Coming soon: ISLANDS of EMPATHY, the latest Club Guy & Roni performance as part of The Human Odyssey.
In Islands of Empathy, we explore how empathy can be a driving force in the way we live together. In the Netherlands we grow up learning to always be the best version of ourselves; individually and and above all independently. Need help? What’s wrong with you! We’ve turned into a society in which self-reliance is a recommendation and needing help a sign of weakness.
In many other societies, the collective seems to come first. With less support from the government, the residents seem to support each other more. Movies and stories often show and tell us that when a society collapses, people turn into selfish beasts, but in practice it turns out just the opposite. Humanity belongs – contrary to what we sometimes think – to our basic human equipment. Islands of Empathy is about the feeling of wanting to belong to a community based on empathy.
“Even without leadership, society finds a way to organize itself. Empathy is an important human tool in the effort to design a positive new system. In Islands of Empathy we look for the link between empathy and anarchy.” – Roni Haver
Club x Senegal
In July 2023 we’ll travel to Dakar, Senegal to research different perspectives on empathy. To what extent does the Northern European perspective differ from the African one? By talking to Senegalese administrators and spiritual leaders, and by following workshops with local artists, we collect different perspectives that ultimately form the blueprint for Islands of Empathy.
During the performance, Senegalese music, rhythms and the local tradition of musical story structures are central.
The Human Odyssey
Islands of Empathy (in a Sea of Chaos) is part of our Human Odyssey, in which we investigate different human feelings and emotions (love, fear, happiness, empathy) from an intercultural perspective and in collaboration with an international dance company.
Islands of Empathy = Club Guy & Roni + Slagwerk Den Haag
** language no problem **
Credits
Concept and choreography Roni Haver, Guy Weizman
Cast dancers: Camilo Chapela, Angela Herenda, Sofiko Nachkebiya, Adam Peterson, Igor Podsiadly, Eliana Stragapede, Jésula Toussaint Visser mucisians: Pape Seck, Niels Meliefste (Slagwerk Den Haag)
Composition THYS
Light design Maarten van Rossem
Dramaturgy Friederike Schubert
