“Raging Against Various Elements is a performance with great power” – Theaterkrant
Life doesn’t wait until you have everything in order. And the same goes for Raging Against Various Elements, the new techno-jazz musical by Connor Schumacher. It is loud, raw, and exactly what you need to feel when life has knocked you down. For seven years, grief, love, pain, and death have danced together. Now it is time to rage for life.
Winner of 'De Zwaan' for most impressive dance production
Earlier this year, Raging Against Various Elements won the prestigious dance award De Zwaan for the most impressive dance production of the season. The jury wrote about the performance: “Connor Schumacher touches us in many ways with Raging Against Various Elements. The work moves toward a joyful release while sharing a deeply personal sorrow along the way. The way Schumacher communicates with his audience is refreshing, connecting, and innovative.”
A raw, untamed dance through loss and vitality
For seven years, grief, love, pain, and death danced with one another. Now it is time to rage. Because when everything slips through your fingers, there is one place where you still have a grip: the dance floor. For Connor, it all started with loss. “After the unexpected passing of my sister, dance held on to me. It gave me space. It helped me let go, breathe, sweat, scream, and dance furiously in the face of death. Now, after all this time, I have found what I was looking for. Family.”
Movement and music that strike at the core
Together with Boris Acket and Elsemarijn Bruijs, Connor builds a space that moves, vibrates, and pulses with energy. Techno and jazz merge in the sound of Pascal Pinkert (DJ Europarking), the bass thumps, the lights play with your senses, and mirrors distort the space. And six professional ravers—Connor's new family—pull you in until you can be nowhere else but here.
The struggle between body and mind
Dance as a weapon. Rhythm as a guide. Raging Against Various Elements is a loud, dark, ecstatic trip in which six ravers explore the thin line between control and surrender. What if we can control nothing but ourselves?
The Body of Grief → The Body of Joy The Body of Nihilism → The Body of Intention The Cynical Body → The Body Full of Hope
Direction/Choreography Connor Schumacher (he/him) / Dramaturgy Maaike Schuurmans (she/her) / Scenography/Installation Boris Acket (he/him) & Elsemarijn Bruys (she/her) / Light/Technician Edwin van Steenbergen (he/him) / Music Pascal Pinkert aka DJ Europarking & Connor Schumacher / Costumes Berber Striuksma (she/her) and Marco Blazevic (they/them) from The Patchwork Family / Campaign Image Jan Hoek / Production Christel de Wolff (she/her) / Marketing Thamar Kempees (she/her) / Creative Agent Karina van Bezooijen (she/her) / Cast/Collaborating Performers Simomo Boujarra (he/him), Rex Collins (they/them), Ivan Ugrin (he/him), Cain Insa Wittenhaus (they/he/them), Majon van der Schot (she/her), Ahmed El Gendy (they/them), Connor Schumacher (he/him) / Co-production ARK/ Connor Schumacher and Dansateliers / Partner Grand Theatre Groningen / Made possible by Fonds 21, Cultuurfonds, J.E. Jurriaanse Stichting, Dioraphte
