Judith Van Oeckel - Micro Choreographies (De Langste Dag)

What can choreography be when physical presence is no longer central? Judith Van Oeckel (°1998) is a dancer and artist based in Leuven. As a result of chronic migraine, her body is no longer a self-evident instrument, but a border area in which intensity, vulnerability, and limitation are constantly in dialogue with each other. From her background in dance and performance, she develops research into what choreography can be when physical presence is no longer central. How can movement be remembered, passed on, or preserved without losing its embodied power? And what remains of dance when the body withdraws? Her work moves on the tension field between dance as an ephemeral, living art form and the need to register and archive fleeting practices. In this context, new forms of choreography emerge that are not situated exclusively in the body, but also in language, memory, and imagination. In Tijdens De Langste Dag, the trajectory from dancer to visual artist becomes visible, among other things through a sand print in which this shift becomes tangible. From there, a movement unfolds towards the sea, where the work is gradually absorbed or disappears, thus embodying the transience and transformation of the practice itself. PRACTICAL Duration: 30 minutes Throughout the day you can watch work by Judith in Thermae Hotel, room Fabiola ABOUT THE LONGEST DAY From sunrise to sunset. Artists move in and between Mu.ZEE and KAAP in Ostend. Various performances, some continuous. One visible and loud, the other barely perceptible. The actions follow the rhythm of the sun, the tides, and the clock. It will be a long day, almost the longest. Only when the sun sets does the happening end… and the afterparty begins.