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Three Strong Women is inspired by an ancient Japanese fairy tale and dedicated to Anna Politkovskaya (1958-2006), Razan al-Najjar (1997-2018), Malala Yousafzai (1997).
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Muscle balls and a thick neck are the greatest assets of the famous wrestler Eternal Mountain. When he receives an invitation to take part in a wrestling competition at the king's palace, he is sure he will win. Until he meets Malala, Razanna and old Anna along the way, who, to his great surprise, are much stronger than himself....
More than 40 performances were cancelled during the Corona pandemic. As an alternative, we created the following projects:
Three Strong Women - the audiobook
The dream of Eternal Mountain - a mini animation
As strong as an ant - a colouring book full of thinking and doing fun
Interviews
"With the fairytale opera Three Strong Women, musical theatre WALPURGIS concludes a triptych that goes against the clichéd images with which women are still associated."
Bruzz - Roel Daenen, 6/11/2019
"Judith Vindevogel has pretty much made it her life's work to introduce children to the magic of an authentic music and theatre experience."
The Mint, October 2019
Public comments
"What a formidable performance. Nothing too much, nothing superfluous - so beautiful in simple lines of brush, music and word. Perfect simply. Am very impressed. Brilliantly written together. You guys are fantastic. Bravo. ❤"
Liesbeth Devos, soprano Stokman & Vos
"How much I enjoyed this afternoon! Really great performance, beautiful story and message, cleverly delivered! Lovely!"
Ilse Lacante, Alderman City of Mortsel
"It is often said that you have to constantly stimulate children, but what happens if, in a performance, you also dare to focus on something small, something sober, something intimate? How a child's mouth falls open at something as seemingly simple as someone balancing a bamboo stick on her head? What happens when you learn that strength is more than muscle, but that there is also such a thing as resilience, and that the power of a calm mind and a peaceful soul is at the root of everything? (...) Very much enjoyed it, and the children in the audience noticeably enjoyed it too. They went home singing. One six-year-old even spontaneously started talking about the 'centrifugal force'. It is very clear though that this performance planted seeds."
Astrid Stockman, soprano Stokman & Vos
"Will this also be on Netflix?"
Pupil at Jenaplan school during follow-up interview
"It was really wonderful! Story, music, costumes, scene image... Very beautiful."
Katelijne Morreel, director of audience development Publiq
"Lots of open mouths, who didn't get the chance to babble in between. (...) The performance was very creative and really appealed to the students because different art forms were used."
Leerkracht primary school Manitoba (Bruges)
"It was TOP again!!!"
Linda Lovrovic, coordinator NL family and education projects La Monnaie (Brussels)
"The children enjoyed the experience of being on stage with us," he said.
School Olen
"Beautiful, atmospheric performance for everyone aged 6 and up (...) with many 'layers' for young and older audiences. You can think about it for a long time. The story also has a symbolic meaning for people of today, girls of today, men and women in a world, in which brutal violence, self-centredness, wanting to overwhelm and image are so important. I immediately see a book with CD for me as well."
Sonja De Brouwer, programmer cc Bruges
"A strong performance. Really nice to see a different narrative tradition (the Japanese, Oriental) on stage, with fresh staging."
Tom Schiepers, programmer gc Lint
"The other language sounded very nice. And French was also spoken!"
School Olen
"Our eldest has been watching the whole thing open-mouthed the whole time. The drawings, the story. (...) I myself am always delighted when I can experience acoustic music up close. With the voices, koto and percussion, I came into my own very well!"
Giovanni Van Avermaet
"It was amazing. What energy and creativity! Bravo..."
Rina Vanwouwe
"Very much enjoyed this performance. The story is very nicely developed... The mix with music and the visual make it very varied and engaging."
Bieke Demeester, programmer cc Roeselare
"A delightful performance"
Ann Goossenaerts, programmer cc Sint-Niklaas
"It was great."
Kim Jansen
"Very strong, intriguing, mesmerising performance."
Anke Jochems, actress
"A symbolic, powerful performance! My granddaughter was also impressed by the 'beautiful telling'; she took some successful photos of the props afterwards."
Ingrid Dillen
"(...) The children seem to be well along, every now and then there is time for a moment of laughter and relaxation, so they can concentrate well again afterwards. Also nice that they can take the drawings home afterwards, and that they can ask some questions after the performance."
Leen Haentjens, cc Brasschaat
