The 27th edition of Kunstenfestivaldesarts (KFDA) will go ahead this year after a hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. The three-week festival opens on May 7 and will see Belgian and international artists convene in Brussels to redefine the boundaries of theatre, dance and performance.
Events will be staged at over 30 venues around the city, including the festival’s hub at the Kaaitheater. This year, KFDA puts a particular emphasis on connection through music.
On the lineup are big names such as choreographer François Chaignaud, who opens the festival this weekend with ‘Tumulus’, in which the dancers weave to a melody that moves from baroque to contemporary.
French composer Christophe Chassol – who previously collaborated with artists such as Frank Ocean and Solange – will also be attending. Chassol’s new project ‘Chou’ is dedicated to Brussels and will be performed at the Ancienne Belgique, l'Archiduc and De Munt.
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Music is also central to the festival's Free School programme, with workshops by Calixto Neto, Decoratelier/Jozef Wouters and Kate McIntosh.
The stage program includes well-known names such as Christophe Marthaler, Marlene Monteiro Freitas, Bruno Beltrão, Alice Ripoll, Lia Rodrigues, Bouchra Ouizguen and El Conde de Torrefiel, but also new faces such as Jelena Jureša, Parnia Shams, Okwui Okpokwasili and Noé Soulier.
Look out for Brussels residents such as choreographer Cherish Menzo, who premieres the performance ‘Darkmatter’; Silke Huysmans & Hannes Dereere, who explore deep-sea mining in ‘Out of the blue’; and Castélie Yalombo with ‘Water, l'atterrée des eaux vives’.
Some of the festival's locations will also be entertaining. For example, the Peruvian artist Daniela Ortiz creates a puppet show with animals at various Brussels colonial monuments. Meanwhile, director Akira Takayama teams up with with Brussels bicycle couriers to set up guerrilla performances in the city.
The Brussels-Italian company Fanny & Alexander will make a performance around Primo Levi in the Belgian Senate.
For more information, see here.
