The concept of community is completely alien to Pieter T’Jonck. He feels morally, affectively or intellectually connected with certain people but this connection is always a one-to-one relationship and is not linked to any community-feelings whatsoever. He prefers to keep his professional and personal life separated. With his closest friends he does not have a professional connection. Although he does have fairly good acquaintances in the dance field, he would not call them friends. What keeps him in the so-called dance community is talking and writing about dance; what pulls him out is architecture. Because his main occupation is not dance, he is not completely involved in it. As opposed to thirty years ago, the Brussels dance community is now “a crossroad of Europe” where lots of things are happening: lots of performances to see and many discussions going on. The dance field has also become more reflective. Dancers have become more aware of the often very marginal position of contemporary dance and of the fact that dance has little impact on the public space or the imagination of people. By cultivating this position dancers can take a critical attitude towards mainstream culture and it allows them to explore alternative ways to present oneself to others.

About the link between dance and architecture, T’Jonck says that both are in fact ‘utterly unnecessary’ because strictly speaking, we do not need them. We have to ask ourselves why those forms of art still exist, what their importance and relevance is. Another link is that the importance of ‘space’ cannot be underestimated in dance. Choreographers who do not pay attention to that aspect usually make very bad work. The stage carries meaning before the dancers even enter it. By performing an action in a particular space, you create meaning by selecting certain possibilities. A first important question is how and from where the dancers enter the space. Compared to the other possibilities and one’s expectations, this choice creates a specific meaning. Going regularly to performances, T’Jonck has an overview of recurring elements and tendencies in performances and he regularly maps those connections.

complex urban environments – smell of theater – revived – refrain – morally – endorse – alien – thrive on – envy – keen eye – one to one relation – distrust – utterly unnecessary – space – construct ideas – rhetoric device – more reflective – on the fringes – drifting off – unstable business – unpredictable – product of circumstances – word plays – blunt – Lacan – myth – sustain – mental space – urge