"We are living in times in which we must defend life from the brutality created by the conventions of a society that survives in fear of losing material security, which other societies cannot even dare to think of achieving," says Simone Sandroni of the Czech/Italian contemporary dance company Déjŕ Donné. The group is known for staging penetrating and genuinely funny dance theater that reveals the queasy, clumsy, sordid motives behind ignominious but oh-so-ordinary human behavior.

In its newest work, which premieres at Archa before going on tour to some of the world's most significant contemporary dance stages, the company turns its satirical approach to the subject of blind enslavement to consumerism and waste, and the power play of governments and corporations.

"In this show we reflect on our tiredness of seeing a small number of leaders convincing entire populations that they can create Eden on earth by using any kind of invented theory or promises," says Sandroni. "Once they get elected, the promises disappear and the situation stays the same. Only our ethics and the environment deteriorate."

Director Lenka Flory adds: "All sentiments are expressed through material goods. Our society is living by spending, and the only pleasure or happiness is through buying."

The setting of the show is an exotic wasteland, with the stage and costume designs created entirely from discarded material that the company found in rubbish dumps. Gathering items frequently thrown away, ranging from cars to television sets, the troupe collected, cleaned and rebuilt them. Déjŕ Donné's work often features spectacular and risky stage designs, so it will be interesting to see what the group has done with waste materials, and what that will show us about ourselves.

Ever experimental, the company this time has created a dance theater performance with no professional dancers and broken theatrical conventions. The performers are two actors and a juggler, all in their 30s and 40s. They represent three archetypal characters, described by Flory as "the positive one, the authoritarian and the weak opportunist." Working in real rather than theatrical time, and focusing on human sensations rather than an unfolding theatrical narrative, the piece explores the issues in an immediate way.

"It scares us a lot to become conventional — therefore we take risks," says Flory. "The music is also 'recycled' from already existing material; sometimes we have to be like beggars to get the material we need. We hate conventionality and fussy bourgeois attitudes toward situations that aren't completely the norm. It is our aim in this project to give some dignity to those who live on the edges of society, either voluntarily or involuntarily."

In most of the cities to which the show will travel, the company will give weeklong creative workshops to schoolchildren aged 10 and 11, further addressing the issues. "We'll work on ideas of reusing and recycling, respect and theater," says Flory. "We'll visit a recycling factory of that city and work with rubbish to create theater situations."

With this piece, Déjŕ Donné is aiming not just to make a point that is of real use to society, but to have an effect beyond a few moments of entertainment in the theater. "Children are the innocence, spontaneity and the revolutionary soul of society," says Flory. "Thanks to naiveté, children are not afraid of fighting against a system."