The Sadness

Three young people are sitting in their backyard. Making beats, writing songs for no one in particular, copying dances from the internet. And waiting. What else is there to do? The end of the world has already happened.

The Sad­ness is a chore­o­graph­ing of con­tem­po­rary melan­choly in the form of a con­cert. Created in 2020 during the pandemic, the performance was largely written and created from home and through online working sessions. Re­flect­ing on the eco­log­i­cal cri­sis and prevalent feel­ings of fu­ture­less­ness, the per­form­ers wrote their own songs, working closely with Japanese-American musician Lynn Suemitsu, who composed the original music.

In 2022, musician and rapper Ashley Morgan joined the performance in a reworked staging for Donaufestival. A producer in his own right under the moniker LGTL, Ashley rewrote many of the songs bringing his own musical touch to the performance. On stage, the three performers play their songs live using an app de­signed es­pe­cially for the pro­ject by beat boxer and programmer Black Adopo. Their singing merges with pul­sat­ing pop rhythms and heavy bass, their voices be­com­ing one with the ma­chine. The Sad­ness ex­plores live music mak­ing as a col­lec­tive act that forges new con­nec­tions, be­tween the pre­sent and pos­si­ble fu­tures, be­tween bod­ies and words, be­tween hu­mans and the non-human.

concept, direction, video, laser: Ula Sickle


lyrics, creation, performance: Sidney Barnes, Ashley Morgan, Amber Vanluffelen
 

(originally with Camilo Mejía Cortés)

sound design: Lynn Sue

Additional musical arrangements: Ashley Morgan

light design: Ryoya Fudetani


sound technique: Noé Voisard

video technique: Tim Wouters


app design: Black Adopo


music samples: Ken Roy Johnson (guitar & synth), Tom Pauwels (guitar)

vocal coach: Didier Likeng

writing coach, research: Maru Mushtrieva


dramaturgy: Persis Bekkering

costume design: Sabrina Seifried


graphic design: Julie Peeters

co-production: CCN-Ballet national de Marseille in the frame of accueil studio - Ministère de la Culture, STUK House for Dance, Image and Sound (Leuven), donaufestival (Krems), Pianofabriek / Kunstenwerkplaats (Brussels), workspacebrussels

With the support of the Flemish Community, the Flemish Community Commission and the Canada Council for the Arts

tour management: Joëlle Laederach