Circumstances is the circus and dance company under the artistic direction of Piet Van Dycke. Circumstances develops, produces and distributes wordless, impactful circus and dance performances. In these performances Piet works as a choreographer together with circus artists. Each performance is made out of/for/with/in different Circumstances: site-specific and/or theatre performances working form different circus disciplines, with children/adolescents/elderly people, for different target groups.
"Circus is not about achieving, but challenging the impossible. The search for the limits of balance, gravity, time and endurance creates a unique dance." - Piet VanDycke
For each production, Circumstances consists of a diverse team of artists, each specialized in their own field. Meeting each other, exchanging and engaging in dialogue are some of the core values within the creation process. The artistic team works together on the performance. Piet Van Dycke initiates, coordinates and choreographs the movement material. The focus is on the dynamics, humour and our commonality as human beings with the body as the driving force. The creation is based on assignments, improvisation and movement research.
Circumstances has the ambition to bring circus and dance closer to a broad and diverse audience. Ruth Bresseleers, of theatre agency Thassos, manages the tour planning and the promotional support in Flanders. BURO PIKET contributes to the international distribution (Netherlands and abroad).
Circumstances vzw was founded on 1 December 2021 by Piet, with Jonas Van Soom (coordinator Cirklabo), Evelien Alles (financial leader Theater FroeFroe), Maaike Vanderhaegen (programmer CC Het Gasthuis) and Jonas Vermeulen (theatre maker) as active board members. Circumstances would not exist without the support of our partners: PLAN Brabant, Festival Circolo, DansBrabant, Cirklabo, Miramiro, circus workshop Dommelhof, PERPLX, HET LAB Hasselt and Circ'uit.
With the site-specific performance ON POINT (2021) the first steps were made in the circus field. This performance was performed more than 60 times in Flanders and the Netherlands, including Cirkl, Plein de cirque, Festival Circolo, Krokusfestival. ON POINT was also performed at some international festivals, such as the New Circus Festival in Lithuania. ON POINT won the BNG Bank Dance Award 2021.
In March 2021, Piet was chosen as PLAN-maker (2021-2024). PLAN is a development platform in North Brabant, the Netherlands. Promising talents receive support in developing their cultural entrepreneurship, building audiences and working on the visibility of their work. With this PLAN trajectory, Piet builds a bridge between his Dutch and Flemish network. He researches ‘transformation’ within the long-term PLAN trajectory. The transformation of space: EXIT (2022), an installation performance where movement, partner acrobatics and balance board merge. And the transformation of the human body: GLORIOUS BODIES (2023), a performance about the power of the aging body.
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Piet Van Dycke graduated as a choreographer from the FHK in Tilburg in 2018. Despite the intense focus on dance during his education, his circus past remains closely linked to his craft. Not only his dedication and discipline, but also his choreographic style have their origins in his former training as an acrobat at the youth circus Salto in Tienen. His movement language is characterized by fast, acrobatic partner work and the choreographies are always clear and mathematically structured. Piet is working as a dance and circus maker, director, performer, coach and teacher since 2018.
"I love to see the ways in which people perform the same actions in everyday life: the similarities, the small details, the behaviours, the human competition, the looks, I find those very interesting. It is very difficult to put that on stage, but it is the recognizability or the accessibility in my work that I am striving for: it is based on all of us. The human side as the motor and inspiration of the creative process.
That is why my work is never about one body, it is about moving together. My work is a fusion of dance and circus. My goal is never the direct fusion of disciplines, but rather the narrative power that arises from this interaction. I structure quite mathematically when I look for the choreography. The second step is to find freedom in it. The perfect mastery of a certain performance structure is not what is fascinating. What I find so interesting about circus is: what if it fails, what if you take a risk? It only gets interesting when the juggling ball falls. I think it's important to get to that point, to realize that we're all human.”
In his latest production, choreographer/dancer Piet Van Dycke succeeds in mixing dance and acrobatics in a wonderful way. One scene follows the next in an associative manner. Sometimes wonderfully clumsy, other times clever, always mischievously rebellious and refreshingly contrary. It remains exciting. And funny.
But typical of Van Dycke is the juxtaposition and intermingling of circus idiom, theatre and dance. This fresh pungency puts the space, objects and bodies in a slightly absurdist light. Van Dycke manages to forge a humorous and constantly surprising whole with this trio.
Piet has the ability to bend his imagination and life to his will and to make others part of it. He has a distinctive choreographic signature: contemporary, careful, thoughtful and mathematical in form. But placed in a context with elements recognizable to everyone. Piet knows how to give his audience an entrance to experience the abstraction of an art form like dance in an associative and personal way.
Piet possesses what the French call ‘un certain je ne sais quoi’. An intangible but palpable restless creative energy that cannot be slowed down and that feels a creative need to express itself. His choreographic work is characterized by investigating and searching for the human condition. He knows how to create a world on stage that challenges, has an ironic effect, provokes, but also touches and makes people think. A world full of associative space and one that regularly misleads us as spectators.
The breathtaking performance blows you away. It is a combination of dance and circus, with four loners who, after initial resistance, need each other to find balance in their lives. It is unbelievable how the four young men perform all those walking and movement patterns, each time just circumventing or on the contrary on purpose. And how they always leave just in time to avoid hitting that folding wall against their head. Bleating sheep and a cheering audience at EXIT by the Belgian choreographer Piet Van Dycke and his Circumstances.
The piece cleverly builds up to an impressive apotheosis (…) the performers hoist themselves into the air, slide off the wall and the four of them look for a balance that they eventually find. Impressive (…) the sensation of the weekend.
In his latest production, choreographer/dancer Piet Van Dycke succeeds in mixing dance and acrobatics in a wonderful way. One scene follows the next in an associative manner. Sometimes wonderfully clumsy, other times clever, always mischievously rebellious and refreshingly contrary. It remains exciting. And funny.
But typical of Van Dycke is the juxtaposition and intermingling of circus idiom, theatre and dance. This fresh pungency puts the space, objects and bodies in a slightly absurdist light. Van Dycke manages to forge a humorous and constantly surprising whole with this trio.
Piet has the ability to bend his imagination and life to his will and to make others part of it. He has a distinctive choreographic signature: contemporary, careful, thoughtful and mathematical in form. But placed in a context with elements recognizable to everyone. Piet knows how to give his audience an entrance to experience the abstraction of an art form like dance in an associative and personal way.
Piet possesses what the French call ‘un certain je ne sais quoi’. An intangible but palpable restless creative energy that cannot be slowed down and that feels a creative need to express itself. His choreographic work is characterized by investigating and searching for the human condition. He knows how to create a world on stage that challenges, has an ironic effect, provokes, but also touches and makes people think. A world full of associative space and one that regularly misleads us as spectators.
The breathtaking performance blows you away. It is a combination of dance and circus, with four loners who, after initial resistance, need each other to find balance in their lives. It is unbelievable how the four young men perform all those walking and movement patterns, each time just circumventing or on the contrary on purpose. And how they always leave just in time to avoid hitting that folding wall against their head. Bleating sheep and a cheering audience at EXIT by the Belgian choreographer Piet Van Dycke and his Circumstances.
The piece cleverly builds up to an impressive apotheosis (…) the performers hoist themselves into the air, slide off the wall and the four of them look for a balance that they eventually find. Impressive (…) the sensation of the weekend.
