Normality No More | Schubert's Winterreise Revisited

What is actually normal? And who decides? Normality No More is a multidisciplinary, interactive performance in which three top companies - Conny Janssen Danst, Via Berlin and Ragazze Quartet - jointly investigate the world of neurodivergence. The fusion of music, theatre, dance and science makes Normality No More a feast for all the senses. The reason for this feast is the realisation that our differences are our greatest strength.

An ode to the neurodivergent brain

At the heart of Normality No More is a classical musical masterpiece, Schubert's Winterreise, which is thoroughly shaken up. In it, the main character embarks on a solitary journey after being abandoned by his beloved. The journey through the landscape and the journey through the complex inner world of the main character alternate. The feeling of rejection causes him to isolate himself more and more and eventually become an outcast. But why? And doesn't everyone feel that way sometimes? Falling short, afraid of being rejected, not accepted, misunderstood. For a part of humanity (an estimated at least 15%*), these feelings are constant, because they experience and interpret the world differently than the masses: people with a neurodivergent brain. To make real contact with each other. To accept and strengthen each other. To ultimately celebrate our superpowers, no matter how 'crazy', together. The audience is actively involved and questioned during the performance, and also before and after. Via Berlin, the music theatre company known as a bridge builder between art, society and science, is developing a unique collaboration with healthcare institution Cordaan.

Schubert's Winterreise revisited, with choreography by David Bellotta

The Ragazze Quartet shakes up Schubert's Winterreise for this performance to such an extent that it will only be recognizable in passing. It is performed by an unusual ensemble of strings, a percussionist and vocalists, who add their own colour and switch between styles without mercy. From soulful jazz to pulsating electropop, from small and intimate to overwhelming and hallucinatory. These contrasts are also reflected in the choreography by Davide Bellotta, who choreographs his first Grote Zaal production for Conny Janssen Danst with Normality No More. He lets seven dancers from the company make a journey through their own inner world, just as the musicians do. To break free, to free themselves and each other from prejudices, labels and stigmas. To ultimately celebrate the differences exuberantly.