The performance “Dance Hall” refers to the dance marathons of the 1920s, which took place in the United States during the Great Depression. To earn a living, the participants in these marathons sought to win the competition and did not understand when their strength was running out.
Choreographer Jeroen Verbruggen admits that, like many dancers, he knows what it's like to use your body to the limit. He individualized the exhausting and challenging nature of the dance, using the personal characteristics of each dancer of the Ballet Moscow troupe – after all, the participants in the brutal marathons also had different temperaments and training.
The dance hall here is a liberating, equalizing space for entertainment and pleasure for everyone; it is a plane on which traces of movements remain, as well as a place of death and crime. Self-exploitation is the other side of the desire for perfection, the desire for success. Although we are all alone in our quest for fame, “Dancing stars are never alone at night” – everyone dances!
I wanted to do something about dance. Everyone dances – be it ballet, or nightclubs, or ritual dances. I liked the idea that dance is medicine, but at the same time it can destroy you if you don't stop. Dance can be something beautiful and something dark at the same time.
Jeroen Verbruggen