This is a show for an audience lying down. Bring along your own mat (yoga or gym mats are ideal). The texts will be spoken in English.

What if we were to grow up with the message that being human means that sometimes we will also feel down? That this feeling can be there without the belief or pressure that something must be done about it as soon as possible. That, even when things are difficult for us, we still have value within society.

Ode to the Darkness is the first project of IJLLAND, a collective encompassing writer Lies Verswijvel (Magic in Motion) and musician/composer Patricia Vanneste (Sohnarr, Driftwood, ex-Balthazar) that spotlights socially sensitive themes in an accessible way with words and music.

Through this project, IJLLAND aims to offer solace for the emotions we find difficult to deal with in our society. They do so by taking the listeners – who are lying down with closed eyes – on an immersive journey within a safe setting in which space is literally and figuratively created to allow darkness to ‘just be’, and with the aid of music and storytelling.

Ode to the Darkness grew from their personal experience and observation that the focus around mental wellbeing, like most things in our society, increasingly lies mainly on making progress. But is darkness not really an essential and fundamental part of life? A natural process that may be experienced and should be given the space it demands? Because, just like we can’t transform the winter into spring any faster or the night into the day, darkness can also only be experienced enduringly if it is given the necessary time and space.

Travelling from cultural centres to schools, companies, living rooms, and practices, IJLLAND aims to make visible and discussable that which is often not expressed in words – through music, spoken word and holding space.

The scenography consists of lamps handmade by visual artist and nurse Sharon Van Cleuvenberg that are constructed with shredded papers from files of people with a psychological vulnerability. Because even difficult stories deserve to be seen. Lovely stories are cherished in every lamp or object. Not just tales of suffering, sadness and loneliness but also of courage, friendship, perseverance and love. Extra text and info can be read here.

Words: Lies Verswijvel

Music: Patricia Vanneste (Sohnarr, Driftwood, ex-Balhazar), Peter De Clippel

Scenography: Fleur Roggeman, Sharon Van Cleuvenberg

Sound engineering: Stef Van Alsenoy