“an Accident / a Life” is the first collaboration by Marc Brew and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, a solo devised for the Australian artist who has been in a wheelchair following a severe accident.
Relying on their own experiences and moments that brought on major changes in their lives, the two choreographers use movement, video, and text to explore what it means when everything is turned upside-down.
For Brew it was a car accident that left the ballet dancer paralyzed from the chest down. But the performance does not only dwell on this fateful moment; it also asks the question how a person deals with such a fate.
“an Accident / a Life” is a story about vulnerability, resilience, and the body as a map of experiences. The two internationally renowned artists seek new forms of movement and question normative (mis)conceptions of people with disabilities.
Brew’s partially paralyzed body becomes a medium for deeply human questions: what do we do when our path takes an unexpected turn? How much determination do we have in us, and is it enough to forge new paths? How can we, as individuals in a society, approach and encounter each other?
Brew takes the audience along on his journey of discovery: there is a car on stage and a camera captures the action live for an audience to witness how everything changes in an instant – and why such a moment does not have to define who you are. “an Accident / a Life” is a touching exploration of the way our experiences shape us and how we can learn from each other and heal when we share them.
Simply put: A dancer in a wheelchair and a car can be seen on stage. The dancer had a bad accident many years before. The piece tells this story through video, text, and movement. What does a person do if everything suddenly changes?
Info
Duration: 90 minutes, no intermission
Spoken language: English, with English as well as German or French descriptive subtitles (depending on the region). 
Age recommendation: 14+
Trigger/content warnings: potentially disturbing content: emotional turmoil; stroboscobic light effects
World premiere: 2.2.2024 Holland Dance Festival
Further information: marcbrew.com, east-man.be
Follow-up talk: On May 4th in Sierre, May 10th in Bulle, and May 16th in Basel, there will be post-show discussions with the artist. The talks in Bulle and Basel will be translated into sign language
We recommend the interview with Marc Brew and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui conducted by Lou-Ann Nancoz for Théâtre Les Halles ahead of the Steps tour start in Sierre (in French).
Credits
Director: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Performer and co-creator: Marc Brew
Creative producer: Susan Hay
Assistant producer: Gert Van Overloop
Designer: Pepijn Van Looy
Composer: Alexandre Dai Castaing
Costume stylist: Verlee Can den Wouwer
Voice consultant: Susan Worsford
Production manager: Grahame Coyle
Stage manager: Mickey Graham
Lighting consultant: Adam Carrée
Camera operator / Stage hand: Lewis Landini
Sound engineer: Sam Martin-Randerson
Rehearsal director: Hayley Earlam
Audio describer: Emma Jane McHenry
Video artist: Maxime Guislane
Visuals operator: JamieWardrop
Subtitling: Dòra Kapusta, Subtext
Production: Marc Brew Company, Eastman
Co-production: Hessisches Staatsballett, in the frame of Tanzplattform Rhein-Main; Migros Culture Percentage Dance Festival Steps; Holland Dance Festival; Tramway, Glasgow
Funders/supporters: Australian Council for the Arts; The Work Room, Glasgow; Creative Scotland; Cumbernauld Theatre
Marc Brew
Marc Brew is a dancer and choreographer living in Scotland. He was educated at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne and the Australian Ballet School. For over twenty years he has been living and working in the UK, where he has been involved with the inclusive Candoco Dance Company, among others. His work has led Brew all over the world as a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and director, including the State Theatre Ballet Company of South Africa, Infinity Dance Theatre in New York, and AXIS Dance Company, where he served as artistic director from 2017 to 2021. Since then, Brew has devised numerous choreographies for, among others, San Francisco Ballet School, Dancing Wheels, Scottish Ballet, and Ballet Cymru in Wales, where he currently is an associated artist. Brew was awarded the Centenary Medal by the Australian government for his outstanding contribution to the arts as a dancer and choreographer. His participation at Steps marks his first collaboration with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Picture © Maurice Ramirez
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui is an internationally celebrated choreographer. The Belgian artist has Moroccan roots and moves in between different cultures and dance languages. He devised choreographies for Beyoncé and Cirque de Soleil and has realized more than fifty of his own productions, including with his company Eastman, which he founded in 2010. Aside from receiving numerous awards, including Tanz journal’s choreographer of the year award (three times), the Olivier Award (twice), and the KAIROS award, he was nominated for the “Tony” for best choreography with the musical “Jagged Little Pill” at Broadway, New York. In 2015 Cherkaoui became the artistic director of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Antwerp before being appointed as ballet director at the Grand Théâtre in Geneva in 2022. With Cherkaoui one of the most important choreographers of the present will once again participate in Migros Culture Percentage’s Steps Festival. After 2010, 2014, 2016, and 2018, he is returning to Swiss stages with an extraordinary and inclusive project: a co-devised solo for Australian dancer and choreographer Marc Brew. Picture © Filip Van Roe
