PUUR (Dutch for pure)

A man becomes a murderer. Why? Wim Vandekeybus tells the story of a life taken over by anxiety: fear of alienation, fear of losing power, fear of isolation. He does not search for the underlying reasons; instead, he points to the rituals of self-recognition and to where they can ultimately lead – in this case, to a dangerous conjuncture of hopes and dreams of salvation. Puur brings together both ancient and modern myths to form a timeless, universal scenario.

Director, choreographer, actor and photographer Wim Vandekeybus founded the Ultima Vez company in the mid-eighties, an ensemble characterized by a radically physical, energetic and barely controllable style of dance. He has been the focus of international acclaim since his award-winning performance What the Body Does Not Remember.Trance, extreme states of the human body and collisions between violence and tenderness were all to become part of his unmistakable vocabulary. Over the following years, his choreographic explorations examined the interface between body and language, between dance and drama. Since creating Immer das Selbe gelogen in 1991, film and video have played a central role in his work. The dancers in Puur interact with people and images from an already completed film.