Festivalis PLARTFORMA | Circus performance “Ballroom” / Post uit Hessdalen (Belgija)

RECOMMENDED for lovers of unexpected spaces and the art of juggling Critic’s corner** “The Ballroom circus performance stands out not only for its impressive technical juggling skills, but also for its visual magic, which instantly makes you feel like a child again. Because beyond the innovative technique that creates the miracle, this performance simply makes you dream, until after half an hour you bounce back into reality like a ball.” Het TheaterFestival 2025 jury report “I had never seen so many wonderful bouncing balls. Until one ball suddenly stopped bouncing. And I plunged into a universe of magical realism, where balls appear, disappear or float in the air at the same time. The exceptional concept and the magic of storytelling make Ballroom the audience’s favourite festival performance.” Nik Waldram “TiredDay”, “YawningDay”, “Don’tWantToDay”, “ProcrastinationDay”, “CaptivityDay”, “TooTiredDay”, “WhereIsTheSunDay”… Somewhere, Someone is entrusted with putting the same balls into the same box again and again. Someone does this day after day, year after year, and no one really knows why. Hoping the walls will not collapse on Someone, Someone starts throwing balls at the walls. And so the balls begin to travel further and further through space, sometimes gracefully and deceptively simply, and sometimes powerfully and complexly. If all goes well, they land neatly in the box. But things do not always go well. And how much of that “failure” can Someone withstand? Then Someone, in order to avoid colourless monotony, begins to create a new dimension of space and time (or is it only in the mind?). And when that succeeds, something happens that can only be called true magic. During the performance, you sit in a transformed truck, inside which scenographer Lodewijk Heylen has created a concrete set design. In it, accompanied by the sounds of musicians Jochem Baelus and Frederik Meulyzer, juggler Stijn Grupping creates an incredible dance of balls and takes us on a journey of sensations. Post uit Hessdalen is a troupe creating unique musical theatre. Its main artists are filmmaker and circus performer Stijn Grupping and theatre director Ine Van Baelen, who bring in new performers for each new creative project. In this changing collective environment, the troupe creates hybrid stage works combining several artistic disciplines: theatre, video, visual art, circus and more, aiming to visualise the connections between our senses, powers of understanding and actions. https://www.postuithessdalen.be/ Authors: Stijn Grupping & Ine Van