© Bo Vloors

THE RIVER AND THE DEVIL, première 2025

The River and The Devil invites the audience into the ruins of a disappearing river.

During colonial times in the Bolivian Andean Plateau, the river Desaguadero and its uncontrollable forces were demonized as ‘the Devil’ by colonial settlers. Since then, centuries of extraction have dried up the river, transforming it from water to salt. In The River and The Devil, Paula Almiron reimagines the Devil not as a destructive force but as the guardian of the river, exploring resilience and the remnants of fragmented histories. The river has turned into broken pieces, hiding and moving towards us unannounced.

Combining dance, fiction and collective storytelling, The River and The Devil evokes a sense of living among ruins, asking what remains when a river disappears. Mythological figures and spirits that once protected the river linger as echoes in this haunting meditation on loss and endurance.

Concept, direction and performance: Paula Almiron

Dramaturgical advisers: Simon Asencio, Louise Vanneste, David Weber-Krebs

Conceptual dramaturg: Wouter De Raeve

Salt sculptures / visual artist: Florencia Almiron

Sound design: Vica Pacheco

Spatialization of sound: Simon Lehmans

Light design: Estelle Gautier

Costumes: Paula Almiron in dialogue with Eliane Bertschi / Custom made top by Khanh Brice Nguyen.

Stage desing: Paula Almiron in dialogue with Florencia Almiron

Residency support: wpZimmer, kunstencentrum BUDA, kunstenwerkplats, C-TAKT, La Bellone Maison de Spectacle, La Serre Arts Vivants (Montreal), Festival Proximamente - KVS, CND Paris, SEN (Studio Etangs Noirs), Tenerife LAV, GC Het Huys, Meyboom Artist-run Spaces.

Co-production: KAAP, C-Takt network & kunstenwerkplaats

Production: Fourthirty-one vzw & Hiros

Supported by: Flemish Government & Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie

Past presentations:

- August 2023: work-in-progress showing at "Unspace" at Kunsthaus Zurich

Upcoming presentations:

- 20th November 2024: work-in-progress showing at Festival Proximamente - KVS, Brussels

- 27th & 28th February 2025: Première at Beursschouwburg, Brussels.