booty Looting

Southbank Centre presents the UK premiere of booty Looting by renowned Belgian filmmaker and choreographer Wim Vandekeybus and his company Ultimza Vez.

In booty Looting music, movement, spoken word and photography are on an equal footing, as Vendekeybus composes a highly individual performance piece. Four dancers, two actors, a photographer and a musician tell the story of actress Birgit Walter, with the performers documenting her life and portraying her as both femme fatale and an ill-fated woman.

Rock photographer Danny Willems joins the performers on stage and takes intimate photos of the action as it unfolds. These images are then displayed live on a screen at the back of the stage forming a backdrop to the rest of the performance. Through the work Vandekeybus is questioning society’s obsession with documenting daily life through photography, and the way the resulting images are often used to exaggerate or distort the reality.

The use of photography in the work also enables Vandekeybus to talk about memory, and explore the memory of performance. He said “memories are often created or distorted on the basis of photographs… Taste and touch are much more sensitive, but the visual is dominant. Which is why you can perfectly well remember things you have never experienced, simply because you have seen pictures of them.”

Vandekeybus is known for pioneering multi-disciplinary performance and his work often explores the physical risks of dancing. He has collaborated with the likes of David Byrne, Jan Fabre and Marc Ribot.

CAST AND CREATIVES
CREATED WITH & PERFORMED BY Jerry Killick, Birgit Walter, Elena Fokina, Dymitry Szypura, Luke Jessop, Kip Johnson
ORIGINAL MUSIC LIVE Elko Blijweert
LIVE STILL-PHOTOGRAPHY Danny Willems