Beethoven wrote his Ninth Symphony when he was almost completely deaf. Cai Glover is hearing-impaired, and chooses to dance without his hearing aid. What do our senses - or their absence - tell us about our world, and more importantly, how do they guide us beyond our differences?
Perceiving, experiencing, understanding. Hélène Blackburn and Cai Glover plunge back into this breathtaking show to embrace all the extravagence of one of the greatest masterpieces of classical repertoire: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. In this updated version, where discipline continues to guide beauty, sight and hearing fade away at times to make way for the pure magic of dance. The demanding choreography investigates the emotions we give to inanimate objects, and how they can fill the gaps that our handicaps - no matter how big or small - stretch between us and reality. Blackburn brilliantly hands the work over to Glover, who remains one of its talented performers, but also becomes co-artistic director and responsible for subsequent revivals, bringing his own perspective to the choreographer's revolutionary ideas. Beethoven's revisited music is molded into a contemporary, athletic and challenging physical vocabulary, expanding as light plays tricks on us. A daring voyage full of sensations, 9.2 reaches out to all generations, embracing every body, every individual, and transforming everyone into language.
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9.2 takes its inspiration and roots from 9, a Cas Public co-production with the Kopergietery de Gent in Belgium, created in 2016.
Artistic direction Hélène Blackburn and Cai Glover Choreography Hélène Blackburn in collaboration with Cai Glover Playwright Johan De Smet Music Martin Tétreault Lighting design Emilie B-Beaulieu and Hélène Blackburn Set design Hélène Blackburn Costumes Michael Slack and Hélène Blackburn Films Kenneth Michiels With the participation of children from the Ghent neighborhood Rabot Seymanur Kizilca, Evgeni Miroslavov, Chaz Keith Salfamones, Ramzi Serrai, Burhan Zambur Performers at inception Nicholas Bellefleur, Cai Glover, Robert Guy, Daphnée Laurendeau, Danny Morissette and soprano Jolien de Gendt
