NOW WE ARE EARTH/ An Orchestra is a multifaceted vision of the future. At a time, when polarisation and successive crises leave us drifting apart, the performance highlights that which unites us. This dance opera seeks a new balance with everything that lives. Human, animal, plant, fungus, bacteria and technology: NOW WE ARE EARTH/ An Orchestra is a future dream in which all elements live in peace and coherence with the planet.

Inspired by the endless and inextricable bonds of fungal threads in a fungus flake, all performers build together a polyphonic, resonant web full of colours and sounds, like an eternally repeating and branching pattern.

The boundaries between stage and audience are literally stretched and you experience a performance in which music, song, dance and set merge into an eco-futuristic “singing together for greater cohesion”. The voices of the performers and a many-member city choir led by young composer Timo Tembuyser, together with Lena Newton’s set and composer Gary Shepherd’s electronic, futuristic soundscapes, form a Gesamtkunstwerk that resonates like a collective, vibrant breath.

TRILOGY: RITUALS OF TRANSFORMATION (towards a new humanity)
For this third and final part of the trilogy RITUALS OF TRANSFORMATION (towards a new humanity), Nicole Beutler Projects joins forces with international partners: Berlin’s Dance On Ensemble, a company for dancers over 40, with Opera Ballet Flanders, / VONK and Opera2Day, who are shaping the local city choir.

Whereas in the first part, GINKGO or: 56 million years ago there were palm trees on the North Pole, we said goodbye to the man-made world, and nature regained its breath in part two, ATMEN/ evolution is silently unfolding (O. 2024), in this final piece we search for a new balance between the earthly elements. The show can be experienced independently, but it is also part of a bigger picture that offers hope for a sustainable future for humanity.

Context programme
Time: 7 – 8 pm
Location: TR25 Schouwburg – hall theatre & bay window
Free entrance 

The impact programme builds on the themes of the performance, offers additional reflection and opens the conversation about the search for a balance on earth. One hour prior to the performance, you are welcome to dive into the world around NOW WE ARE EARTH. 

Do you suffer from fly-shaming, fossil addiction, environmental melancholy, biodiversity loss or are you in an impossible climate split? The climate psychologists of De Groene Kliniek will be happy to help you on your way.

Prefer a practical approach? Jump on the mega balance board by artist Julien F. Thomas and explore with other visitors what it is like to maintain a shaky balance when the centre is not in the middle and you are always dependent on each other’s movements.

In addition, with a drink at the bar, you can listen to introductory words by dance dramaturge Justa ter Haar about choreographer Nicole Beutler’s working methods.