Anne-Cécile Vandalem

The Sanda Dia case gripped Belgian society for years. With LA FÊTE, theatre-maker Anne-Cécile Vandalem - performing at DE SINGEL for the first time - brings this emotionally charged story to the stage. Sanda lost his life after an initiation ritual from the student group Reuzegom. Together with Joëlle Sambi, Vandalem attempts to uncover that which often stays beneath the surface. Vandalem is renowned for her socially and politically engaged work, in which she blends a range of genres and media. Collaborating with Belgian-Congolese activist and multidisciplinary artist Sambi, she creates an unsettling and haunting tableau that persistently unnerves. As a form of reparation, the creators stage a meeting between the victim's loved ones and the families of two of the convicted individuals involved. Accompanied by a filmmaker, all parties take their place at the table. What begins as a symbolic gesture evolves into a confrontational dialogue about privilege, guilt, and atonement. In the twilight zone between history and narrative, LA FÊTE questions the power of stories. Who gets to speak? Who is heard? And at what cost? The theatre becomes an arena in which reality and imagination intersect along the fault lines of structural inequality.