Wim Vandekeybus

Wim Vandekeybus' mainly draws his inspiration from the world surrounding us and life in all its aspects. Encounters with nature, people, different movement forms and styles, music, film, literature, theatre, … form the seeds for his creations.

interview with London Dance:
You originally trained in psychology. What impact has that had on the kind of work you make?
I studied psychology at university during 2 years, but never finished these studies or practiced it professionally. So, in fact I only got the theoretical part. My work is more the result of intuition, the intuitive psychology that everyone has in his/her way.
Who, or what, are your main influences?
My youth experiences, writers, photographers (koudelka), cineasts (Kalatozov, Cassavetes, Imamura, ...), encounters with people, the world around us, ...
Film is often an integral part of Ultima Vez performances - and the films also stand alone. What is your process? Do you consciously make two works - a film and a performance - or does one emerge from the other?
This depends, I made several short films as part of my performances, in which the themes of the performance were approached from a different angle, or that were part of the scenography. With film you can create a strong context/past of the people on scene and thus enrich there existence. Next to the short films, I also made dance films adaptations of my performances.