In 2013 Ugo Dehaes presented his living-room performance Intimacy during the Salon Bombardon festival in Schaarbeek. He was hosted by the family of Shan, a young women suffering from the Angelman syndrome. Shan has a severe mental disability and cannot speak. Thanks to the Foundation Shan, she participates, under guidance, as much as possible to normal life, and this makes her flourish: Shan is very interested, curious, courageous and sometimes a little intimidated.

After that first encounter without words, Ugo was very curious to discover how he and Shan could communicate in a physical way. How they gradually could come to trust each other and develop a vocabulary and how they could dance together.

Each week Ugo and Shan meet for 2 hours in the dance studio Dakar at the Pianofabriek Kunstenwerkplaats. There are no rules and no previously set tasks. During those 2 hours they try to communicate, and look for similarities and differences. Sometimes this goes very well, sometimes it is one big battle. Both are learning how to deal with the other, to respect each other and discover what is so beautiful and moving about the movements and motivations of the other.

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