuriot, who interpreted Bach's ‘Goldberg Variations’.
The German word Sehnsucht is almost untranslatable. Melancholy, longing, desire, aspiration, it encompasses them all. Koen Augustijnen sees "Sehnsucht" as the wish to express a fundamental lack of satisfaction. It is an evening of raw physicality, emotional sensitivity and a topic that burns inside all of us, tempered by some humorous moments.
Production: TanzMainz
Agent: Frans Brood Productions
Info: www.tanzmainz.de
TOUR SEHNSUCHT
2014
Oldenburg: 6, 14, 15, 20, 21, 26, 28 maart - 3, 5 april - 25 juni – 9,10 juli
Bremen: april (D)
Braunschweig: 27 juni (D)
2015
Genève: 9 sep – Festival Le Bâtie (CH)
Mainz: 18, 21, 25, 28 sep & 6, 9, 11, 17 oct – TanzMainz (D)
2016
Mainz: 13, 31 jan & 11, 13, 18 feb (D
Malmö: 6,10 jan (SWE)
Brugge: 5 mei - CC Brugge (B)
2017
Saint-Nazaire: 28,29 april (F)
Mainz: 19,21 mei (D)
Dance Moves Cities was a project and network involving the cities of Riga (LT), Terni (IT) and Krakow (PL) with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union and Part of Riga 2014 European Culture Capital programme.
Koen Augustijnen worked on a location project with young artists in the 3 cities. They focused on questioning group dynamics in a community. Considering a community as a living entity that is undergoing permanent change and transformation.
In Riga, the workshop turned into a full evening piece called With love From Vecmilgravis. It was reworked into indoor performance and was first performed in Riga and then toured Latvia.
Production: New Theatre Institute of Latvia
Plus d'info: dancemovescities.eu, theatre.lv
TOUR WITH LOVE FROM VECMILGRAVIS
Riga: 25, 27, 28, 29 maart Gertrude Iela theatre
Tour in Letland in june 2015
DANCING BACH
In 2015 Koen Augustijnen made Dancing Bach for the Konzert Theater Bern (Switzerland). It was an encounter between eight contemporary dancers from Tanzcompagnie Bern with the Berner Symphonieorchester conducted by Jesko Sirvend, which played selected pieces by J.S. Bach.
The main theme of Dancing Bach is “guilt”. A universal theme, which is omnipresent in the lyrics of J.S. Bach.
Augustijnen is interested in guilt as an internal conflict and as an emotional experience. Dancing Bach was the intense result of moulding all this into a physical and theatrical form. It juxtaposed the sacred music of J.S. Bach with some raw and highly emotional scenes.
Production: Konzert Theater Bern
Plus d'info: www.konzerttheaterbern.ch
TOUR DANCING BACH
28 Feb - 4, 11, 13, 27, 29 maart in Konzert Theater Bern (Vidmarhalle 1)
In 2015 Augustijnen again collaborated with Ivo Van Hove and Toneelgroep Amsterdam for De Stille kracht and in 2016 for De dingen gaan voorbij. He coached a master project at the RITCS in Brussels. Also in 2015, he created a choreography for Yoyogi, an initiative by the choreographer Koen De Preter, who invited several choreographers to make a dance to be performed by big groups of people in the parks of Antwerp. In 2016 he collaborated with the Geneva-based stage director Patrick Mohr on Eldorado for Théàtre Spirale. And he coached 2 projects at the Talentlab, an initiative by Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg.
YOYOGI was an initiative by the Belgian choreographer Koen De Preter, who invited choreographers including Koen Augustijnen and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui to the Zomer van Antwerpen Festival to create a short dance which was performed by groups of non-dancers in the parks of Antwerp during the summer of 2015.
In 2016 Beytna opened at the Tanzquartier in Vienna. Four choreographers from Lebanon, Japan, Belgium and Togo met onstage over a banquet. They were from different continents, cultures and countries. They had different artistic experiences, with different backgrounds and ideas. What connected them was their profession. They ate, talked, drank, laughed and danced. This was inspired by the almost sacred ritual established by Omar Rajeh’s grandfather, who used to gather family, friends and guests around a table full of food in the mountains of Beirut on Sunday afternoons. Accompanied live by the Palestinian musicians of Trio Joubran.
Concept et direction: Omar Rajeh
Choreographers: Anani Dodji Sanouvi (Togo) - Hiroaki Umeda (Japan) - Koen Augustijnen (Belgium) - Omar Rajeh (Lebanon) - Taoufiq Izeddiou (Morocco)
Producer: Maqamat Productions
TOUR BEYTNA
2016
Vienna: 6, 7 april – Tanzquartier (AU)
Creteil: 9, 10 april - (F)
Beirut: 15, 16 april – Festival BIPOD (LIB)
Firenze: 3,4 mei - Fabrica Europa (IT)
Ludwigshaven: 28,29 nov – Theater im Pfalzbau (D)
2017
Antwerpen: 18,19,20 jan – De Singel (B)
Hamburg: 10,11 juni –Theater am welt
Luxembourg: 26, 27 juni – Théätres de la Ville de Luxembourg (Lux)
Amsterdam: 8,9 juli – Julidans (NL)
Den Bosch: 8,9 augustus – Festival de Parade (NL)
Hannover: 7,8,9 sept (D)
Brugge: 26 sept – CC Brugge (B)
Neurenberg: 4, 5 oct (D)
HOCHZEIT
Koen Augustijnen joined forces with Rosalba Torres Guererro to direct this new dance-theatre creation in collaboration with the complete dance ensemble of Tanz Mainz, 5 actors from the Staattheater in Mainz and a Mainz-based, ready-for-anything musical band that has seen this all before and here goes Balkan.
The premiere was at the Staattheater in Mainz on 29 April 2017. At the heart of “Hochzeit” is a wedding. It offers a context in which to let emotions come out, to throw away conventions, and to question this ritual and the mechanism of living as a couple. 13 different nationalities on stage bring their own rituals and dances to transform this material into a whirling wedding party/ritual which at times gets seriously out of control.
Hochzeit offers a rare combination of 5 born actors and the complete dance company of TanzMainz. Dancers perform along with the actors’ lines, taken from the writings of Joël Pommerat, Lars Von Trier and Patrice Chereau, and by the same token the actors dance and also act in a very physical way.
Production: TanzMainz
Plus d'info: staatstheater, Frankfurter Rundschau
DATA
2017
Mainz: 29 april & 5,13, 20, 29 mei
& 2, 4, 7, 13, 22 juni.
ROSALBA TORRES GUERRERO
PÉNOMBRE
In 2011, Les Ballets C de la B produced Pénombre, her first personal project, a dance-video duo in collaboration with the visual artist Lucas Racasse.
VSPRS / pitiÉ! / Out of context
/C(h)œurs
In September 2005, she joined Les Ballets C de la B in Ghent and until 2012 worked with Alain Platel on the creation of VSPRS, Pitié !, Out of Context for Pina and C(h)oeurs.
In 2011, Yann Le Quellec chose her for the lead role in the unusual film Je sens le beat qui monte en moi (Beauty and the beat).
This was followed by fruitful collaboration with several major directors.
In 2013-14, for the creations Les Troyennes and Die Rasenden at the Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, Rosalba played the part of Cassandra (in German), a Trojan princess cursed by Apollo, who gave her the gift of prophecy, but whom no one will believe.
The director Karin Beier, asked her for an acute, extremely physical interpretation of this mythological figure.
LULU / DON GIOVANNI / PHèdre(s)
In 2012, Krzysztof Warlikowski, the theatre and opera director, asked her to play the alter ego of Lulu in Alban Berg’s opera of that name. To do this, he proposed that she should embody the figure of the black swan and also, wearing ballet shoes, to create a contemporary version of the emblematic death of the swan.
In 2014, he invited her to La Monnaie again, to participate in the production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. This time she became an androgynous creature that crystallises and exacerbates the powerful desires of the protagonists.
And in 2016 they met at the Théâtre de l'Odéon in Paris for the creation of Phaedra(s) with Isabelle Huppert. Throughout the play, Rosalba Torres Guerrero plays an obsessive incarnation of Aphrodite’s drives that come to assault Phaedra.
BADKE
In 2013, she collaborated with Koen Augustijnen and Hildegard Devuyst on the creation of Badke at the KVS. Ten Palestinian dancers with diverse artistic backgrounds were involved in this show, whose starting point was the 'dabkeh', a traditional Palestinian dance, an energetic and popular expression of belonging to a collective body. Is it possible, however, to make this dance dialogue with a contemporary method? Is it possible to deconstruct it and then to recompose it again? To what extent is this traditional dance permeable to other influences? How is it possible to question tradition without scaring off the public? This show gave an answer and toured intensively nationally and internationally for 4 years.
Production: KVS, Les ballets C de la B en A.M. Qattan Foundation.
Agent: Frans Brood Productions
info: fransbrood.com
TOUR BADKE
2013
Zürich: 29, 30, 31 augustus - Zürcher Theater Spektakel (CH)
Brussels: 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21 sept - KVS (B)
Enschede: 8 nov - Wilmink theater (NL)
Genk: 11 nov - CC-Mine (B)
Amsterdam: 14, 15 nov - De Brakke Grond (NL)
Den Haag: 16 nov - Korzo Theater (NL)
Groningen: 23 nov - Stadsschouwburg (NL)
Antwerp: 27 nov - CC Berchem (B)
2014
Nazareth: 23 april ( PAL)
Jeruzalem: 26 april (PAL)
Ramallah : 29 april - Cultural Palace (PAL)
Marseille: 30 june- 1 july - Festival de Marseille (F)
Kalamata: 19-20 july – Kalamata Festival (GR)
Nantes: 9, 10 oct 2014 - Le Lieu Unique (F)
Luxemburg: 14,15 oct 2014 - Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg (LUX)
St.- Quentin-en-Yvelines: 17 oct - Le Prisme (F)
Utrecht: 27 oct - Stadsschouwburg (B)
Brugge : 29 oct - CC Brugge (B)
Ieper: 2 nov - CC Ieper (B)
Wenen: 6,7 nov - Tanzquartier Vienna (OST)
Antwerpen: 13,14 nov - de Singel (B)
Brussel: 18, 19, 21, 22 nov - KVS (B)
Gent: 26, 27, 29 nov - Vooruit (B)
Albi: 2 dec – Scène Nationale Albi (F)
2015
Brest: 27, 28 feb - Le Quartz (F)
Straatsburg: 5 april - Pôle Sud (F)
Oostende: 10, 11 april - CC De Grote Post (B)
Boulazac: 14 april - Théàtre De L'Agora (F)
Parijs: 16,17,18 april - Le Cent Quatre (F)
Salzburg: 26,27 juni (AU)
Kinshasha: 3, 4, 5 juillet (Congo)
Manchester: 11 juli -The Lowry Manchester (UK)
Londen 14 juli - The South Bank Centre (UK)
2016
NYC + USA Tour: 10-20 feb – New York Live Arts (USA)
Turnhout: 24,25 februari – CC De Warande (B)
Genève: 1 maart – Théâtre Forum Meyrin (CH)
Cognac: 5 maart - L’avant Scéne (F)
Brussel: 8, 9, 11, 12 maart - KVS (B)
Chateauvallon: 15 maart (F)
Villeneuve D’Asq: 22, 23, 24 maart – La Rose de Vent (F)
Rouen: 25 maart – Le Hangar 23 (F)
Bezons: 29 maart (F)
Belfort: 1 april – Le Granit (F)
Lyon: 6, 7 april – La maison de la danse (F)
Clermont-Ferrand: 12, 13 april – La Comédie (F)
Saint-Etienne: 15,16 april – Opéra (F)
München: 19 april – (D)
Abou Dhabi: 7, 8, 9 sept – NY University (UE)
La Rochelle: 17,18 oct – La Coursive (F)
La Roche sur Yon: 19 oct – Le Grand R (F)
Diest: 26 oct – CC Diest (B)
Ferrara: 29 oct – Teatro Comunale (I)
Stockholm: 4,5 nov – Dansens Hus (Z)
Malmö: 8 nov – Dansstationen (Z)
Gôteborg: 10 nov – Kulturivast (Z)
Kungsbacka: 11 nov (Z)
Jönkoping: 13 nov – Kulturhuset (Z)
Vasteras: 15 nov – Konserthus (Z)
Karlskrono : 17 nov – Konserthusteatern (Z)
Umea: 19 nov – Norrlandsoperan (Z)
Colombes : 24 nov – L’Avant scéne (F)
Maubeuge: 25 nov – Le Manège (F)
Ludwigshaven: 30 nov – Theater im Pfalzbau (D)
Châteauroux : 4 dec – Equinoxe (F)
Noisy le Sec: 9 dec – Théâtre des Bergeries (F)
Brétigny: 10 dec – Théâtre du Brétigny (F)
Besançon: 13, 14 dec – Scéne Nationale (F)
Gent: 16,17 dec - Kunstencentrum Vooruit (B)
HOCHZEIT
For Hochzeit (Wedding), Koen Augustijnen and Rosalba Torres Guerrero were asked by the Staatstheater in Mainz to make a creation that brings together the 19 dancers from the Tanzmainz company, 5 actors from the Staatstheater ensemble, 5 musicians from Vibes, and guest performers.
‘This is supposed to be the most beautiful day in your life ... A day when marriage celebrates life itself and which everyone will have an unforgettable memory to keep. A unique opportunity, under pressure, bringing together people who would not necessarily have met in another context and who will be dragged into a whirlwind of unpredictable and exacerbated emotions.’
Production: TanzMainz
More info: staatstheater, Frankfurter Rundschau
DATA
2017
Mainz: 29 april & 5,13, 20, 29 mei
& 2, 4, 7, 13, 22 juni.
Long Past is a play for 6 dancers from the Bodhi Project in Salzburg (Austria).
3 men and 3 women whose memory has faded try to reconnect with what may have been their individual identities and who undertake to understand what motivates their newly rediscovered emotions. They try to collectively discover the meaning that a community can have. They are accompanied by music that conveys the remains of a distant world.
©Andreas-Etter
©Andreas-Etter
©Andreas-Etter
©Andreas-Etter
Le Sacre
Rosalba Torres Guerrero and Koen Augustijnen, who choreographed the hit performance of Hochzeit at the State Theatre of Mainz, translate the raucous and earthy nature of the 20th-century piece Le Sacre du Printemps / Rite of Spring in a contemporary context. As they were doing their research, the artists stumbled upon a sub-culture in New York and London nightlife that is openly redefining gender and social conventions. The so-called Club kids. In their search for identity, they’re opening the doors to new worlds and celebrating their freedom.
In a decor by Jean-Bernard Koeman. With the entire dance company of tanzmainz and the Philharmonic State Orchestra of Mainz.
review on tanznetz.de
TOUR
2022
Le Sacre opened on the 30th of april and is further playing on 3, 6, 7, 13, 15, 21, 31 mai and 1, 3 june at the State Theatre of Mainz.