Arno Schuitemaker

Work

30 appearances out of darkness

Darkness, in any guise, can be disorienting, even threatening: the unknown, the obscure, the void. But what if there is no escape? What if darkness, far from being an absence of light, can be reimagined as potential, the instant we dare to see otherwise? “The future is dark, which is the best thing the future can be,” Virginia Woolf once wrote. 30 appearances out of darkness rethinks darkness, not as the opposite of light but as its source, where we find embodied trust.

Created in collaboration with lighting designer Jean Kalman, the work uses light to materialize the body and treats blackness as active. Dimly lit images, lingering on the verge of perception and illusion, appear in a pitch-black space. With its long, suspended columns, the stage evokes a labyrinth. Our assumptions about what we see are put to the test as a group of performers moves through it. Not everyone is visible at once, yet their presence is strongly felt. This dense, mysterious world, inked at first with elusive silhouettes, has its own gravity and absorbs every body. It transforms from a place of protection to hope and, ultimately, shared exaltation: an affirmation of life that offers a radiant response to our fears, contemporary and hidden alike.

Arno Schuitemaker: “Reading the book Chroma by the artist and activist Derek Jarman, I was struck by one line: ‘In black lies the possibility of hope.’ It encouraged me to explore the significance of this seeming paradox through this work: how darkness can mark us, soften our edges, and reorient our very movement, thereby becoming a generative force, regardless of the challenge or crisis we face. Perhaps we can find enlightenment by disappearing into darkness, if only to come out on the other side.”

Press
"In pitch darkness you look to looming then fading dancers, barely lit yet fully present, sometimes only by a silver outline of their bodies (…) Must-see performance of the year." — Alexander Hiskemuller (Scenes)

"30 appearances out of darkness takes the form of a phantasmagoric fresco (...) Powerfully evocative, the whole ignites both the imagination and the senses." — Jérôme Provençal (Les Inrocks)

"The performance offers an immersive visual experience of surprising effectiveness, exploring dance within the fullness of darkness and its hidden, mystical revelations (…) A remarkable piece of work." — Paolo Ruffini (Limina Teatri)

"An exceptional all-enveloping crescendo in dance, light and sound that fascinates right until the redeeming finale." Top 5 best dance performances of the season. — Annette Embrechts (de Volkskrant)

Find more reactions in the press, the performance dates, and the credits by scrolling down.

Hopefulness is risky, since after all it is a form of trust,
trust in the unknown and possible.
Hope in the Dark — Rebecca Solnit

Photo: Quentin Chevrier

Photo: Quentin Chevrier

Photo: Bart Grietens

Photo: Bart Grietens

Photo: Bart Grietens

Photo: Bart Grietens

Photo: Bart Grietens

Photo: Bart Grietens

Photo: Bart Grietens

Photo: Bart Grietens

Photo: Bart Grietens

Photo: Bart Grietens

Calendar

Press

Top 5 best dance performances of the season - de Volkskrant
An exceptional all-enveloping crescendo in dance, light and sound that fascinates right until the redeeming finale. 
Between black velvet pillars, the contours of naked bodies emerge one by one. (...) Schuitemaker gradually creates a space for a redeeming finale in this all-absorbing game of disappearing and appearing. It is an impressive feeling to realize that afterward your head is glowing. — Annette Embrechts, de Volkskrant ★★★★

In pitch darkness, you look to emerging then fading dancers, barely lit yet fully present, sometimes only with a silver outline of their bodies (…)
Must-see of the year. — Alexander Hiskemuller, Scenes

30 appearances out of darkness takes the form of a phantasmagoric fresco, oscillating between darkness and light, sometimes on the edge of visibility, inhabited by undulating silhouettes and pierced by compelling pulsations. Powerfully evocative, the whole ignites both the imagination and the senses. — Jérôme Provençal, Les Inrockuptibles (France)

The performance offers a visually immersive experience of surprising effectiveness, exploring dance within the fullness of darkness and its hidden, mystical revelations (…) A remarkable piece of work. — Paolo Ruffini, Limina Teatri (Italy)

The numerous contrasts between music, light, and the interpretations of an intense, rhythmic, and extremely energetic choreography make this immersive experience an extraordinary, absolutely mind-blowing, and spellbinding performance. — Sophie Lesort, Danser Canal Historique (France)

Movement, light, and sound engage in a perfect dialogue (...) The pivotal moment of the performance is when a voice breaks through the instrumental score. The intense humanness of a voice and a body is very touching. — Heleen Westerik, Cultuurpers

Both the dancers and the audience journey from stillness and darkness to light and movement, from one extreme to the other (...) It is a hallucinatory experience. — Kester Freriks, Theaterkrant

Credits

Creation: Arno Schuitemaker
Performers: Ivan Ugrin, Ahmed El Gendy, Emilia Saavedra, Frederik Kaijser, Rex Collins, Clotilde Cappelletti, Jim Buskens, and Paolo Yao
Dramaturgy: Guy Cools
Music: Aart Strootman
Lighting design: Jean Kalman
Set design: Jean Kalman, Arno Schuitemaker

30 appearances out of darkness is a production of SHARP/ArnoSchuitemaker in coproduction with La Place de la Danse – Centre de Développement Chorégraphique National / Toulouse-Occitanie and POLE-SUD - Centre de Développement Chorégraphique National Strasbourg. Supported by Fonds Podiumkunsten, Amsterdams voor de Kunst, Fonds 21 and Zabawas. Many thanks to the Holland Festival.