LISBETH GRUWEZ
Lisbeth Gruwez (°Kortrijk, Belgium 1977) started classical ballet at the age of 6 and in 1991 she was admitted at the ‘Stedelijk Instituut voor Ballet’ in Antwerp where she could combine a professional dance education with high school. Afterwards she studied contemporary dance at P.A.R.T.S. .
She started her professional career with Ultima Vez, in the Pasolini Project Of Heaven and Hell and Away From Sleeping Dogs with Iztock Kova. Since 1999 Lisbeth Gruwez has been working with Jan Fabre, performing in As Long As the World Needs a Warrior’s Soul , followed by Je suis sang, the production for the Cour d’Honneur in Avignon. In 2001 she starred in Pierre Coulibeuf’s film Les Guerriers de la beauté about Jan Fabre’s work. In 2002 she starred in Images of Affection for Needcompany|Jan Lauwers. A year later Lisbeth worked with Grace Ellen Barkey in Few Things and Cry Me a River by Riina Saastamoinen. Still in 2003 she danced in Foi , which was a production by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. In 2004 Jan Fabre created for and with her Quando l’uomo principale è una donna. She also participated in the installation Origine along with Peter Verhelst.
Together with Maarten Van Cauwenberghe she founded Voetvolk in 2006 and in 2007 they premièred with their first creation Forever Overhead. In 2008 Lisbeth danced with Melanie Lane in I!2, a creation by Arco Renz. That year she also had a leading role in Lost Persons Area, a movie by Caroline Strubbe. This motion picture was nominated for the Cannes filmfestival and for her role she was nominated as Best Female Actress at the Flemisch Movie Awards. Again in 2008 she created Birth of Prey, a performance which is still touring. In 2009 she choreographed and danced together with Juliette Lewis in a videoclip for her band Juliette & the Licks. In 2010 Lisbeth created her first groupperformance HeroNeroZero and played the leading roll in a short movie by Silvia Defranc. In 2011 she created the performances L’Origine and It’s going to get worse and worse and worse, my friend, which toured continuously in 2012 and 2013.
In 2013, she also was a dance-coach for some Toneelhuis – productions (Bart Meuleman and FC Bergman) and worked together with Belgian photographer Dirk Braeckman. In 2014, Lisbeth Gruwez created AH/HA, the first group performance of Voetvolk. This piece is currently touring.
MAARTEN VAN CAUWENBERGHE
Maarten Van Cauwenberghe (Beveren, 1976) started playing guitar at the age of 12. In 1998 he graduated as commercial engineer at the KULeuven. Afterwards he went to the Jazzstudio in Antwerp which he left to start playing as a musician and performer with Jan Fabre.
Their first joint project was As Long As the World Needs a Warrior’s Soul . In 2001 Maarten Van Cauwenberghe composed the music for Je Suis Sang , a production for the Cour d’Honneur in Avignon. In 2004 he wrote the music for the dance solo Quando L’Uomo Principale è una Donna with Lisbeth Gruwez. Besides his work with Jan Fabre, Maarten Van Cauwenberghe has also worked with the Rosas dancer, Julia Sugranyes – in the performance Redial 2 – and he composed the music for the dance performance Sens Acte Sans by Label Cedana. In 2003 he created the music for the Polydans production See-Sick.
In 2006 Van Cauwenberghe and the dancer/choreographer Lisbeth Gruwez founded Voetvolk for the purpose of producing their own dance performances. Their first production, Forever Overhead , premiered in January 2007. In 2008 Van Cauwenberghe wrote music for La Nuit est mère du jour of the Comédie de Valence. He also composed the music for Ay’n, a danceperformance of Louise Charon and Luc Van Den Dries. In 2009 Van Cauwenberghe composed the music for the documentary Yell for Cadel. Also for Birth of Prey by Voetvolk he composed the music and performs it live on stage. In 2010 he composed the music and danced in HeroNeroZero.
From 2011 onwards Maarten starts also working as Art Project Manager within Key Performance. Again in 2011 he creates the music and sounddesign for It’s going to get worse and worse and worse, my friend, which toured continuously in 2012 and 2013.
In 2014, Van Cauwenberghe assisted Lisbeth Gruwez with creating AH/HA, the first group performance of Voetvolk. He also created the soundsdesign and music for this piece. This piece is currently touring.
Maarten Van Cauwenberghe had a pop-rock band Babyjohn between 2004 and 2008. They recorded 2 albums. In 2013, he started a new band, called Dendermonde. They bring a mix of psychedelic, punk and electro music. Since the age of 20, Maarten is also active as a DJ. He currently operates under the name ‘Voetvolk Soundsystem’.