A Europe Beyond Access performance commissioned by Holland Dance Festival. This marks the first time that non-disabled choreographer Jasper van Luijk has worked with disabled dancers.
About the work
Sum of us is a dance performance about pushing personal boundaries. The title refers to the collective, the sum of us. But ‘sum’ also could refer more exclusively to ‘only some of us’. The work asks where our individual limits lie, both physically and mentally. And where are those boundaries tested, expanded or, conversely, limited in contact with another person or a group?
In Sum of us, five dancers meet again and again in playful encounters in which they probe and challenge each other. Together they look for individual responsibility and the power of the collective.
Choreographer Jasper van Luijk and his company SHIFFT Utrecht are working on this new production with a cast of disabled and non-disabled dancers, combining virtuosic group work and acrobatic athleticism.
“Great to see a choreography that leaves some confusion about wheelchair ownership for a while. And in which that wheelchair is used as a choreographic object, so that the whole gains in artistic value.” Audience member.