Reflections on LEV Matadero Festival, Madrid
Kelvin Kilonzo performing in Last and First Men at LEV Festival Matadero 2026. Photo credit: @estudio_perplejo
Last and First Men first previewed at the Science Museum in London back in 2023 and has been on quite a journey since, touring to Germany, Australia, Belgium, The Netherlands and returning to the UK earlier this year. This month we got to present the work in Spain for the very first time, opening LEV Matadero Festival in Madrid.
LEV has developed into one of Europe's leading festivals exploring the intersection of audiovisual performance, digital art and immersive technology. It has built a reputation for commissioning and presenting ambitious international work that doesn't fit neatly into traditional artistic categories. It’s been thrilling to see Last and First Men finding its natural home in festivals like this, where contemporary dance is part of a wider conversation about how different artforms can come together to create new experiences for audiences.
Matadero Madrid is one of Spain's foremost contemporary arts centres and we had the honour of spending two days in advance of our sold out premiere rehearsing on site. This gave us a great opportunity to soak up the atmosphere and get to know a magical city. The LEV team were so welcoming and it was great to bump into our tour booker Remco Schuurbiers from DISK agency post show!
One thing that made this particular performance one to remember was the fact that dance artist Aoi Nakamura agreed to perform whilst 25 weeks pregnant! We have worked together for over 13 years so it felt very natural to adapt the work and actually consider the fact that there were now 4 performers on stage, not 3! I really enjoyed the process of adapting the choreography and seeing how dramaturgically everything still held together.
In Aoi’s own words…
“It was very special to perform Last and First Men whilst I am pregnant. The supportive team at Neon Dance made the challenge of adapting the movement feel easy and fun. It was also really nice to discover new moments that we otherwise might not have found during this process.
I am glad to hear the positive response from the audience, as I was not sure how it would be received. Personally, the story of the piece feels very connected to my experience, and some of the text is directly related to pregnancy, so it gave me a new layer of meaning in the work.
This will be my last time travelling and performing on stage before the birth, and I feel honoured to have joined this tour.”
