Ultima Vez: In Spite Of Wishing and Wanting

Rating: 14+

The performance contains scenes of nudity. Ultima Vez returns to one of its key works: In Spite of Wishing and Wanting. In 1999, when this dance piece was first performed, it caused a huge stir. For the first time, Wim Vandekeybus had created a performance not about the chemistry between men and women, but a primal desire in a world of men alone – fierce, wild, naive and playful. Spellbinding footage and dance sequences, supported by David Byrne’s sensual soundtrack, flow into monologues about fear, a desire for security and the magic of sleep. The dance scenes are quite extraordinary, with dancers wearing long skirts, twisting and turning while white feathers flutter down, throwing themselves in the air, madly spinning or flying off like birds. In this whirlwind of dance, Vandekeybus leaves room for emotion, life, its joys and miseries, its conflicts and warmth. He manages to mix his very physical, almost violent, quite risky dancing with extreme gentleness and beauty. Vandekeybus adds theatrical sequences and two short surrealist films drawn from Cortazar novels, which add humour, reflection on language.