Where We Are

How do you deal with constrictions that the norm epitomised by the (white, male) mainstream has managed to drill into the very lobes of our brain? The Brussels-based choreographer Thi-Mai Nguyen will dance a piece from her second solo show Prémisse, in which freedom takes over the female body with the necessary splashes. The Antwerp-based author Carolina Maciel de França will be presenting a newly written poem about the right to unkindness, to "stick gaffa tape on your leg hairs and then pull it off". The soprano Noémie Schellens and the bassist Mirko Banovic will close the evening in an even more musical way with an unprecedented mix of experimental electro-rock and baroque opera. Down with conflict-free intersections!

Carolina Maciel de França is an author, dramaturge, consultant, presenter and maker. After originally training as a literary translator, she steamed her way through into the Flemish theatre world via the intercultural media platform Kif. Initially, she worked behind the scenes, but for several years also as an artist and guest lecturer in the Drama department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. Maciel de França writes essays and enjoys experimenting with language. Her short story ‘Agatha’ was published in the collection AFROLIT, her poem ' Met azertyviteit van/voor Paul (With azertyvity from/for Paul)' appeared in the collection Bezette Stad. In 2022, she will create the play The Hero's Journey of Anastácia, about the tortured slave girl who is revered as a people's saint in her native Brazil. For her performance at MoMu she will play with Prisca Nishimwe. Text and music will engage in their own duet, driven by the perspective of black women.

The dancer and choreographer Thi Mai Nguyen (Brussels) studied classical and contemporary dance at the Conservatoire National de Paris. From 2002 to 2012, she danced with Wim Vandekeybus and Ultima Vez, for whom she also directed video work on several occasions. After a furthering her career by working with choreographers such as Michelle-Anne De Mey and James Thierree (including at the Paris Opéra Garnier), she has been charting her own path since 2018. Her first solo, Etna, promptly won the Prix de la Critique for best dance performance in Belgium. At MoMu, we will get to see the final 20 minutes of her second solo Prémisse, which she performed at the Théâtre Marni in Brussels in 2021. You could call it a frenetic dive into a woman's post-traumatic imagination. Drawing a line is heartbreaking, but not drawing one can be fatal.

The Belgian soprano, Noémie Schellens, trained at the Brussels Conservatory, sings opera, oratorio, baroque music and contemporary classical works with orchestras and ensembles at home and abroad. At the same time, she acted ravishingly in films, clips and series, such as Terence Davies' A Quiet Passion. The composer and musician Mirko Banovic studied jazz bass at the conservatory in Ghent and has played with Belpop's cream of the crop – Arno, Arsenal, Zita Zwoon, Sioen, Axelle Red, Arid, Pieter-Jan De Smet, dEUS... What is it that brings a bass player and a classical soprano together? Where exactly does experimental electro-rock touch the passion of baroque opera? At MoMu, Schellens and Banovic will explore the highs and lows of passionate love in a dialogue that will extend across the centuries. Haendel & Friends anno 2022.