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© Alwin Poiana

Jan Martens & GRIP

THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER 2.0
VIERNULVIER
  • Tue 03.02
    20:00 - 21:05
    De Vooruit, Gent
    THEATERZAAL
    last tickets
  • Wed 04.02
    20:00 - 21:05
    De Vooruit, Gent
    THEATERZAAL
    last tickets

Jump until the masks fall off. Remake of a radical hit

"Open all pores to this gem. And above all, don't forget to breathe." wrote Het Nieuwsblad in 2014 about 'THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER'. The reviews back then did not lie: this production marked the absolute breakthrough for Jan Martens, with an extensive international tour of more than 100 performances. In 2025, Jan Martens and GRIP are recreating this successful show with a new cast. 

The American photographer Philippe Halsman once said: “When you ask a person to jump, his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so that the real person appears.” With THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER Jan Martens took this statement as a starting point and exposed through the jump the person behind the dancer.

In THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER, the dancer is defined as a pure performer, striving after perfection. Subjected to a complex, mathematical, vigorous and exhausting choreography executed in forced uniformity, the eight dancers ultimately slip up. And then their masks fall.

Thanks to its radical choreographic form, THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER revealed the audience’s perception of dancers, choreographers, spectators and the cultural policy at the time. Ten years on, these questions are still very much relevant due to current political and social trends: Where does the thin line between art and entertainment lie? Who are we as an audience when we contemplate the suffering of dancers from the theatre like a bullfight in an arena? Is contemporary dance striptease for the elite? THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER makes the viewer shift in his position: from being merely subjected to the experience to actively reflecting on it.

Belgian premiere!

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© Studio Rios Zertuche
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‘durational dance as a killer workout’
Brian Seibert, The New York Times, 28 September 2014

‘It was a wave of energy, and their sheer determination swept over the audience and filled us with awe.’
Rachel Silver, The Peak, 6 November, 2015

‘Open all pores to this gem. And above all, don't forget to breathe.’
Magali Degrande, Het Nieuwsblad, 4 April 2014

‘THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER makes an indelible impression. An impressive feat of perfectly synchronized endurance.’
Mirjam Van der Linden, De Volkskrant, 31 March 2014

‘a work in empathy with the world’
Philippe Noisette - Les Echos, 23 March 2015

‘THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER is the most critical performance by Martens up until today. It reveals the mechanism of looking in the theatre and our longing for entertainment, by demanding the stage to be a place for an encounter between one man and another.” 
**** Charlotte De Somviele, De Standaard, 8 April 2014

‘A literally breath-taking dance that makes the spectator an embarrassed voyeur, witness of so much willingly suffering. Yet at the same time all that jumping makes up a clear statement about the raging chaos with which we rush through a more and more superficial life.'
**** Els Van Steenberghe, Knack Focus, 9 April 2014

‘A breath-taking physical performance that is sure to be remembered for a long time to come.'
Maud Cucchi, Le Droit, 22 October 2015

‘Jan Martens conjures a mesmerizing choreography of nothing but jump strength and geometry.'
**** Annette Embrechts, De Volkskrant, 24 March 2014

 

Credits

Choreography: Jan Martens - Repetitor / artistic assistance: Naomi Gibson - Artistic assistance / coaching: Steven Michel, Piet Defrancq - Performers: 8 out of these dancers: Pierre Bastin, Camilla Bundel, Jim Buskens, Zoë Chungong, Simon Lelièvre, Florence Lenon, Elisha Mercelina, Dan Mussett, Pierre Adrien Touret, Zora Westbroek, Maisie Woodford, Paolo Yao - Original cast: Piet Defrancq, Naomi Gibson, Nelle Hens, Julien Josse, Kimmy Ligtvoet, Cherish Menzo, Steven Michel, Laura Vanborm and/or en/of Morgane Ribbens, Ilse Ghekiere, Victor Dumont, Connor Schumacher, Caspar Knops, Amerigo Delli Bove, Daniel Barkan - Dramaturgy: Renée Copraij - Lighting design: Jan Fedinger - Costume styling 2025: Sofie Durnez - Tour technicians: Michel Spang, Elke Verachtert, Nele Verreyken - Graphic design: Nick Mattan - Graphic design internship: Joëlle Desmet - Physiotherapy and osteopathy: Fourward Gent, Inge Haeyaert, Lode Verreyen - Production: GRIP (Francisca Alves, Hanne Doms, Anneleen Hermans, Rudi Meulemans, Klaartje Oerlemans, Jennifer Piasecki, Sylvie Svanberg, Nele Verreyken) - International distribution: A propic / Line Rousseau, Marion Gauvent - Partners 2023-2027: La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand SN, Maison de la danse/Pôle européen de création, en soutien à la Biennale de Lyon DOG DAYS 2014 - Coproduction: Frascati Producties, SPRING performing arts festival, DansBrabant, La Briqueterie CDC du Val-de-Marne, tanzhaus nrw and TAKT Dommelhof - DOG DAYS 2025 coproduction: Theater Rotterdam, DE SINGEL, Le Carreau – Scène nationale de Forbach et de l’Est Mosellan, Perpodium - DOG DAYS 2014 with the financial support of: the Government of Flanders and Performing Arts Fund NL - DOG DAYS 2025 with the financial support of: the Flemish Government, Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government via Cronos Invest, bpost's Star4U fund - DOG DAYS 2014 with the support of: workspacebrussels en wpZimmer - DOG DAYS 2014 thanks to: Dansateliers, Conny Janssen Danst, JAN en ICKamsterdam - DOG DAYS 2025 thanks to: Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, c o r s o - With the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels


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