SHIP OF FOOLS
“Ship of Fools” is a dance-theater parable critiquing the global rise of authoritarian leaders. The piece examines the human cost of despotism and exalts the values of knowledge, wisdom, and justice.
Ship of Fools is about citizens who pay tribute to a fictional autocrat, a ruler whom they obey despite his grotesque incompetence. The theme of irrationality and ineptitude in leaders, and the human reflex to follow them, feels urgent to us because everywhere today there are nations misguided by extremist faith, unbridled egotism, and dangerous superstition.
With a tip of the hat to the 15th-century satirical poem of the same name by Sebastian Brant, our Ship of Fools gives forceful physical expression to the whole panoply of human foibles, from vanity and cowardice to self-delusion and avarice.
The dance piece will show, through movement and allegory, the desperate suffering and the impulse for instant joy taking place in our modern societies and how we tormented humans are headed for disaster.
We invite our audiences to question those who govern us, to ask themselves if their lives have been improved by their rulers, and to evaluate the criteria on which their judgments are based.
Ship of Fools defends the value of knowledge, wisdom, and justice and condemns the damage inflicted on human beings by authoritarian rulers today.
