Club Soda, Tilburg
5/04/2024
10:00Rain, cold wind.Feels like 10°
I meet Wim van Sant at DansBrabant in Club Soda. My train had a significant delay, but somehow I still manage to be on time. It turns out to be a prelude to an interesting morning.Surprises, getting lost, finding places again, and bringing up memories, are some of the terms that aptly describe the time we spent together.
We hop on our bikes and head towards Piushaven first.On the way, Wim tells me how, during the Corona crisis, there was an urgency for meeting. And meetings could only take place in public spaces due to all the regulations at that time. After long brainstorming sessions and several ideas that couldn’t proceed due to enforcement issues, it was decided to organize a dance festival in Piushaven in 2021.Dansjacht brought performers and audiences back together after a long period of isolation.
Wim also talked about the city’s underlying plans to use art to keep Piushaven less isolated from the city center. What was initially supposed to be a kind of art route to connect city districts with each other, was reduced to a local festival due to the crisis.He pointed out that he was very happy with the thought that DansBrabant had been able to contribute something here. But I sensed there was something else lingering.“What has it caused, and what does it leave behind?” he wondered aloud.
Soon, we delved into a conversation about what the dancer can mean for the city. A question I have been pondering myself for over a year.“If the dancer or the performer leaves, what remains behind?” Wim wondered. And, “Shouldn’t we go further or deeper with DansBrabant than that?”
Right in the middle of this conversation, we cycle via Koningsplein to the Emma Passage. We have to stop briefly at the crossing at the City Shop. A large excavator has to cross the Paleisring. There are restructuring works at Stadhuisplein and the City Forum. Wim laughs and talks about beautification works.
I ask if he is aware of the city's initiative to invite artists to participate in the opening of the new Stadhuisplein/City Forum by performing a piece that shows a connection with Tilburg.https://www.centeroftilburg.com/nl/cityguide/nieuws/open-call-stadsforum
This shifts our conversation to the search for meaningful ways to use art to shape public spaces. After all, it is ‘us,’ the residents and users, who form the public space. I laugh and say that I am very interested in exploring what art and dance can do in a place where no one thinks to do so, like Koningsplein.
Everyone is now eagerly awaiting the renewal 20 meters further. But what about the forgotten places, the places that are overlooked? Or like Koningsplein, a place where people just pass by, literally. No one stays on the square; everyone passes, crosses, makes the crossing. What can you do in such a place as a dance artist?
‘How can you influence the molecules of a place, a location, so that you can make a lasting contribution?’ I wonder aloud while shifting our gaze from the Forum to Koningsplein.
Wim finds this very interesting. He takes the time to think about it. Meanwhile, the excavator has long since passed, and we can continue our way to Emma Passage.
Halfway through the crossing, a piece of Wim's bike falls off. These molecules are definitely giving out, we laugh. But a little later, Wim's bike completely breaks down. We continue on foot.
Upon arriving at the Emmapassage, we stand somewhat helplessly with the bike in hand amidst a stream of shopping people. My proprioception immediately signals to me that I am in the way. The shoppers sigh as they have to alter their straight movement path because we are standing in the spot where they wanted to go straight.
"I don't feel welcome," I say. "I wouldn't even think of starting to dance here. I feel too much as a disturbance"
Wim indicates that he understands. Then he tells me about the work of choreographer Katja Heitman. Years ago, she started an initiative to make dance a part of Tilburg's public space. In 2014, she landed in this Emma Passage with For iTernity. But the reactions from the audience and passersby were not always very friendly. See the link from Omroep Brabant.https://www.omroepbrabant.nl/nieuws/1943724/flashmob-door-dansers-in-emmapassage-tilburg-tijdens-oktober-dansmaand
As we walk towards the NS bike point at the station to exchange the bike, we talk about how dancers in public sometimes disturb, confront, or take up space from other users. I tell Wim that I don't think this is the only thing dance can do. But I understand that dance can indeed cause this. We talk about the intention you have as a maker or dancer. And so we come to the Pieter Vreedeplein. Again, we talk about Katja Heitmann. She also performed a piece here. Siri Loves Me, in which she asks how the younger generation will move when technology controls their lives. She worked on this with the Fontys Dance Academy.
We continue walking to the station. Here, Wim exchanges the broken bike for another. He asks if I'm still enjoying it. Of course, I enjoy it! Walking and cycling with someone always brings a different perspective on what you thought you saw. When I walked through the streets of Tilburg during my studies, or during the arrival of my walk from Antwerp, I didn't immediately feel that there were locations where dance really happened. It's not that Tilburg is instantly recognizable as a dance city. But by reflecting on the locations where various dance artists have stopped and made something happen, it becomes clearer.
The park on Noordstraat is one such place. Wim tells about how Loïc Perela and a group of dancers settled there and were actually gently present during the dance guerrilla in 2015. No disruption of movement paths, no hacking of space. But rather moving along with the environment. The group was also present for an entire week and let the choreography develop over time. But it seemed more important to them, according to Wim, to simply be present as dance artists. Passersby could watch, ask questions, and relate to them without obligation.
We continue cycling to the Willem II passage.
The weather is not great. It’s drizzling and windy. At the railroad zone, people hurriedly walk under the tracks. Wim and I have fallen a bit silent in our conversation. I see him thinking. The past years are probably swirling through his memories.
Wim started at Dans Brabant in 2012. He was closely involved in initiatives such as Dansdropping (2014), Dansguerilla (2015),
Redesigning Spaces (2016-2017), Making Space/Dansdialoog (2017), Making Space (2018-2019), and Dansjacht (2021). All the creators, locations, and choreographies live on in him.
Wim is, in a way, the living archive of dance in public spaces in Tilburg. Together with Heleen Volman and Nienke Rooijakkers, he ensured that there were opportunities and places where the creators could develop.
Then Wim starts a new sentence. "
A few years ago, during the preparations for Dansjacht, I thought, 'If I see another group of young people walking around the corner, I’m done with it.'"
He laughs and nuances. He went to lunch with a senior official from the City of Tilburg to discuss policies and budgets. Throughout the city, he had already encountered some young dancers conducting a movement study.Movement paths, starting and stopping, surprise, improvisation—these are all elements that dancers like to explore in public spaces, but as a spectator, you might be left more startled than with an artistic experience.
He explains that this moment prompted him to question what the mission and vision of DansBrabant could be regarding dance in public spaces. Again, he asked himself the conscious question, "What do we want to leave behind, what impact do you want to have?"But then he immediately continues with performances he found very valuable. At the northern side of the railroad zone, there was a movement course by Piet van Dycke. He let the audience experience his movements, taking them along on his journey. Piet explored the environment and let the spectators merge with it by occasionally stopping and giving them that time and space.
He wants to take me to a square in the Theresia district. The 100hands have held performances there, and he is convinced that they involved the environment so much that the location will still speak to our imagination. But while searching for the specific square, we get lost. We ride in and out of streets, around corners, and over squares. But Wim remembered the square differently each time than the square where we stopped. He calls a choreographer who worked with DansBrabant back then to ask if they might still know the address of the place where the performance took place. But that doesn’t help either. Fortunately, he can laugh about it; according to him, it’s due to getting older. I begin to wonder to what extent the locations Wim wants to show me have already undergone a transformation. In a few years, quite a lot has been redeveloped in Tilburg. And perhaps it was precisely the performances of the dance artists that made the Spatial Development department realize that certain locations needed reorganization. Because that is also what dance can do. It imagines what is possible...
When riding in and out of the Theresia district, we go a little further to Wilhelminapark. On the east side of the park, there is a kind of carousel for the very young. We stop there. Wim also has a story about this place. During the Guerilla of 2015, a group supposedly took over the carousel. An elderly couple, presumably the grandparents of a child on this play equipment, became angry because the child no longer dared to ride the carousel with the performers in action.
We reflect on the action together. I notice it’s a bittersweet memory.
On the one hand, it’s good to give children the chance to interact with the performers. On the other hand, it depends on how you try to facilitate that interaction. You may not want to take over the environment but rather use it along with others. Maybe you want to add something but not take something away. The last thing you want is to take away the child’s play area.
We cycle into the Theresia district one last time. We stop at the Lumenplantsoen. According to Wim, it must have been here that The 100hands did their performances. He remembers a large hill and a basketball court. The basketball court is still there. But the square has been completely redesigned. It was completely redeveloped. Next to the square is a primary school. Wim tells me that in the afternoon, the children would run and cycle through the performance on their little bikes.At this moment, there is a large off-leash area for dogs in the middle of the square. It doesn’t seem like a context or space for a performance. The entire square has been redeveloped to accommodate the dogs. The earlier thought that the performances might have been the reason for the redevelopment melts away like snow in the sun.Wim and I laugh a little sheepishly.This is also reality... We head back to the office.
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