Esch2022: Summer programme in Esch-Belval featuring dance, theatre and hip hop

Bringing new life to the Plancher des Coulées foundry platform and to the ruins of the Socle C blast furnace base through a variety of performances and workshops.

Summer has started and the first open-air festivals - in Esch-Belval in collaboration with the Rockhal - have taken place. The Plancher des Coulées was impressively highlighted at the end of June thanks to the acrobatic performances “À l‘Aplomb du vide” by the French Association Chor‘A Corps. All four event dates were completely sold out. Throughout the summer, there will be many more Esch2022 projects inviting visitors to discover the unique sites of Esch-Belval in a completely new way.

Music and dance, remixed with painting and other art forms, are at the heart of the projects Choreocroma, TRIBUNE // Dance Your Self!, Identity and NBRDRS, which will “move into” the Plancher des Coulées and the Socle C on several dates between 22 July and 3 September. As a “warm-up”, the project Remixing Clubbing Experience - La Fraîcheur & Véronique Lemonnier at the Socle C will already set the mood for the following weeks with a DJ set on 16 July; it is part of the programme accompanying the exhibition Earthbound - In Dialogue with Nature at the Möllerei. For more information, please visit Rockhal.lu.

“When locations like the foundry platform and Socle C become the backdrop for artistic performances, something very inspiring happens: The artists appropriate these unusual places in the course of their creative process, thus transforming them and filling them with new life; the audience in turn gains access to these places, immersing themselves in an experience that combines art and industrial history,” says Françoise Poos, Director of Cultural Programme Esch2022.

Choreocroma

Plancher des Coulées, 22. & 23.07.

This multidisciplinary project initiated by Lucoda, Luxembourg Collective of Dance, brings together two choreographers, a dancer, a painter and two video artists who together reinterpret the painting “Déjeuner sur l'Herbe” by the renowned Serbian artist Sava Šumanović, which is part of the collection of the museum “The Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection” in Novi Sad. The project is a joint initiative of the European Capitals of Culture Esch2022 and Novi Sad 2022, in partnership with the TROIS, CL Centre de Création Chorégraphique Luxembourgeois. It is a multidimensional experience, a choreographic performance that is at once sensory, auditory and visual.

• Choreographers: Rhiannon Morgan and Giovanni Zazzera
• Interpretation: Rhiannon Morgan, Gabriele Montaruli and Giovanni Zazzera
• Painting: Chantal Maquet
• Video: Melting Pol and Gilles Seyler
• Music: Ljubomir Nikola

For further information and dates, please visit Esch2022.lu.

TRIBUNE // Dance Your Self!

Plancher des Coulées, 04.08.-06.08.

Six choreographers from Luxembourg and Lithuania will each work out three choreographies in a mixed duo, which will be presented on three evenings:

• HANDS UP, Agniete Lisikinaite (LT) / RAUM, William Cardoso (LUX)
• CRACKS, Grete Smitaite (LT) / (di)SPERARE - duo, Giovanni Zazzera (LU)
• IT'S NOT YOUR DREAM, Vilma Pitrinaite (LT) / WHAT DOES NOT BELONG TO US, Sarah Baltzinger (LU)

The joint project of the two European Capitals of Culture Esch2022 and Kaunas2022 leaves a lot of room for participation: the themes of the three presentations are outlined and the choreographers then develop them over two weeks of workshops before the performance dates. The first one-week period takes place in Esch-Alzette, the second one-week period in Kaunas. These workshops are open to the interested public. The programme is rounded off by early morning warm-ups, in which local artists can also participate, as well as time for meetings with colleagues from the industry. Following the performances, there will be discussion sessions encouraging exchange between the audience and the artists. (Project partners: TROIS C-L, Lithuanian Dance Information Center, Centre Culturel de Kaunas).

For further information and dates, please visit Esch2022.lu.

Identity

Plancher des Coulées, 13.08.

The Identity project has both an artistic and an educational dimension. The association KnowEdge a.s.b.l. brings a musician and four dancers from Luxembourg together on stage to raise and work on the question of the identity of the individual in their very own way. Last year, the artists already came together to work on the shows that are now taking place. A number of cultural centres and municipalities in the Esch2022 region participate in this project as partners, including Differdingen, Kayl and Esch-Alzette. Through various educational interventions, the artists will introduce young people to the world of street dance and the values associated with it. At the closing event “Patchwork” on 13.08, hip hop dancers from Luxembourg will tell their own stories about encounters between different people and invite the audience to reflect on their very own conception of identity.

For further information and dates, please visit Esch2022.lu.

NBRDRS

Socle C, 19.07.-24.07.

The festival NBRDRS (“No Borders”) is organised in cooperation with the Rockhal. Between 19.07. and 24.07. it will feature several hip hop and rap concerts with artists from different countries including Portugal, Serbia, Cape Verde and Italy. On 23.07. a “Jam de Danse” will take place at Socle C as part of the Esch2022 project Identity.

For further information and dates, please visit Esch2022.lu.

The Esch2022 agenda includes many more exciting projects around the theme of dance under the following link.

The Richtung22 collective will give a guest performance at the Plancher des Coulées. Interested people will be informed directly and at short notice via their website.

Programme offer during the summer holidays at SKIP

The SKIP is the venue for children and young people, schools and families in Esch-Belval. Numerous events and workshops will take place there over the summer, some of which are accompanying the exhibitions at the Möllerei and the Massenoire. The offer includes musical workshops, creative sessions on scientific topics and sustainability as well as interactive tours for the whole family. In the comfortably designed room of the striking yellow building, there are also books, iPads and other games available, making break times entertaining as well.

For further information and dates, please visit Esch2022.lu.

The exhibition Live, breathe and sleep guitars (Luc Henzig collection) will also take place at SKIP from 17 August to 10 October, Wednesdays to Sundays, from 4pm to 9pm (admission: €7). Admission is free for visitors who have previously purchased the combined ticket for the Möllerei and Massenoire exhibitions. In this four-part exhibition, fans have the opportunity to discover the history of the electric guitar, from the origins of amplification of the instrument in “Getting Loud!”, to the technical development, standardisation and commercial success of well-known models from Fender or Gibson in “Big Three”, all the way to the guitar heroes and their influence on rock music. The programme is rounded off by thematic evenings with jam sessions, concerts or even meetings with Luc Henzig.

For further information, please visit Esch2022.lu.