© Bo Vloors

THE RIVER AND THE DEVIL, première 2025 (research 2022-2024)

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

It is said that during colonial times, in the Bolivian Andean Plateau, the river Desaguadero and its uncontrollable nature were demonized as ‘the Devil’ by colonial settlers. Since then, the river has dried out, turning from water to salt after centuries of continuous extraction. Reimagining the Devil not as a destructive force but as the river’s guardian, The River and The Devil explores resilience and the remnants of fragmented histories. The river has turned into broken pieces, hiding and moving towards us unannounced.

Combining dance, fiction, collective storytelling, and a soundscape by Vica Pacheco, the piece 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

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: Four-Thirty-One vzw & Hiros

Supported by: Flemish Government & Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie

Upcoming presentations:

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

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