FRANK
Cherish Menzo’s works open up speculations and dialogues around the Black body and the multilayered entanglements of the African diaspora. In previous pieces, the choreographer devoted herself to a complex examination of stereotypical female figures in hip-hop videos or the astronomical phenomenon of dark matter via Afrofuturism. In her new piece, she explores embodiments of the monstrous in order to question categories of the strange as well as dominant norms.
The title FRANK refers to honesty and directness. But it’s also short for Frankenstein. As an ‘inhuman’ creature of threatening otherness, this prototype of the monster is the metaphorical incarnation of common beliefs and narratives that terrify humanity. Playing with ambivalent images, distortions and enigmatic glitches, Menzo confronts the horror that underlies the concept of the monster and makes prevailing narratives and the supposedly familiar collapse.
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born in 1988 in the Netherlands, is a choreographer and dancer living in Brussels and Amsterdam. In 2013, she graduated from The Urban Contemporary (JMD) at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Amsterdam. Menzo has appeared in the work of Lisbeth Gruwez, Jan Martens, and Nicole Beutler, as well as collaborations with the likes of Akram Khan, Ula Sickle, Olivier Dubois and Eszter Salamon. Her own works tour internationally: EFES (2016, together with Nicole Geertruida), LIVE (2018, with Müşfik Can Müftüoğlu), JEZEBEL (2019), and DARKMATTER (2022). Menzo is interested in the transformation of the body on stage and in the ‘embodiment’ of different physical images. She attempts to detach bodies from forced perceptions and their daily corporeal realities, underlining the complexity and contradictory nature of images that seem recognisable at first glance.
Credits
Concept, direction Cherish Menzo Creation, performance Malick Cissé, Mulunesh, Omagbitse Omagbemi Sound design Maria Muehombo a.k.a M I M I Video design Andrea Casetti Sound- and video engineering Arthur De Vuyst Set design Morgana Machado Marques Lighting design Ryoya Fudetani Dramaturgy Johanne Affricot, Renée Copraij Costumes Cherish Menzo Make-up design Johanna Cool Text Khadija El Kharraz Alami, Cherish Menzo Artistic advice Khadija El Kharraz Alami, Nicole Geertruida Tour technician Ryoya Fudetani, Hadrien Jeangette, Arthur De Vuyst Graphic design Nick Mattan Thanks to Mildred Caprino, Anne Goedhart, Rodney Frederik & Winti Formation ‘Krin Ati’ Daryll Geldrop, Ernie Wolf, Sandra Menzo, Shavelie Menzo, Madeleine Planeix-Crocker, Sarah Garnaud, Alice Bröker Production GRIP & Theater Utrecht In collaboration with Dance On Ensemble International distribution A propic – Line Rousseau, Marion Gauvent Coproduction Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Carreau du Temple – Etablissement culturel et sportif de la Ville de Paris, Productiehuis Theater Rotterdam, Julidans Amsterdam, PACT Zollverein, Festival Montpellier Danse 2025, Theater Utrecht, Le Centre Chorégraphique National d’Orléans – Direction Maud Le Pladec, Tanzquartier Wien, DDD – Festival Dias da Dança, Festival d’Automne à Paris, One Dance Festival, Perpodium With the support of CND – Centre national de la danse à Pantin, BRONKS, KWP Kunstenwerkplaats, l’Atelier de Paris – Centre de développement chorégraphique national With the financial support of the Flemish Government, Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government via Cronos Invest, BNG Bank Theaterprijs, Charlotte Köhler Prijs van het Cultuurfonds, Culture Moves Europe, a project funded by the European Union and the Goethe-Institut. This work was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union. More credits here.