Co(te)lette
In Co(te)lette Ann Van den Broek shows three female dancers is an intimate setting, caught in a vicious circle between desire and fulfilment. There is no confrontation, there is no rivalry, there is no narrative – no solution, no end. Co(te)lette is a restless and ultimately… empty portrait.
Co(te)lette was awarded the Swan for the most impressive dance production in 2008. This reprise is of particular importance in the current neo-conservative era. It confronts us with the stagnating emancipation of women and the erosion of the right to one’s own interpretation of sexuality and physicality. At the same time, in the personal domain of Ann Van den Broek, it is also a confrontation with the passing of time.
“Choreographer Ann Van den Broek created, with three dancers, an obsessive ode to physical desire from a female perspective.” (de Volkskrant ★★★★★)
Co(te)lette – mini documentary
This documentary takes you behind the scenes of Co(te)lette and Ann Van den Broek’s creative process. It offers an insight into how the work is constructed, what is happening beneath the surface, and how the performers experienced it then and today.
Twenty years after its creation, Co(te)lette returns to the stage with a new cast and a fresh layer of meaning. The documentary makes clear how the work continues to shift in time and context, and why it still resonates so directly and physically.
Ann Van den Broek
Human behavior patterns, states of mind, and impressions that sprout from confrontations with different living environments are the principal sources of inspiration for Ann Van den Broek. With every new creative process she looks inside herself and tries to comprehend the emotions and the behavior patterns that fascinate her. Then she looks around me and get information from things she sees happening in other people’s lives.
Furthermore, Van den Broek is inspired by contemporary society: a sign of the times, a recent phenomenon or a universal motif. In that sense, her work is also a critical reaction or rebelling against things that go unquestioned, are ignored or are generally assumed to be the norm.
WArd/waRD
A big part of Ann Van den Broek’s artistic vision can be found in the name of her company. The meaning of ‘ward’, according to the dictionary, reads as follows:
1) the act of guarding; the state of being under guard;
2) guardianship, being under control of a guardian;
3) a means of defense or protection;
4) a division of a jail or prison, or of a hospital;
5) a district or division of a city or town;
6) to fend off, parry;
7) to keep watch over, guard, protect.
In short, in relation to the organization, it is a place where it is safe to congregate and work.