BAD CHOICES

BAD CHOICES by Noémie Saintandré, Marguerite Neves, Nora Gabrovska, Ana Lekše & Josse De Broeck This performance is based on the well-known piece by Igor Stravinsky and Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz: L’Histoire du Soldat. It was originally written for a septet, actors and a dancer, with lyrics by Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz The story is about a soldier who makes a deal with the devil and loses everything because he wanted more.

With this performance, the collective aims to find a coherent interplay between musicians (violin, clarinet, piano) and circus performers. There are also moments of musical improvisation. They already presented a Work In Progress at the Outside In festival in Mechelen. The musicians of the Vermeil ensemble (Noémie, Marguerite and Nora), classical musicians playing violin, clarinet and piano respectively, have long wanted to deviate from the already trodden paths of the classical music world and explore new concert forms. Meeting Josse (porter, acrobat) and Ana (aerial acrobat) in January 2021 was confirmation for them that other artistic paths are possible. Together, they want to transcend the boundaries of both fields into a hybrid art form.

Bad Choices collective now consists of 5 people. They chose L’Histoire du Soldat as their first experience because Stravinsky’s music is very captivating, expressive and varied Moreover, they cannot think of a better year to begin this project than 2021, the year that marks the 50th anniversary of the Russian composer’s death.

Nora Gabrovska – alumni of the National Academy of Music, Sofia, Bulgaria (Bachelor Classical Piano) and the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp (Master Piano Performance). Piano teacher working in Mechelen and accompanist of choir Lyric Music.

Josse De Broeck – graduated from the Academy of Circus and Performance Art in Tilburg, The Netherlands as a partner acrobat. Performed in SCREWS by Alexander Vantournhout and Carrying my father by THERETHERE Company. Part of collective Familiar Faces, laureate of CircusNext ’18 – ’19. Teaches at the Formation Pédagogique of Ecole de Cirque de Bruxelles.

Marguerite Neves – Bachelor and Educational Master clarinet at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, various youth orchestras, participation in the social project “the OpmaatOrkest” as substitute clarinet teacher.

Ana Lekše – Bachelor in Art History at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Licensed circus teacher BIC (Supervisor in circus arts), Leuven, Belgium. Taught the art of puppetry by Irena Rajh and Marjan Kunaver(Slovenia) and aerial acrobatics by dancer and aerial acrobat Branko Potočan(Slovenia) and Esteban Vin(Belgium). Teacher of aerial acrobatics at Cirkus in Beweging(Leuven) and Circus and dance studio Twist(Diest).
Solo performer and aerial acrobat with group Lyapunov.

Noémie Saintandré – Master in violin at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp and Pedagogical Master in violin at the Royal Conservatory of Mons. Participant in the national youth orchestras of France and the Netherlands. Internship in the Orchestra of Opera & Ballet of Flanders. Laureate of the Prize for Arts and Society 2021 Teacher of music revival at Les Mots Passants in Antwerp.

Violinist: Noémie Saintandré (Vermeil Ensemble) / Clarinet: Marguerite Neves (Vermeil Ensemble) / Piano: Nora Gabrovska (Vermeil Ensemble) / Aerial rope: Ana Lekše / Partner acrobatics: Josse De Broeck / With the support of STAD MECHELEN

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