Who are you?
I am Jarne Van Perck. I am a dancer/choreographer based in Antwerp.
What attracts you to dance?
The ability to transform any concept or idea in body language is something very magical to me and if that concept will be reached and understood is the cherry on the cake. The way how I can be in total control of my body but feel at the same time extremely free is a combination I like to experience.
What does intrigues you at the moment?
What intrigues me is anything that has a scientific idea behind it and how I can break it into a strong concept with movement and body language.
What is your oldest memory of dance?
My fascination whit the kid pop group K3 and how I learned all the dance steps for the songs and how I changed them to make my little creations. How I then demanded my friends to learn my invented steps to perform it to my parents and grandparents.
What brings you to VanVer?
Having the opportunity to create a platform where ourselves but later also others can use to be creative sounds like a beautiful plan. A way to create new performances and a new way of presenting them is what attracts me to VanVer.
What do you bring to VanVer?
When I create a performance, I immediately see the big pictures. The pictures in my head are something I take with me on everything that I do and/or make. My vision of what VanVer can become is one I want to keep strong.
What do you want to achieve with VanVer?
With VanVer I want to create a place where we can make and explore freely. A place where productions can take any form or experience. Hopefully, we can give this experience to others and help other young creative minds in collaborations or residencies inside VanVer.
What other passions do you have?
I am a gigantic freak if it comes to board games. I am afraid my boyfriend is getting scared of the amount of space my board game collection takes inside our house. I love to spend a day playing several games with good company and a good beer. Believe me, I can get competitive in the games, but a good experience is way more important than actually winning. (or that’s what I try to tell myself any way :p)
Who do you admire, inside and/ or outside dance?
My biggest dance inspiration has to be the Belgium dance scene. It’s a raw take on what contemporary dance can be. There is no other place I feel it had the same. Some names that I see as big inspiration are Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Ann Van den Broek. How Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker can create great works based on mathematics or the golden ratio. For a direct example of hard and raw performances, I look at Ann Van den Broek. Her performances always make me leave the theater with a big smile and my heart still beating in my throat.
Outside the dance scene, I have one major inspiration or admiration: the drag queen of this era, and that’s RuPaul. A significant contribution to how I see my sexuality and how I feel at home in my own body.
What is your role in VanVer?
I will take the role of artistic choreographer. The man whit the plan. Someone who will have a big idea ready to throw it to the dancers. Someone who already sees the big picture before the puzzle has been made.
What does artistic choreographer mean to you?
An artistic choreographer knows what will happen in the end but can also leave certain puzzle pieces black to be filled in by their dancer.
