Again Forever presents a radical reinvention of the slow dance or shuffle: an intimate, collective ritual that reveals how dance both reinforces and breaks down social codes. Lisa Vereertbrugghen is known as ‘the techno choreographer’. But after more than ten years of research into the physical and political power of this hardcore style – high beats per minute that encourage euphoric immersion in music – the Flemish choreographer is now radically slowing the tempo down.
In Again Forever, the focus isn’t on the thumping beat, but on the slow dance – also known as shuffling, grinding, softening or clinging – that slow partner dance from school dances and weddings, where two people sway close together as they glide into the night.
But this is no nostalgic interlude. Vereertbrugghen strips the slow of fixed male-female roles and turns it into something disruptive. Four FLINTA* performers dance without a leader or follower. Partners swap, relationships shift. What emerges is a slow rave: bodies merge into one another, time stretches out and moves in loops. Not linear, but layered and defiant.
In a culture of speed and pressure to perform, Again Forever opts for intimacy and collectivity. The choreography exposes how dance reinforces social codes – and how it can break them down again. Here, closeness becomes political. The slow dance becomes an anti-patriarchal ritual.
No bomber jackets or Thunderdome, but the same question beneath the surface: what does it mean to be truly hardcore?
*FLINTA: Female, Lesbian, Intersex, Non-binary, Trans and Agender
