‘A few years ago, I was sitting in a skate park in the centre of Brussels. As I watched the activity there, I realised how incredibly performative this place was. It was both a space for virtuosic physical experimentation and a shared, public space for intercultural encounters between communities.

From my seat, I could see young people of different ages gliding through the park and trying to perform spectacular feats over and over again. I saw boys flying through the air on bicycles or pedalling fast forward with only one wheel touching the ground. I stared at a group of teenage girls rehearsing a dance that they were recording on a mobile phone. I was overwhelmed by their sense of rhythm, their total commitment, but also by the fun they were having together as they perfected their dance in front of the camera.

It struck me how extreme the physical activity was in this park. I was impressed by the perseverance of these young people who were working so hard to succeed. It reminded me of dancing and how bodies can be fuelled by an insatiable desire to master a particular movement. I was fascinated by their physical energy, but also by their ability to co-ordinate themselves and the respect needed to avoid accidents in their shared space.

In the following weeks, I kept returning to the park fascinated and developed the idea that a skate park could be a great space and context for a choreography. I envisioned an extensive form of dance that would be both physically virtuosic and socially relevant. A consistent attempt to understand a place where different cultures thrive side by side, even at a time when our society is struggling to overcome all kinds of inequality and discrimination.

Skatepark is an expansive performance for a large group of dancers and skaters. The permanent cast consists of twelve performers aged between 11 and 38, with whom I rehearsed for twelve weeks to develop the core of the choreography. The piece opens with several young skaters from the region on stage, who are recruited at each performance venue. The idea behind this is to create local interest wherever the play is performed, while reaching new audiences and communities who would not normally go to the theatre.

The play takes place in a lively setting – a skate park stage populated by various individuals and small groups. The choreography is based on the movements and behaviours that can be observed in a typical skatepark: Skating, cycling, big jumps through the air, overcoming gravity, but also listening to music, talking, laughing, singing and dancing. These parallel rhythms are modulated to shift the audience’s focus from one event to another, creating a powerful density of energy and movement.

The stage set was designed in collaboration with Pierre Jambé and Antidote Skateparks, who have many years of experience in building skateparks in public spaces. The aim was to create a stage design that is functionally orientated towards skating and at the same time adapts to the frontal orientation of a stage. The lighting, created by Minna Tiikkainen, is designed to accommodate the different moods that arise during the show.

Skatepark represents a new approach I’m developing in my work, which I call “permeable choreography.” It is the result of years of research into how to extend choreographic practices beyond the dance studio by making physical, social, and political questions the building blocks of a choreographic work. In this piece, the choreography is guided by the following questions: What kind of physical pleasure is at stake in the skaters’ activities? What kind of social space is created by their effort and perseverance? How can we understand the intercultural encounters that occur in this public space, and what can we learn from the sense of fluidity and ease that defines them? The permeable approach aims to understand dance as a social phenomenon and recognizes that movement cannot be separated from the world we live in. It encompasses my interest in collaborating with communities, as well as with artists who, while lacking formal dance training, demonstrate a strong experience in virtuosic movement patterns. My goal with this work is to make the stage itself permeable to real-life movements and to bring dance into dialogue with concrete social situations that move us and—hopefully literally—lift us from our seats.”

By Mette Ingvartsen

(Excerpt from the program booklet for the premiere of “Skatepark” on April 13, 2023, at the Cndc in Angers, France)

asphalt will show »Skatepark« on July 19, 2024 at 7:00 p.m., on July 20 at 7:00 p.m. and on July 21 at 6:00 p.m. at D’haus Central.