About

Ever since its inception, Compagnie Thor has been continually bringing together top-ranking internationally renowned artists. In addition to the diversity of choreographic and scenographic performances they offer, it has gained itself a reputation thanks to its multi-facetted talents. Programmed multiple times around the world, Thor’s creations have often not only been the source of public enthusiasm, critical acclaim, but also of engaging debate and have even sparked controversy. However, after having toured extensively throughout Belgium and beyond (France, Great Britain, Denmark, Hungary, Croatia, the U.S.A, as well as in the Middle East and North Africa), a new reflection has now emerged at the heart of the artists’ work.

An Environmental and Social Shift

Under the direction of Thierry Smits, and in collaboration with multiple actors from across the artistic sphere, the dancers hired by Thor have participated in more than thirty productions since 1990. Spanning genres, from pure dance performances to developing choreographies with themes that required a complex dramaturgy, Compagnie Thor has constantly explored the scope of possibilities when taking over a stage: the combination of musical scores written specifically or transformed and revisited according to the performance, sophisticated or deliberately pared-down stage designs, the sheer profusion of costumes or their deliberate abandonment in order that the human body be the subject’s sole medium, the delivery of texts commissioned from renowned authors, quotations, voice-overs, live singing, numerous speakers or formulas imagined for one, two or three actors… Compagnie Thor has left few paths for artistic exploration untrodden. Furthermore, its policy when it comes to hiring dancers has always prioritised, insofar as possible, the sustainability of their tenure within the company. It is notably within this framework of stimulating and avant-garde experimentation that Thor has seen its program contract renewed several times by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.

Nowadays, the core issue, around which a fresh strategy for disseminating Thor’s activities is based upon, is to find solutions in order to reduce its ecological footprint, as well as to increase its social impact. Over the coming years, the pace of touring will be substantially reduced in order to prioritize performances in Brussels, at their Studio located in the heart of Saint-Josse. Though the smallest municipality in metropolitan Brussels, it is equally the most concentrated and diverse demographic area in Belgium. Given the richness of this environment on our very doorstep, we hope to initiate a shift in dynamic within the cultural sector to make it truly more accessible for the entire community.

Compagnie Thor is taking advantage of  its position in order to boost links with its local partners of many years’ standing, such as the Théâtre-Varia, Charleroi-Danse, the commune of Saint-Josse and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.

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As an operator supported by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Cie Thor is committed to respecting the rights of its users.

Charter of commitment

 

Team

— Choreographer, Artistic Director

Thierry Smits

+32 484 13 31 32
thierry@thor.be
— Stewardship

Brahim Sahli

+32 485 96 76 25
info@thor.be
— Production

Elena Frau

+32 2 223 26 00
production@thor.be
— Communication

Romane Carmon

+32 2 223 26 00
communication@thor.be
— Coordination, Public relations

Fabien Defendini

+32 2 223 26 00
relation@thor.be
— Curateur Trouble, (Pas si) Fragile!

Antoine Pickels

+32 2 223 26 00
antoine@thor.be
— Administration

Zakaria Zohrat

+32 2 223 26 00
— Human Ressources

Régis Remigy

+32 2 223 26 00
 

Thierry Smits

A passion for radical and innovative research based on the human body’s intrinsic malleability and aesthetics. Smits’ life-story has been one of an unwavering dedication to the art of dance, and constantly engaged in a process shaped by a sense of purpose and the necessary rigour to unleash surprise, anguish, jubilation or despair. A subtle game of provoking the spectator’s emotions through facetiousness, impetuosity and empathy.

 

Thierry Smits, in tandem with his Compagie Thor, is currently one of the leading figures in Belgian contemporary dance. Over a period spanning thirty years, the choreographer has forged ahead, insisting upon an artistic approach that is in many ways unusual, frequently polemical, and often confronting current trends. Alternating between pure dance performances and more performative pieces, his creations explore the relationship with the human body–– as an object of desire, pleasure and finitude –– which today more than ever he considers as a political space, indeed as “the only sphere of freedom left to us.”

Since the launch of Compagnie Thor in 1990, Thierry Smits has created more than thirty dance performances, including Eros délétère (1991), Red Rubber Balls (1999), D’ORIENT (2005), V.-Nightmares (2007), To the Ones I Love (2010), Anima Ardens (2017), or Summertime (2021) and Toumaï (2022). Characterised by a keen sense of imagery, his creations alternate between pop and queer, provocative, and at times purely minimalist and contemporary. Whatever form they assume, his works bear witness to an omnipresent technical demand and to a gestural creativity.

 

 

Partners

Consciente de la nécessité de stimuler le partage d’idées et d’y encourager la représentation du secteur de la danse, la Cie Thor est active au sein de plusieurs organismes sectoriels et intersectoriels.

 

Membre fondateur ayant pris ses distances quelques années, la Cie Thor y a retrouvé sa place en 2021 et participe aux actions sectorielles.

La Cie Thor fait partie de l’OA dans le collège « compagnie ».

Depuis mai 2021, la Cie Thor siège à l’OA du RAB et contribue ainsi à cette plateforme de dialogue et de réflexion, un centre de ressources et un interlocuteur pour tout ce qui concerne les enjeux de la culture à Bruxelles, en particulier Bruxelles 2030. Par ailleurs, la compagnie continue de jouer un rôle d’accueil lors d’activités de certains de ces réseaux ou de projets sectoriels WBI-WBTD, comme Objectifs danse.