Biography
Mario Barrantes Espinoza is a Costa Rican-Nicaraguan choreographer and performer based in Brussels. He studied performing arts and dance at the National University of Costa Rica during which he collaborated with choreographers like Nandayure Harley (2011), Las Hijas de Otro (2013) and the French company La Zouze (2012).
In 2013 he moved to Brussels and joined the three-year TRAINING Program at the Performing Arts Research and Training Studios (P.A.R.T.S). After spending a year as an independent artist, in 2017 he returned to P.A.R.T.S. where he graduated from the artistic research and creation program also known as the RESEARCH STUDIOS.
He has collaborated with artists such as Kate McIntosh, Eszter Salamon —in “MONUMENT 0: Haunted by wars (1913-2013)”, “MONUMENT 0.4: Lores & Praxes”, and more recently “MONUMENT 0.6: Heterochrony”—. As well in the upcoming work “Ends of Worlds” by the Belgian artist Michiel Vandevelde. Currently he continues to develop projects as an independent artist. Some of his works include “Drift (I,II)” —in collaboration with Thomas Bîrzan—, “[SUB CC]”, “[SUB CC] A ROMANCE” and “[A SEQUENCE III]”, the last two works being created within the context of Bâtard Festival, and performed during editions in Brussels and Amsterdam in 2018.
Thomas Bîrzan is a Franco-Romanian dance artist based in Brussels. After working as a performer for various companies in the South of France, he joined the P.A.R.T.S. Research Cycle 17-18. In parallel, Thomas is pursuing academic research on the relationship between text, dance and painting in contemporary francophone poetry. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Literature (McGill University, Montreal) and a Master 1 in Philosophy of Art (Université Paul-Valéry). He is currently completing his Master 2 in Modern and Contemporary Literature (Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle).
Melawati is the alter ego of Martijn Ravesloot, a Dutch-Belgian experimental musician who lives in Brussels. He studied film at LUCA school of arts (2006-2010), but once graduated, quickly turned his attention to scoring and sound design. He joined THE SUBS in 2015, a band that plays dance music on stages across the world, and has had considerable international success, mostly in Belgium, France and Australia. He subsequently joined the audio production house BITCULTURE in 2016, writing tunes for television shows (VAN ALGEMEEN NUT, VAN GILS EN GASTEN, …) and creating the full audio identity for the national TV channel CANVAS. Delving deeper into electronic music and modular synthesis, he started Melawati as an outlet for his more ambient and experimental music, creating pieces that are not bound by traditional structures, audiences or commercial limitations, but are more free flowing, texture-oriented and atmospheric.
Ryoya Fudetani. After a career in architecture and design, Ryoya Fudetani started working in lighting design for stage and live music performances, contemporary art installations, photography and architecture. He worked alongside Japanese theater artists and companies such as Okazaki Art Theatre, Antibodies collective, and Japanese traditional Noh theater. Fudetani has also collaborated with Ivo dimchev (Bulgaria), Choy Ka Fai (Berlin/ Singapore), Wen Chi Su (Taiwan) , Yola Yulfianti (Indonesia), and Surjit Nongmeikapam (India) among others. As a lighting collaborator, he was invited to several overseas festivals. He received the Japan Foundation Asia Fellowship in 2016 and was offered a scholarship to work at KaaiTheater in Belgium by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2018.
