3 x Fabre

Jan Fabre, born in Antwerp in 1958, has been described as one of his generation's most important representatives of the visual and performing arts. During the past two decades, he has had an irreversible impact on contemporary theatre, especially through his interpretations of total theatre and art.

Jan Fabre has studied the body through every genre he employs since the early 1980s and has made his work involve the spectator even before this became a fashionable theme. The visual element in Fabre's works springs from his position as a visual artist and his way of creating architectural stage-settings.

Actress and model Els Deceukelier got to know Jan Fabre when she was 17. 'Els Deceukelier has become a model who is present in all of my theatrical work; she is the medium, she incorporates my idea of the theatre,' Fabre says in an interview. Els Deceukelier takes the leading role in Elle était et elle est, même (She was and she is, even) and Une femme Normale, à en mourir (A Dead Normal Woman).

'Space is crucial for Jan: the space between the dancers and the movement is almost as important as the movement itself. He calls the dancers warriors of beauty. For me that is an endeavour towards a perfect, almost immaterial beauty,' says Renée Copraij, the lead dancer in The Very Seat of Honour.