SKATEPARK
METTE INGVARTSEN
THÉÂTRE NATIONAL
BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 25, 2023
in full daylight
in the audience, lots of families
and children
On stage, an expanse of light-coloured wood
with ramps, platforms
and short, curved slopes
A dozen young people are already in action
uninterrupted noise of skateboards
sliding and banging against the floor
No official start for this show
which is building like an afternoon
one teenager brings a loudspeaker
the other a guitar
the music is repetitive
like the coming and going of skateboards
The clothes are simple
and it's the accessories
that electrify the group
masks, cape
overalls worn shirtless
mid-thigh socks
You can feel the pleasure of bodies in motion
like this young girl exulting
after successfully completing a difficult jump
(first time? scripted joy?)
but especially the enthusiasm of those
who we guess are the rare real dancer
The pleasure intensifies
when the volume and the speed increases
when the frenzy takes over the stage
and the microphones
Those moments that children
tell us about when they come home exhausted
conscious of having experienced
something extraordinary
These are the moments that Mette Ingvartsen
wants to recreate for us
but it's not easy to enclose in a theatre
what slides, jostles, hijacks
recreating a skatepark as it is
is expensive and heavy
And it's true that sliding is beautiful
but it's not the same as dancing
when body and space are used
to convey lasting thoughts
that draw on what exists but transform it
to take the audience's elsewhere
than in their usual considerations
and skate bring plenty of material
Questioning places
with a skatepark halfway between
an urban enclosure and a training camp
to take over
or the object-skateboard
like mini-scenes in motion
where we film each other
portable boards for a theatrical life
where we no longer have feet
and, of course, this relationship with time
endleess rehearsal, incessant back and forth
that turn time into a distended spiral
which is broken by sudden bursts
to spread out again
We would have like the choreography
to do more than what already exist
to take off
and the money to be put in dance
and not on heavy sets
Gliding is so light
Roshan Di Puppo
A must-see the film by Ans Mertens
Reel Real Double Time
about the skateboarding scene in Antwerp
presented in April 2023 at Het Bos