Ayelen Parolin

This year’s Summer Festival opens with Ayelen Parolin, a choreographer who possesses a rare gift in contemporary dance: humour. In a review of her waltz-inspired stage prank ZONDER – a show that won over audiences and critics alike at the 2024 Summer Festival - The Guardian described her as a “master of choreographed comedy”. Now the Argentine choreographer, based in Brussels, turns to the exuberant carnival of her childhood in Buenos Aires, with its murga marching bands and cumbia dances. With 12 dancers, colorful costumes and an electrifying soundtrack, Parolin conjures a euphoric state of exception – fueled by joie de vivre, exhilaration and resistance. Carnival has always also served as a means to critique social injustice, and the pursuit of pleasure and ecstasy, in the sense of “Pleasure Activism” as defined by adrienne maree brown, is not a distraction from activism, but its very core. Accordingly, the revolution staged by this remarkable choreographer – who has recently created works for companies including Ballet de Lorraine and the Norwegian national company Carte Blanche - is irresistible. “A choreographic ode to the act of being together based on what we are and what we can be.” (Ayelen Parolin)