What's on this week: 16 March

Each edition of the biennial festival Cordefactum is curated by the Centre for the Crafting of Musical Instruments in Puurs to highlight a different group of classical instruments. This edition celebrates the violin, the viola da gamba and the lute. The programme boasts nightly concerts as well as daytime lectures, workshops and exhibitions. Among the international line-up of performers is award-winning lute and voice duo White Sparrow. Formed in Helsinki in 2011 as a collaboration between Canadian mezzo-soprano Debi Wong and Norwegian lute player Solmund Nystabakk, White Sparrow has toured the world performing works by Renaissance composer John Dowland.

18-20 March at Stedelijk Conservatorium, Mechelen

Some stories continue to enthral audiences centuries after they are first told. Charles Perrault’s 17th-century fairy tale Sleeping Beauty is one of them. The tale remained on the page for over a century until the Romantic school began composing verse and music around it. Then, in 1890, the maestro of 19th-century choreography, Marius Petipa, adapted it as a ballet, complete with a timeless score by Tchaikovsky. Royal Ballet Flanders’ presents the 1987 production by Brazilian choreographer Marcia Haydée, who retained the technical complexity and the original score of but added contemporary elements. The production runs in Ghent before moving to Antwerp.
23 March to 17 April at Opera, Gent & Stadsschouwburg, Antwerp

This week-long festival features the work of contemporary Flemish dance collective Manyone. Member artists Sarah Vanhee, Mette Edvardsen, Alma Söderberg and Juan Domínguez, along with co-ordinator Natalie Gielen, incorporated in 2013 with the aim of creating a shared subsidy structure that would double as a laboratory of collaboration. The project bears fruit with this showcase. The fab four present over a dozen cross-disciplinary performances and installations, illustrating the autonomy nurtured by group solidarity. The artists also discuss their practice as “choreographers who don’t create dance”.
22-26 March at Vooruit, Ghent

Pomrad: Pop music and light show by the Antwerp musician and performer Adriaan van de Velde and his nostalgic hip-hop/funk trio. 18 March 20.00, Desguinlei 25, Antwerp

Azmari: Ethiopian jazz and other Afro beats come together to create a dense and hypnotic atmosphere during this free concert. 17 March 21.00, Soul Inn, Plattesteen 18, Brussels

Our Town: Students from Antwerp International School perform the 1938 classic by American playwright Thornton Wilder about life in the small village of Grover’s Corners (in English). 17-19 March, AIS, Veltwijcklaan 180, Antwerp

Dans.Impact: A full evening of contemporary dance awaits at this annual competition for the title of Contemporary Dance Ambassador of Flanders, featuring seven dance groups from across the region. 20 March 19.00, CC De Grote Post, Hendrik Serruyslaan 18, Ostend

Andres Serrano: Retrospective dedicated to the contemporary American photographer whose work never ceases to raise the most controversial questions about modern society. Featuring some 100 photographs that follow the artist’s creative path. 18 March to 21 August, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Regentschapsstraat 3, Brussels

Mammoetatnu: Four actors laze in the grass, gaze up at the clouds and contemplate the biology behind everything they can imagine, from brown polar bears and stinky roses to third nipples and walking fish (in Dutch; ages 10+). 19-23 March, Bronks, Varkensmarkt 15-17, Brussels