The performance arts centre walks the line between a Belgian and an international identity by welcoming an international roster of artists, while remaining deeply committed to home-grown talent. It is rooted to their neighbourhood, working to bolster the community of cultural organisations in the canal area. Its audience includes Dutch speakers, French speakers and members of the European community. This blending of different worlds is what Kaaitheater is all about.
The history goes back more than 30 years to 1977, when it functioned as an annual festival. It grew into a full-fledged theatre with an annual programme in 10 years later. At that time, the company was housed in what is now the Kaaistudio's space but lacked its own performance hall. In 1993, the company moved into its current location at Sainctelettesquare on the Brussels canal, taking over the Luna Theater, now renamed the Kaaitheater. Kaaistudio's has since been renovated as a second, more intimate performance space.
But through those years and those adjustments "the artistic mission has never changed," says artistic director Guy Gypens. This coming season is the second that Gypens has programmed for Kaaitheater, after a lengthy career as general manager of Rosas dance troupe, in addition to work with other Belgian companies.
"Our idea is to bring in who we think are the most interesting artists from abroad to create an international context for the local artists we support," Gypens explains.
What has changed is the nature of that support. Kaaitheater has various in-house artists, who use the office, rehearsal or performance space. But the company now limits itself to the co-production of performances, rather than mounting full productions themselves.
Their collaborations with artists continue, sometimes lasting for years or even decades. This stretches Kaaitheater in several directions at once - developing long-standing relationships, while remaining wary about allowing certain artists to dominate the programme. There is a constant drive to bring in new blood along with the familiar faces, "balancing continuity with innovation," as Gypens puts it.
Thus, an equally important part of Kaaitheater's programme is international work. Artists from across Europe are invited to perform, and there is a long-standing link with American companies as well.
The theatre has also become intensely involved at the most local level. In the kilometre between Kaaitheater and Kaaistudio's, there is an interesting dynamic of the Brussels canal area. The Kaaitheater management recognizes the challenges of the Molenbeek neighbourhood, while noting that the way that area develops is bound to be important to the city as a whole.
Already thinking ahead, Kaaitheater is developing work in public spaces to take place in September 2010, involving as many cultural partners as possible from the canal area. "An institution should not just look at what artists are doing; it's important to play a role in civil society," notes Gypens.
This commitment to having a voice in the community is also instrumental in Kaaitheater's programming. While individual productions may make a political, cultural, or societal statement, the annual cycle has grown to include a series of festivals, some with political agendas and international reach.
The first this year is the second edition of the Spoken World festival in October, which takes on a theme, giving artists a chance to come together over a current hot topic. Last year's festival was built around the 2008 Interdependence Forum that took place in Brussels.
This year, Spoken World includes 10 productions from around the world, responding to "1989", a significant year in different countries for a variety of reasons: the fall of the Berlin Wall, the beginning of the end of apartheid being two. Now 20 years in the past, Kaaitheater is bringing together a set of artists to explore the diversity of change in that year, and the way our world has developed as a result.
On a smaller scale, Kaaitheater also takes on climate change through the second incarnation of the Burning Ice festival. Preceding the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen by a week, the festival includes artists as well as experts from other disciplines (philosophers, politicians) for an exploration of the impact of climate change through (and on) the arts.
Burning Ice #2 highlights two performances: Holland Tsunami: Drowning in Europe imagines that the Netherlands has sunk under rising sea levels and the Dutch have been evacuated to Hungary as climate refugees. Evacuated Landscapes creates artificial landscapes, some of which look familiar, others not so much. These performances are complimented with debates and talks on a range of subjects, which are in one way or another linked to the Copenhagen conference.
This international influence in a mixture of performance and cultural information sets Kaaitheater apart from other Belgian theatres. Yet it remains highly aware of its Brussels identity.
A substantial portion of the programming includes Flemish artists, but "being in Brussels, you have multiple identities; you are Flemish and Bruxellois," says Gypens. "We don't limit ourselves to the Flemish audience, but it's an important part of our programme."
Their links to the Dutch-speaking community are, however, noticeably strong: in the coming weeks, they serve as the host of Het Theaterfestival, a collection of the most important Dutch-language theatre productions of the past year.
The variety of programming in Brussels allows Kaaitheater to specialise in the performing arts. Their programming is almost evenly split between theatre and dance (and often a fusion of the two), leaving music programming, for example, to other Brussels institutions such as the Bozar.
The mixture of disciplines and the international line-up in their season also affords Kaaitheater a broad reach in terms of its audience. French speakers make up nearly a quarter of their yearly audience, which they see as crucial to their role as a Brussels theatre.
Kaaitheater has also crossed over into the European communities, attracting a substantial international crowd, particularly to their dance and English-language performances. "When I started working in Brussels, the European communities were something separate," Gypens recalls. "You can see real change in how they now integrate into the city. Brussels has hesitated for too long in trying to accommodate them; we have made a real effort to find a way into that community."
Kaaitheater has scheduled an onslaught of work by some of the biggest names in the Flemish arts scene. Many have worked with Kaaitheater quite closely, and several are actually co-produced by the theatre. Anyone looking for a crash course in the Flemish performing arts of today, here's your chance.
Rosas / The Song • 17-27 September
The season opens with a new piece from Anna Teresa De Keersmaeker's company, Rosas. The Brussels-based company has a long-standing history of collaboration with Kaaitheater - they are already booked for another show later in the season (Zeitung). This Belgian premiere is part of the Matinee Kadee series, so you can drop your kids off for a free workshop while you catch the show.
Damaged Goods / Do Animals Cry • 22-24 October
Belgian premiere number two, this one from American choreographer Meg Stuart, whose dance company Damaged Goods is based in Brussels. Stuart is in residence at Kaaitheater, and they co-produced this show, which combines dance and theatre (in English) in a story (of sorts) about a family (of sorts) tries to reunite and communicate. Stuart returns to the Kaaitheater stage in April with Blessed (photo, cover).
Troubleyn / Orgy of Tolerance • 9-10 December
Another English-language production, Orgy of Tolerance is quintessential Flemish artist Jan Fabre's exploration of the eroticism of consumerism. Strange, disturbing and fascinating by turns, it stars members of his performance troupe Troubleyn.
Jan Decorte / Bakchai • 7-9 January
Long-time Flemish actor and director Jan Decorte staged Wintervögelchen, a re-telling of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, last season at Kaaitheater, and it returns this month as a Het Theaterfestival selection. Bakchai is Decorte's next show, a Kaaitheater co-production based on The Bacchae.
Les ballets C de la B / Out of Context • 13-17 January
The last of the upcoming premieres from the big names of Flanders, this dance production features company founder Alain Platel, along with eight other dancers, in an exploration of the body in a state of ecstasy (or possibly hysteria).
Flanders Today is a 
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