Leemte

Maker	ROTOR
Duration	60 min

An intense performance about fading collective memory

The generation that can still speak firsthand about the Second World War is getting smaller. With that, a physical form of memory is also disappearing, leaving behind stories that are open to distortion and reinterpretation. In the physical performance Leemte, collective ROTOR practices embodied remembering. Together, they search for what has been forgotten or is about to be forgotten. Because in a void, something is missing, and that absence can be deeply felt.

Can you feel something you’ve never experienced?
We lose experiences, but not the impact they leave behind. So how do you find something you no longer know or can’t fully grasp? With Leemte, ROTOR is making a radical, empathetic attempt at practicing memory and passing on physical experiences across generations. This makes it much more than a performance – it becomes a collective memory through which we can transmit lived, bodily experience so that shared values remain intact.

Leemte is supported by De Coproducers, a collective of fourteen Dutch theaters that champion innovative artists and performances that matter.

Hidde Aans-Verkade and Koen van der Heijden form the creative core of ROTOR as performing makers, supported by Coproducers. During their studies at the Academy of Theater and Dance in Amsterdam, they discovered a strong physical connection that set everything in motion.

ROTOR’s work revolves around the repetition of physical action. The central question: what sets ROTOR in motion? This question doesn’t only point to movement itself, but to the deeper potential for transformation and meaning that resonates with the audience. What about ROTOR moves the audience? Core elements include the body as the starting point, the physical exhaustion of the performers, the audience’s physical engagement, variation through repetition, and the practice of meaning-making.