laGeste focuses on the body, dance and inclusion in the form of productions, residencies and workshops.
about laGeste >
Mission
laGeste creates powerful productions that focus on the physical: sensual, visceral, visual, disruptive. We choose to collaborate with different creators around the development of large-scale projects (which we call ‘Grote Gebaren’) and to invest in the growth of young and ambitious creators. Our practice is radically inclusive: intergenerational, intercultural and with specific attention to people with disabilities without discrimination.
We are a house of making. As dance makers, we produce aesthetic artifacts created from all kinds of bodies: virtuous in their limitations, trained or untrained, young and old, from here and from abroad. We make creations from A to Z, from the first idea to the final performance, at a rate of at least one per year.
We share our expertise and act as executive producers for searching artists or visionary creators. We then plug into their projects with the entire organisation. In this way, we contribute to the development of the dance field.
We ensure that the work is visible in enough places, for a wide audience.
We seek a balance between economic interests and sustainability in the distribution of our performances. We are well-networked, nationally and internationally, to forge meaningful alliances (through co-productions) around exceptional projects and, through strategic distribution, also reach an international audience.
With our infrastructure (two studios, studio/storage, and De Materniteit), accumulated know-how and focus on caring for vulnerable processes, we are the place where dance makers want to realise their work.
Vision
The body is a battlefield where the major societal struggles are fought: cisgenders versus fluid identities, entrepreneurs versus unproductive, excellent versus limited, identitarian versus those who believe they can become anything and anyone, the privileged versus the decolonized, the elderly marked by historical traumas versus the youth threatened by ecological disasters, the haves versus the have-nots. Polarization has grown immensely in recent years, exacerbated during the pandemic and forced isolation. Through our work, we hope to create temporary spaces where we can make the difference bridgeable again.
Each project is ‘un monde des possibles’ (thanks to Andrew Graham) populated by a diversity of bodies. In order to symbolically overcome differences, the real bodies, with all their conflicting interests, must stand together on stage. We wish to see more reality in the represented bodies while simultaneously fighting for the possibility of transformation, play, and poetry, of breaking free from the boxes in which we so eagerly confine each other.
The story of laGeste is not a break with the past, but a radical continuation of values: vitality, resilience, and finding beauty where others do not look, creating space for confusing, even contradictory, messages: innocence and perversity, the constructed and the authentic, unconscious wildness and hyperconscious virtuosity. It is our way of countering the violence of the standardized representation of bodies and of creating role models for those who see none. On a societal level, we continue to commit to a decolonized world.
the place >
ADDRESS / office
Bijlokesite, Bijlokekaai 7
B - 9000 Ghent
Tel. + 32 472 09 15 81
info@lageste.be
BE 0432 292 772
ROUTE DISCRIPTION
by car
Take the exit Ghent-centre. At the fork “Ghent Centre – Other Directions”, follow “Other Directions” (Alle Richtingen). Turn left after 100m (at the traffic lights beneath the motorway). You are now on the ring road. Follow the indications “N90/Eeklo”. Continue straight ahead across the Sint-Lievenslaan, then Citadellaan and the Charles de Kerchovelaan. After crossing the water, you are in the Godshuizenlaan (100m) and you can see the Bijlokesite on your right-hand side. Turn right at the traffic lights (Bijlokehof 25m) and again right in the Jozef Kluyskensstraat. Continue until you reach the water. If you now turn right, you arrive in the Bijlokekaai. Our offices are located at number 7.
There is a parking place in the Jozef Kluyskensstraat (entrance of the conservatory) or in the Godshuizenlaan.
by foot
starting at the station of Ghent St. Pieters (15 minutes walk):
Cross the Maria-Hendrika Square and turn right: this is the Koningin Elisabethlaan. Walk straight ahead. The Koningin Elisabethlaan then turns into the the Kortrijksesteenweg: walk this street until the end. At the crossing, turn left in the Ijzerlaan. The second street on your right is the Bijlokekaai. laGeste is located at number 7, 200m further on.
by public transport
starting at the station of Ghent St. Pieters (5 minutes on the tram):
Take tram 1 direction “Korenmarkt” in the tunnel of the St. Pietersstation and get off at the stop “Nassaustraat”. Cross the intersection and turn left until you reach the water (Godshuizenlaan). The Bijlokekaai is immediately on your right-hand side. Our offices are located at number 7.
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Studio laGeste
Studio laGeste is the well-equipped workplace for creation with a large playing area where daylight or blackout can be chosen. There is space for directing and storage of technical material. Lounges and showers, kitchen and terrace make it a real home, in the middle of the city. Above all, it is an inspirational place.
More info about the use of the studio: info@lageste.be
technical rider >
ADDRESS / Studio laGeste
Bijlokesite, Bijlokekaai 7
B - 9000 Ghent
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Atelier laGeste
Atelier laGeste, on an industrial site on the edge of town, is an inclusive workplace equipped for people with disabilities. The studio is ideal for rehearsals that require little technical supervision, and workshops.
More info about the use of the studio: info@lageste.be
technical rider >
ADDRESS / Atelier laGeste
Nieuwevaart 118 / F007
B - 9000 Ghent
routediscription (google maps) >
who is who >
artistic coordinator & dramaturge
Hildegard De Vuyst
touring
Sepehr Sharifzadeh
administration
Herwig Onghena (business leadership)
Nicole Petit (administration en personnel)
Kasper Claeys (business-finance officer)
communication & press
Caroline Eliano
production
Valerie Desmet
technique
Rubben Smits (technical productionleader)
Serge Vandenhove (technical administrator)
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Board of administrators
Chris De Meerleer, Ilse Jansoone, Marian Decroos, Paul Kerstens, Philip Marquebreuck
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General Assembly
Bruno Lietaert, Chris De Meerleer, Ilse Jansoone, Marian Decroos, Paul Kerstens, Stefanie Van Biesen, Philip Marquebreuck, Helena Elshout, Herwig Onghena, Kasper Claeys
the renovation >
Renovations Maternity
The time has come, the Maternity department of the Bijlokesite is going under renovation.
laGeste is accommodated with its offices on the first floor of Maternity of the Bijlokesite in Ghent. In October 2023 we will temporarily move to the spaces above Studio laGeste, right next to Maternity. We are looking forward to a more accessible and sustainable workplace.
You can regularly find more info on the progress of the works here.
- The first steps