The Man who fell from the sky

The Man who fell from the sky, , Nederland

1 Oct 2024

While everything in the universe strives for chaos, man is constantly trying to bring order. We want to explain, to understand. But most of the ideologies and structures that once helped us find our bearings have been abolished, as they were too restrictive to serve as guideposts. What is left for us now? 

The new Panama Pictures production The Man who fell from the sky captures this collective sense of directionlessness and dislocation. The performers look like they have been washed ashore. High in the air they hang from the branches of an uprooted tree, balancing on moving platforms. Is this the aftermath of a disaster? The harbinger of a great change? The Man who fell from the sky shows the human being who, without a foothold or compass, must relate to an environment that is subject to change.

For The man who fell from the sky, Panama Pictures intertwines dance, aerial and floor acrobatics, and live music to create a penetrating and poetic series of images with great physicality, in which the strength and vulnerability of the human body are paramount. With a mix of guitar, voice and electronics, musician Budy Mokoginta creates a solid sound that propels the whole, colours it and dislocates it at times.

 

Cast

Choreography Pia Meuthen

Dance and acrobatics Francesco Barba, Davide Bellotta, Fynn Neb, Jefta Tanate, Tarek Rammo & two interns

Live music Budy Mokoginta

Music composition Strijbos & van Rijswijk, Davide Bellotta

Set design Sammy van den Heuvel

Costume design Sanne Reichert

Lighting design Bart Verzellenberg

Dramaturgy Angelique Willkie

Dramaturgic advice Julian Vogel, Guido Janssen

Choreographic assistance and training Miquel de Jong

 

 

Panama Pictures

Dynamic, unpolished and at times spectacular, but at the same time vulnerable and intimate. Panama Pictures creates performances on the cutting edge of dance and circus, in which the disciplines effortlessly merge into one another and enter into a dialogue with architectural sets and live music. A new universe is created for each performance. Dance and acrobatics are interwoven with classical music, electronic beats and singing.

Panama Pictures takes its audience into a sensory and physical story about universal subjects. Choreographer Pia Meuthen translates literary and philosophical sources of inspiration into poetic images and manages to touch her audience with the great physical impact and human charisma of the whole. She shows worlds that are recognizable but always leave room for own interpretation.

Panama Pictures is the in-house company of the Verkadefabriek in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and is structurally supported by Fonds Podiumkunsten, the province of North Brabant and the municipality of ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

 

Intoxicating acrobatic clambering.

(Volkskrant)

Choreographer Pia Meuthen and her team have perfected their mix of circus and dance further and further until here, in a kind of hand-to-hand dance, the interaction of the men has become a continuous whole of steps, positioning, intention, timing and acrobatics. But instead of a 'clean' continuous line down to the fingertips, every movement here is imbued with the power needed for circus work.

(Theaterkrant)