Manou Selhorst & inter:action (New Creators' Track by Action Zoo Humain)
Work-in-progress / dinner experience | In a faded luxury hotel in Marrakech, a woman clings desperately to the glamour of the 1970s. She has been living in the same room for almost fifty years. Every evening she takes her seat at the same little table, whilst the pianist plays the same nostalgic melodies. Rituals keep her world going. Until her hands falter, her feet stumble, and even the hotel seems to resist her.
Room Service takes its inspiration from the story of creator Manou Selhorst’s grandmother. Through text, music, visuals, flamenco dance and lively rhythms, she explores how nostalgia is kept alive through repetition. But also how a break in that rhythm can develop into physical resistance. Who really keeps this world running? Who is allowed to claim a place and a past for themselves? And can the poetry of faded glory outweigh its influence on the present?
This preview is a work-in-progress of the production set to premiere in November 2027 at Cultuurhuis de Warande. Here, Manou specifically explores the restaurant setting as a theatrical space: a place where service, time, routine and expectation constantly interact.
Room Service (WIP) is a culinary experience. For this special evening, Restaurant Madonna is creating a menu that brings the world of the performance to the plate. In this way, watching, listening and tasting become part of a single sensory experience.
Room Service is being created within Inter:Action, Action Zoo Humain’s programme for new creators.
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Credits (work-in-progress)
Concept, choreography Manou Selhorst With and by Manou Selhorst, Sid Besseghir Music Sid Besseghir Music & sound Robbe Embrechts Outside eye Nona Demey Gallagher Production Action Zoo Humain Photography Elisa Maenhout With the support of CODE DANS+ (Danspunt), Stad Gent, de Vlaamse Overheid Residences Campo, c o r s o, Danspunt, Radar Mechelen, Broder muziek+theater