The performance is for a reclining audience. Bring your own mat (yoga or gym mats are ideal). Lyrics will be recited in English.

What if we grew up with the message that being human means that sometimes we will also feel bad? That this feeling is allowed to be there without the conviction or pressure to do something about it as soon as possible. That even when we are struggling, we still have value within a society. 

ODE AAN DE DONKERTE is the first project by IJLLAND, a collective around writer Lies Verswijvel (Magic in Motion) and musician, composer Patricia Vanneste (Sohnarr, Driftwood, ex-Balthazar) that wants to illuminate socially vulnerable themes in an accessible way through words and music. 

With this project, IJLLAND aims to provide security for the emotions we find difficult to deal with in our society. They do this by taking listeners, who lie down with their eyes closed, on an immersive journey in a safe bed where, through music & storytelling, space is literally and figuratively created for darkness to 'be there'. 
Ode to Darkness grew out of their personal experience and observation that the increasing focus around mental well-being, like most things in our society, is mainly on making progress. However, isn't darkness an essential and fundamental part of life? A natural process that may be experienced and should be given the space it demands. For just as we cannot rush winter into spring and night into day, darkness too can only be experienced sustainably if it is given the necessary time and space to do so.

Travelling from cultural centres to schools, companies, living rooms and practices, IJLLAND aims to make visible and discussable through music, spoken word and spaceholding what often cannot be put into words.

Their scenography consists of handmade lamps created by visual artist and nurse Sharon Van Cleuvenberg from shredded paper files of people with mental vulnerability. Because even difficult stories deserve to be seen. Beautiful stories are cherished in every lamp or object. Not just stories of suffering, sadness and loneliness but also of courage, friendship, perseverance and love. 

Extra Text and info at: www.ijlland.com/odeaandedonkerte

Word: Lies Verswijvel

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

Scenography: Fleur Roggeman, Sharon Van Cleuvenberg

Technique: Stef Van Alsenoy