Opera Ballet Vlaanderen brings together three contemporary choreographic signatures, spanning different generations of the Flemish scene and the international dance landscape.
Repeatedly featured at the Festival, Jan Martens adapts On Speed for the Flemish company: a choreography built on energy, endurance, and rhythmic pulse; a tight, repetitive, high-intensity physical writing that pushes the dancers into a state of continuous acceleration between precision, saturation, and loss of control.
In a spirit of generational dialogue, but along a similar formal line, the evening continues with Grosse Fuge / Beethoven, the historic choreography by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker—one of the most influential figures of contemporary Flemish and European dance. Created in 1992 and now an emblematic work in her repertoire, the piece draws on Beethoven’s monumental score to translate its contrapuntal complexity into a rigorous and vibrant choreographic architecture.
The program closes with Opus, among the earliest choreographies by Greek artist Christos Papadopoulos, presented here in a new version for twelve dancers. Inspired by Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge, the work deconstructs and reconstructs the score through a choreographic language of almost microscopic precision, where the smallest gesture becomes structure, rhythmic unit, and perceptual matter.
Dancers of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen | Operating as a collective ensemble, the ballet company of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen promotes collaboration, creativity, and a careful balance between tradition and innovation. The group of dancers is organized without hierarchies. At the core of OBV’s activity lies a daily commitment to the practice of ballet, Countertechnique®, and other methodologies that support and enrich the repertoire. The company prioritizes the creation of a positive and inclusive environment, based on a strong sense of community, open collaboration, effective communication, and creative exploration. Opera Ballet Vlaanderen presents opera, ballet, music, and dance-theatre as living, contemporary art forms. The institution focuses both on the great masterpieces of opera and dance history and on contemporary creations and rediscovered works. In 2014, Opera Vlaanderen merged with Ballet Vlaanderen, founded in 1969 by Jeanne Brabants. She was succeeded as artistic directors by Valery Panov, Robert Denvers, Kathryn Bennetts, Assis Carreiro, and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, each offering a personal vision of ballet. What unites them is the desire for a diverse programming approach, a defining feature also of the current artistic director Jan Vandenhouwe. Key elements of the programming include stylistic flexibility, from classical ballet to contemporary dance, the transmission of Flemish dance heritage to new generations, and the creation of large-scale hybrid productions in which opera and ballet merge. Another key objective is the search for new ways to bring the great choreographic repertoire back to the stage. Recent projects include works by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker such as Mozart / Concert Arias, Fase, and Rain; Puur by Wim Vandekeybus; Le Sacre du printemps by Pina Bausch; and creations such as FUTUR PROCHE by Jan Martens (premiered in 2021 at the Cour d’honneur in Avignon) and GRACIELA QUINTET; Petroesjka by Ella Rothschild; Ombra by Alain Platel; and Romeo + Julia by Marcos Morau.
