CampingFormation

Cherish Menzo
& M I M I

Camping Workshop

26 > 30.06.23

CN D Pantin

Cherish Menzo, from Brussels and Amsterdam, is one of the four artistic leaders of the dance organization GRIP, together with Femke Gyselinck, Jan Martens and Steven Michel. As a dancer and performer, Cherish Menzo appeared in pieces of Lisbeth Gruwez, Jan Martens, Nicole Beutler, Eszter Salamon, Benjamin Kahn, Akram Khan and others. As a choreographer, her powerful movement language comes into its own in her work, which tours internationally. Cherish Menzo seeks out forms of movement and being, placing beauty and the grotesque on an equal footing. She is consciously looking for an alienating effect to guide the viewer and herself away from the known. Away from the familiar that we sometimes too easily consider equal to “the (only) truth”. She floats between the nostalgia of 1990’s and 2000’s hip-hop and the realm of industrial hip-hop, rap lyrics, manga and speculative fiction. In 2019, she created Jezebel and in 2022 DARKMATTER, both productions selected by the Theaterfestival in Flanders and its Dutch counterpart.

M I M I is a multitalented DJ and transdisciplinary artist. She made her name in the Belgian nightlife scene, as well as performing internationally at NTS Radio, Red Light Radio, Boiler Room (Barcelona), Electrafrik (Dakar), Nyege Nyege (Uganda) and most recently Eurosonic (Netherlands). Her work is driven by an ongoing conversation with nature, drawing inspiration from the boundaries between the natural world and the human made, with a specific focus on the impact of the antropocene. Exploring the paradoxical relationship between classical music,club music, all infused with experimental soundscapes, percussions & rhythms of her African heritage. Incorporating her Afro-European cultural heritage and shamanic practices through various mediums, she seamlessly blends multiple genres, palettes, and textures to create a unique and forward-thinking sound. In addition to her artistic expression,she recognizes the healing power of sound and incorporates it into her work. She believes that music has the ability to promote well-being and create a sense of unity.


Using the body, the voice, and sound, Cherish Menzo and M I M I will attempt to develop a common lexical that refers to existing narrations we could recognize as the ‘’familiar’’ or the ‘’known’’. By applying distortion, decay, and dissonance, Cherish Menzo and M I M I will strive to challenge these existing matters. Glitching, scratching, and remixing this common lexical, the participants of the workshop will seek the Uncanny, the Enigmatic, and the Monstrous. In Cherish Menzo's current research, monstrosity becomes a way to reinform and to elaborate strategies upon dominant and accepted narrations.