Alexander Vantournhout/Not Standing:
Foreshadow

Running time: The performance lasts approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Foreshadow by renowned Flemish choreographer Alexander Vantournhout features eight acrobat-dancers. The performers move like gears of a collective body, exploring quasi-impossible balances, challenging one another and defying gravity. With Foreshadow, Vantournhout takes a new step in his exploration of the relationships between gravity, movement, balance, and spatiality. Rather than a static backdrop, the wall emerges as an accomplice: through meticulous calibration of body positioning, an ongoing dialogue emerges among the performers, the wall, and inevitably, the floor. 

After VanThorhout, in which Alexander Vantournhout appeared solo on stage, Not Standing returns with a group show featuring eight acrobat-dancers. The performers move like the cogs in a human machine to the tunes of experimental rock music. The collective body embeds in an orchestrated symphony of limbs and joints, creating an ever-evolving landscape of human sculptures.

Body mechanics are challenged by gravitational forces, resulting in an interplay of physical systems. Together, eight performers create an ever-evolving landscape of human sculptures.  In addition to the floor, which played a prominent role in SCREWS and Through the Grapevine, the wall now also becomes a dance partner.

Alexander Vantournhout (Brussels, 1989) studied single wheel and juggling at ESAC (Ecole Supérieure des Arts du Cirque) and contemporary dance at P.A.R.T.S. (Performing Arts Research and Training Studios) in Brussels. His physical language is influenced by a varied education and diverse working experiences. However, it is characterized by two constants: his exploration of the creative and kinetic potential in physical limitations, and the interaction or boundary between performer and object.

Since 2014 he has created more than 10 shows, ranging from solos to group pieces, which have been touring intensely over the last ten years. His productions have been awarded several times and in 2024 he received the Ultima, Flanders’ highest recognition for performing arts. He is artist in residence at arts centre VIERNULVIER in Ghent (BE) and associate artist of le CENTQUATRE in Paris (FR). 

He founded his company, Not Standing, in 2012, and his shows are presented in prestigious theatres and performing arts festivals all over Europe and beyond.