“Anima Ardens” theatrical play aka 11 nude men dancing for one hour!

Eleven men, eleven dancers, in a permanent state of nudity that underlines the diversity of their bodies and origins, throwing themselves, body and soul, into this « Anima Ardens » (burning soul). Evolving in sound and organic environments created by Francisco Lopez and on the white floor of the dance studio of the Thor Company, those naked men will make use of their bodies, their breaths and their voices. Their dance will crescendo to the limits of trance practices, to a modified state of their bodies. Their goal is to reach a collective intense emotional climax, a poetic fury that will lead to a space of freedom: a place where even the spectator would breathe more freely, would let go and liberate himself from the weight of the present. (www.thor.be/en/productions/anima-ardens-dp6)

Those men, those dancers, have been chosen deliberately by Thierry Smits; not for their technical virtuosity, but because they are all gifted with the feel for motion exploration which is at the centre of this production. They come from Belgium, Germany, Poland, Italy, Portugal, Brazil, France and United Kingdom. Together, they are some kind of ephemeral tribe where each one is individual and at the same time fully mindful of and linked to the others. Unique individuals as well as a homogeneous group, their union on the floor brings mobility, fluidity and a balance that allows a collective execution of a dance which choreographic rituals are inspired by the theatricality that can be found in possession trances or shamanic trances; they bring us out of ourselves, to the source of our emotions. (www.thor.be/en/productions/anima-ardens-dp6)