Musician Simon Mayer dives into folk

You can't catch out Austrian dancer, choreographer, and musician Simon Mayer. In the Kaaitheater, he will be presenting a performance based on the traditional dance and singing techniques of his native region.

Mayer first studied in the dance department of the Vienna State Opera, where he later joined the corps de ballet, but he then decided to move to P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels. He was involved in productions by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Wim Vandekeybus, and Zita Swoon. He has since founded his own collective, Kopf Hoch!, and his own music band, Rising Halfmoon. Both as a dancer and as a musician, he recently returned to the traditional dance and singing techniques of his native region. Since that is mountainous terrain, it includes hand clapping and yodelling.

Mayer has used this inspiring heritage before, such as in the solo SunBengSitting, and in Sons of Sissy he continues his search for a new, often very funny interpretation of that Alpine cultural tradition, along with three other dancers and musicians. Sissy perhaps refers to the famous Austrian empress Sissi, but the title may also be related to challenging stereotypes of masculinity

The visually impaired can rely on audio descriptions of this production. And given that it is a matinee performance on Sunday, children under 12 years old can be dropped off at the Matinee Kadee workshop, where they will learn the basics of folk dance as well as traditional children's dances like "Drunken Sailor" and "Seven Jumps".

> Simon Mayer/Kopf Hoch!: Sons of Sissy. 27/11, 15.00, Kaaitheater, Brussels