| Intro | A high-tech audiovisual dance experience created by choreographers Jasper van Luijk and Ruben Chi. |
| Duration | 60 min |
Sensing Bodies: A High-Tech Audiovisual Dance Experience
Sensing Bodies is an impressive high-tech double bill that combines two innovative dance performances in one. Created by choreographers Jasper van Luijk (SHIFFT) and Ruben Chi (SoulCypher), the works explore the boundaries between body, technology, and consciousness, taking the audience on a journey of isolation, self-discovery, and digital transcendence.
Together, these two pieces offer a full evening program where body, sound, and technology come together in a stunning way.
Allow yourself to be enchanted by these forward-thinking art forms, which raise questions about the role of technology in our existence.
How can a person, cut off from the outside world, rediscover who they are? In Pushing Waves, choreographer Jasper van Luijk explores the world of isolation and imagination. Fully thrown back on himself, a man drifts into his deepest thoughts. With complete surrender, he tries to hold on to memories, while the world around him slowly crumbles. What do you hold on to when everything is silent?
Solo dancer Niek Wagenaar directly influences the musical composition being created by sound artist Tom van Wee with his movements and body. A sigh turns into a cool breeze, a scream becomes the static of a radio, and a bouncing beat transforms into a stamping foot. In Pushing Waves, we let the body speak, even when it is deafeningly silent.
In Transcendance, choreographer Ruben Chi and artist Bob Sizoo bring dance and artificial intelligence together in a way that challenges your imagination. On stage, dancer Ibrah Silas Jackson faces a digital version of himself, an AI-optimized alter ego that moves beyond the limitations of the human body and mind. A captivating interplay unfolds, questioning the essence of natural growth and evolution. Together, they perform a hypnotic dialogue in which the boundaries between human and machine blur.
Transcendance invites reflection: how can we, through the lens of technology, come closer to our deepest self? This performance is a ceremonial journey into a world where reality and innovation intersect in new, unprecedented ways.
SHIFFT is the Utrecht dance company of choreographer Jasper van Luijk. SHIFFT creates cross-disciplinary, contemporary dance performances about the people of the future. In 2025, SHIFFT will proudly launch a first 'double bill' in collaboration with SoulCypher, the company of artistic director and choreographer Ruben Chi.
| Concept (Pushing Waves) | Jasper van Luijk & Isabel Meloen |
| Choreography (Pushing Waves) | Jasper van Luijk |
| Dans- and co-creation (Pushing Waves) | Niek Wagenaar |
| Dramaturgy (Pushing Waves) | Isabel Meloen |
| Composition (Pushing Waves) | Tom van Wee |
| Light design & Scenography (Pushing Waves) | Loes Schakenbos |
| Set construction (Pushing Waves) | Douwe Hibma |
| Costume design (Pushing Waves) | Carlijn Petermeijer |
| Concept (Transcendance) | Ruben Chi, Bob Sizoo |
| Choreography (Transcendance) | Ruben Chi in collaboration with Ibrah Silas Jackson |
| Dancer (Transcendance) | Ibrah Silas Jackson |
| Creative Technologist / AI Developer (Transcendance) (Transcendance) | Nikzad Arabshahi |
| Sound Composition (Transcendance) | Bastian Benjamin |
| Light design & Scenography (Transcendance) | Nikzad Arabshahi |
| Costume (Transcendance) | Ishijah Thompson |
| Research and development (Transcendance) | Innovation Lab Theater Utrecht |
"By giving the AI all the necessary ingredients for movement and staging an exploratory game of leading and following, Chi and Sizoo ask practical but philosophical questions about physicality, perception and immersion"
— Theaterkrant about Transcendance
Korzo Zaal