I’ve been collaborating with Jan Fabre and his team since 2012. I’m not part of the company: I’m a filmmaker, not a dancer. But I started in Troubleyn my whole career: doing an internship 6 years ago as a student, watching 3 months of rehearsals, even doing some exercises on the stage. Then making films: about Jan’s work, in theatre and visual art. And then following the creation of ‘Mount Olympus’, day and night, filming, watching and editing hours and hours of shooting. My working collaboration continues nowadays, on some projects, always from the camera point of view. For this reason, I cannot give a proper comment from the inside, as a performer or a permanent collaborator would do. My role is that of an external and temporary watcher: I attended some rehearsals, discussions, fights on the stage and drinks in the bar. I’ve seen people exhausted by hard work, people crying, people laughing, people passing together through highly emotional experiences, challenging the mind and the body. The way Jan deals with his performers and collaborators is not easy. He asks for the moon and he wants it now. While talking with him, I always feel a little apprehension. But what I never felt, is a lack of respect. For the human being, in general, and for the performers on stage. I cannot comment on his private life, as I’m not part of it, and I was present only at some moments in the rehearsals, but the working methods I saw where not humiliating, bullying or sexists. They were tough, and not always pleasant. But fair.
Giulio Boato