Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui Presents IUSTITIA

This autumn, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen will continue to present small-scale video productions under the header #imaginationisalive. For the third time in this series, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui is creating a work: Iustitia.

Following the stage of Opera Antwerp (Murmuration) and the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp (Pie Jesu), the postmodernist Column Pavilion by Charles Vandenhove in the Middelheim Museum sculpture park now provides the setting. Cherkaoui created Iustitia for principal Nancy Osbaldeston. The music is by composer Wim Henderickx and is performed by viola player Béatrice Derolez. Starting today, this world-premiering creation will be available for viewing on the digital channels of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen.

The central theme in Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's latest solo is 'awakening'. Iustitia, the Roman goddess of justice, is embodied by Nancy Osbaldeston as a statue who wants to free herself from her petrified sleep. Blindly, she dances in vicious circles and searches for a way out of the maze in which she finds herself. The blindfold represents her impartiality, but could equally stand for a lack of insight. Traditionally, scales have also been an important attribute of Iustitia. Here, the dancer tries to find a balance between good and evil with her hands. Osbaldeston thus portrays a complex character who, in the quest for the truth, encounters the boundaries between justice and injustice.

Wim Henderickx shares a passion for non-western music with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Henderickx's composition was inspired by the raga, the most important concept in Indian music. Ragas provide the composer with a melodic framework that is associated with a particular colour, planet, deity, season or time of day. The raga that Wim Henderickx worked from is devoted to the early afternoon, waking up after a brief afternoon nap. Viola player Béatrice Derolez plays the score with an intense focus.

With Iustitia, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen is releasing its eighth video creation.