OUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE
Greta Thunberg's famous words “our house is on fire!” are a call for action and panic. But do we feel panic? Do we spring into action? The dance performance OUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE is about the paradox between understanding and actually taking a next step. Can we hear her?
Choreographer Nicole Beutler zooms in on that one phrase: “our house is on fire”. Eight dancers look for new ways to understand and amplify Greta's urgent message. Through dance, music, text and powerful images, the words are allowed to sink deep into our subconscious minds. The dancers use their whole being to make us feel this one sentence in every vein of our bodies, in the hope that the message will finally get through to us.
A performance suitable for audiences in the age of 12 years and up.
A coproduction with Norrdans (SE)
OUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE was created in 2020 in collaboration with the dancers of the Swedish company Norrdans. Norrdans presents new contemporary work by established international choreographers and new talent. The company mainly focuses on a young audience. Norrdans perform their works all over Sweden, with a particular focus on the north of Sweden. After the Swedish tour in 2020, OUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE will come to the Netherlands with a new Dutch cast.
We’ve come here to let you know that change is coming whether you like it or not. There are no grey areas when it comes to survival. Now we all have a choice. We can create transformational action that will safeguard the living conditions for future generations. Or we can continue with our business as usual and fail.
That is up to you and me.
We must all do the seemingly impossible.
I hope my microphone was on.
I hope you could all hear me.
- Greta Thunberg
Language No Problem
Age: 12 – 99+
Duration: 1 hour
Concept, direction, choreography: Nicole Beutler
Dramaturgy: Igor Dobricic
Created in collaboration with the dancers of Norrdans (SE): Rebecka Berchtold, Sam Huczkowski, Nastia Ivanova, Seung Hwan Lee, Chang Leo Liu, Jade Stenhuijs, Jonathan Starr, Alban Ovanessian
Performers NL: Rob Polmann, Lucinda Wessels, Hellen Boyko, Marjolein Vogels, Liam McCall, Melyn Chow, Robin Lesley Nimanong
Understudies(NL): Liah Frank, Margarida Constantino
Music: Gary Shepherd
Video, scenography, lighting design: Erno Aaltonen
Lighting design NL & light technician: Prem Scholte Albers
Sound technician: Martin Kaffarnik
Costumes in collaboration with Annette Hägglund. In NL made by Jessica Helbach and Oneroomoffice
Répétiteur: Isaac Spencer (during creation), João Dinis Pinho (on tour NL)
Thanks to: Christian Guerematchi
Coproduction: Norrdans, Nicole Beutler Projects
With the support of (NL): Fonds Podiumkunsten, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Goethe-Institut Niederlande
Acquisition and tour planning: Theaterzaken Via Rudolphi
reviews
‘This is a house and you are guests.’ / ‘This is the star and you are the choir.’ / ‘This is the time and you are late.’ / ‘This is happening and you know it’. Here, the message really hits home: the world is so much bigger and more important than each of us individually, and even combined.
- Movement Exposed
"With "Our house is on fire", choreographer Nicole Beutler delivers a slap in the face - but also a painfully beautiful work that could hardly have been more urgent.
Nicole Beutler delivers the message crystal clear, explicitly and with a liberating simplicity and power that a child can understand. It is a force against all the studied lies about infinite growth on a finite planet. "Our house is on fire" is a liberating mix of genres; the dancers build artistic installations with their bodies, play theater, shout, speak sign language.
The sometimes almost childish simplicity, like when the dancers throw around an inflatable earth ball, makes the performance extremely strong; it's like Greta Thunberg herself taking shape, a little girl with braids who sees the lies of power ,"How dare you!"
It is an emotional slap in the face that does not go off for picks; it's not just me who wipes away the tears when the light goes out. the standing ovations and shouts of joy make the salon suddenly feel packed with people. And, in fact, full of hope."
- Allehanda.se