Clay Bodies

Clay Bodies (Study) 
19-22 November, 2026 
Playground Festival
M Museum, Leuven

Clay Bodies
5 December, 2026
December Dance Festival
Concertgebouw Bruges 

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Currently in creation, with a premiere in fall 2026, in Clay Bodies, raw clay and fired ceramic are used to generate movement, sound, and music. Kneading, striking, wearing, breaking: gestures that produce a vibration too persistent to ignore. Voices shift and tune into the rumble of destruction. Drawing on gestures from art history, and popular culture, in the performance past and present collide.

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Loosely based on the myth of Pandora, the work recalls the ancient telling where the evils of the world were released not from a box but from an earthen jar—an all too human gesture almost inevitable. The performance unfolds after the rupture, in a time when what has been released cannot be taken back, and the only thing that remains is the ongoing task of inhabiting the consequences.

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Concept, choreography, visual design: Ula Sickle
Creation, performance: Amanda Barrio Charmelo, Sophia Dinkel, Jose Funnel, Amina Szecsödy
Sound and lighting design: Ofer Smilansky
Ceramic objects: Maika Garnica, Ula Sickle
Costume design: Wang Consulting
Dramaturgy: Martin Zicari, Persis Bekkering
Archeologist and historian: Savannah Marquardt
Coordination: Joëlle Laederach
Production: Outline

Co Production: Kanal / Centre Pompidou Brussels, Concertgebouw Bruges, Perpodium
With the support of Flemish Community, Tax shelter of the Belgian government