Andrea Avezuù
Peeping Tom is a Belgian dance theatre company founded in Brussels in 2000 by Gabriela Carrizo and Franck Chartier. Together with Eurudike De Beul, who would become a long-time collaborator, they created their first site-specific project, Caravana (1999), set inside a trailer home. In Peeping Tom’s work, everything begins with a hyperrealist set. The space appears familiar—a garden, a living room, and a basement in their first trilogy (Le Jardin, 2002 ; Le Salon, 2004 ; Le Sous Sol, 2007); two trailer homes in a snowy landscape in 32 rue Vandenbranden (2009); and a retirement home in Vader (2014). From these comfortable settings, the artists shift away from realism, crafting an unstable world that defies time and space. The spectator becomes a witness, or perhaps a voyeur, to intimate dramas usually kept hidden. Domestic spaces and family relationships are a recurring source of inspiration, revealing, through striking imagery, a fascinating struggle between human beings and their environment.
The company has toured worldwide and received numerous awards, including the Olivier Award in London for 32 rue Vandenbranden and the Patrons Circle Award at the Melbourne International Arts Festival.
JURY NOTES
Unanimously, the jury awards the Grand Prix de la danse de Montréal 2025 to Peeping Tom, a company whose singular artistic language has transformed the landscape of contemporary dance theatre. Renowned in Belgium, throughout Europe, and internationally, Peeping Tom has created a world entirely its own, where dance, theatre, acrobatics, and raw emotion merge into a genre that defies categorization. This world is both surreal and deeply human, inviting spectators to explore familiar settings—a living room, a seniors’ residence, a trailer home—only to surprise and move them by dreamlike, unsettling imagery.
Each new creation deepens the company’s vision while remaining true to its core DNA: a subtle balance between the absurd, the intimate, and the universal. Peeping Tom helped shape a new aesthetic that has inspired countless artists around the world. For the jury, Peeping Tom embodies living dance history—a beacon and a benchmark for artistic innovation.
With Triptych, a breathtaking fusion of movement, light, set design, and sound, it has once more demonstrated the depth, coherence, and humanity that define its work. Through its unique visual poetry, Peeping Tom continues to explore the dark, tender, mysterious aspects of human existence, leaving an indelible mark on contemporary creation.
Virginia Rota
