Emiel Vandenberghe – In the afterglow

In In the afterglow, Emiel Vandenberghe and ballet legend Birgit Keil dance an intimate duet about transmission and care. An intergenerational encounter between mentor and student, where the legacy of classical ballet and personal imagination come together. Emiel Vandenberghe, 31-year-old dancer, choreographer, model and actor. Birgit Keil, 82-year-old ballet legend. Together they bring a special duet, an intergenerational conversation between student and mentor, between artistic mother and son. Vandenberghe was already seen at deSingel in the acclaimed Chapters of Celebration by Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe, which is being revived this season. Afterglow is the light that lingers when the brilliance has faded. As virtuosity nestles in the body, familiar with a lifelong pursuit of perfection. Although Keil and Vandenberghe today move outside the structures of classical ballet, they still carry that discipline with them. As a former prima ballerina of the Stuttgarter Ballett, Keil embodies a rich artistic legacy. Vandenberghe, trained at the English National Ballet School in London, danced for six years at the Badisches Staatsballett in Karlsruhe before charting his own course as a maker. In that interplay between care and devotion, Vandenberghe connects the discipline of classical ballet with an instinctive imagination of the bond between mother and child.