New Version of Jan Martens’ Theater Hit
THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER marked the definitive breakthrough for Flemish choreographer Jan Martens in 2014. In 2025, he and his company GRIP created a new version of his theater hit, and this stunning example of minimal dance proved to have lost none of its impact. “Ingenious” (NRC ★★★★★) and “Masterful” (de Volkskrant ★★★★).
“Open all your senses to this gem. And above all, don’t forget to breathe,” wrote Het Nieuwsblad in 2014 about THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER. The reviews from back then speak for themselves: this work marked Jan Martens’s definitive breakthrough, with an extensive international tour of more than 100 performances. In 2025, Jan Martens and GRIP will recreate this successful production with a new cast. In recent years, various dance programs have worked with this choreographic material: for large groups, amateurs, or professionals—the work continued to capture the imagination due to its physical challenge and choreographic ingenuity. THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER has become a fan favorite and a milestone among performances that center on exhaustion and repetition.
The American photographer Philippe Halsman said, “… when you ask a person to jump, his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping, and the mask falls so that the real person appears.” With THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER, Jan Martens took this statement as his starting point and, through the leap, revealed the person behind the dancer.
In THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER, the dancer is defined as a pure performer, striving for perfection. By subjecting eight dancers to a complex, mathematical, dynamic, and exhausting choreography, performed with forced uniformity, they eventually make a mistake. And then their masks slip. Through its radical choreographic form, THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER challenged the audience’s perception of dancers, choreographers, spectators, and the cultural policies of the time. Ten years later, these questions remain highly relevant due to current political and social trends: Where is the fine line between art and entertainment? Who are we as an audience when we watch the dancers’ suffering from the theater as if it were a bullfight in an arena? Is contemporary dance a striptease for the upper class? THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER shifts the viewer’s perspective: from merely passively experiencing the performance to active reflection.
THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER was selected for the Theater Festival as one of the most noteworthy productions of 2014. The jury wrote: “The production has the intensity of a breathtaking journey, complete with clever dramaturgy and a fantastic lighting design. Moreover, the subtle changes in light, sound, or movement ensure that you keep seeing the bodies in a new light. With this creation, Jan Martens demonstrates his versatility as a promising choreographer. After the more intimate duets, he now opts for mathematical dance patterns that put the dancers through their paces. Watching them endure that hardship is, in itself, a form of endurance. And it is also a realization—a realization that we are rushing through life at a senseless pace.”
Practice the Possible