The performance ‘Over De Stroom’ by singer Babs van Bree and dancer Sarah Soethoudt will premiere on Saturday.
The piece is played on and in the Maas on a bank in Blerick.
improvise
The piece involves a lot of improvisation and balance, as the last rehearsals show. “Yes, you must first hope that the sun is shining”, says Soethoudt. “And it is very different from playing in the theater, it slopes here, there is sand, there are stones, so yes it is exciting. But that also makes it fun.” The makers have to make do with what presents itself at that moment in the background; a ship that creates waves, gusts of wind, slippery stones in the Maas and people who stop and watch spontaneously.
unpredictability
That unpredictability is actually exactly what fits the image that the young artists have of the river; on the one hand, a beautiful place to come back to and find peace, on the other hand, horrific water that can suddenly wash up and flood entire cities, as happened almost a year ago.
Personal memories
Both makers have personal memories of the river. “I grew up in Arcen and my parental home is less than a hundred meters from the Maas, with a view of it. It’s a bit in my DNA,” says Soethoudt. “I remember well that when I was a child, half of our house was suddenly flooded. You won’t soon forget that.” Van Bree thinks back to the times she spent playing on and in the Maas as a child. Sometimes with a scoop net to catch fish. “It’s a place that calls you back every time. It’s so special to walk past it and hear the water.”
floods
The idea to create a performance arose last summer when the two visited the exhibition ‘Ode aan de Maas’ in the Limburgs Museum. Coincidentally, this coincided with the floods of 2021. “What happened was very sad, but it brought people together at the same time. That feeling of togetherness that arose was so beautiful that I thought; everyone in Limburg has a relationship with that. water. That means something to them. That is a very beautiful bridge from which you can make art, something that touches people’s hearts.”
Ode
In ‘Over De Stroom’ the character of the Maas is both sung about and danced to. According to Van Bree and Soethoudt, it is really an ode to water. Visitors to the performance take a seat on a folding chair in the sand on the banks of the Maas in Blerick, with a view of the city. ‘Over De Stroom’ will be performed on Saturday by Amber Haddad, Bart Verhagen, Babs van Bree and Sarah Soethoudt. The second performance will take place on June 26.
In the radio program L1 Culture Cafe you can hear more about the play on Saturday.