"Redundant." Or more bluntly: "Irritating noise." This is how the voice of the woman has often been considered from ancient Greek times to today.

VOICE NOISE is inspired by Anne Carson's essay The Gender of Sound (1992), in which she exposes how patriarchal culture has sought to silence women by ideologically associating women's sound with monstrosity, disorder and death.

In VOICE NOISE, some innovative, unknown and/or forgotten women's voices from the past hundred years of music history are given a stage. By doing so, Jan Martens takes another step in his efforts to shape an alternative canon.

Six dancers respond to recordings in which the human voice can be heard in various guises: humming, soothing, shrieking, whispering, singing. Gradually, they discover their own voice.

After working with big groups in his recent productions – any attempt will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones and FUTUR PROCHE – Jan Martens returns to a production for a small ensemble of six dancers. He works with some dancers who have inspired him in the past (Steven Michel, Courtney May Robertson and Loeka Willems) and invites new faces (Sue-Yeon Youn, Elisha Mercelina and Mamadou Wagué).