During NY400 Week in September, Governors Island will be turned over to the New Island Festival. It will combine the unique site-specific theatrical programming of the ‘Oerol festival’, and a bustling festival centred in the tradition of the ‘Parade’. But what exactly is this Dutch festival tradition? NY400 reports from the Parade in Amsterdam to give New Yorkers an idea of what they can expect.
‘De Parade’, the only travelling theatre festival in the world, set up stakes in the south of Amsterdam this weekend. Creative director Terts Brinkhoff, who invented the concept in 1984, explains the uniqueness of this festival. ‘It is based on the function of the street. The Parade, internationally known as the ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’, is a temporary art street, where not the performance but the audience is the central notion, with their own space, bars and restaurants. The artists perform on stages around them.’
As we sit down at one of the tables in the middle, we see how this inversion of artist and audience works. It’s all about letting the artists seduce you. It appears to be a travelling village, or magical fairground, in which all the stalls have been converted into tiny theatres, showing edgy performances. The actors and musicians parade around in strange, colourful costumes, and – literally - hustle up their business like a fairground barker. They sing, dance and shout in front of their theatre tents, trying to persuade the public to come inside and see their show. Terts Brinkhoff: ‘In the art street, everything is possible, everyone can do his own thing. It’s a dancing world full of surprises, a joyful playground for which no-one will even grow too old.’
In September, this odd but intriguing world of the Boulevard of Broken Dreams will form the heart of the New Island Festival on Governors Island. Chef Amaro invites New Yorkers to his ‘Captain’s dinner’ at a giant 400 foot long wooden table, placed at the centre of the festival. The table will integrate all of the festival’s activities – performances, plays, concerts by Dutch artists such as Ellen ten Damme, de Veenfabriek, Orkater, and Anouk van Dijk – making this zone one big performing area in which the audience is in the midst of creation.
Chef Amaro (wearing a red bandana in the photo): ‘While pots and pans tinkle and scents and seasonings mingle, the finest dishes of European and Dutch cuisine find their way onto our table. I hear you thinking: Dutch Cuisine?? For sure! Hotchpotch, certainly, but think also of fresh pastas and grilled fish, all local produce.’
After we finish our dinner at Amaro, we stroll around the festival site in Amsterdam. Suddenly we spot an eerie site of hundreds of people dancing in complete silence, all to a different beat it seems, on a totally quiet dance floor. They all wear headphones. This is the ‘Silent Disco’, which will also travel across the ocean to the New Island Festival. DJ Big King Bing tells us they will bring over 500 wireless headphones. ‘All the audience needs to bring, is a lack of shame’, Bing laughs.
The New Island Festival will set up stakes on New York City's Governors Island from September 10–13 and again from September 17–20. For more information on NY400 week in general, click here.
RELATED BLOG: 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams', by Terts Brinkhoff
Photo’s by Rob de Ruijter
view features from all categories
Send To Friend
Please wait ...
