David Pallant

is a freelance dance artist and writer based in Berlin. He studied dance at the Conservatoire de Paris and Central School of Ballet, London, and has a BA in Literature from the Open University. He has performed with companies and artists including National Dance Company Wales, Shangchi Sun, Costa Compagnie and Ursina Tossi among others. David has also written about dance for Aerowaves Springback Magazine, Tanz im August, and has presented his own work at soundance festival berlin.

How Much Can One Body Hold?

26. August 2024, David Pallant

Languages:
DE
and
EN

Fampitaha, fampita, fampitàna, choreographed by Soa Ratsifandrihana, shows diasporic bodies as bearers of the past and protagonists of the present. The work was performed at HAU2 from 16 to 18 August 2024 as part of Tanz im August.

Summer of Discontent

17. June 2024, David Pallant

Languages:
DE
and
EN

HUNDSTAGE by Enad Marouf premiered at Sophiensæle on 13 June, with further performances from 14 to 16 June. It takes inspiration from the ancient Greek and Roman concept of the ‘dog days’, where the extreme heat of summer was believed to provoke a time of misfortune and unrest.

For the Record

15. April 2024, David Pallant

Languages:
DE
and
EN

The Most Beautiful Name of Fear, by Sofia Ó, was performed at Acker Stadt Palast on 12 and 13 April 2024. A gutsy solo, it hinges primarily on the charm of its performer.

Re: Revolution

2. March 2024, David Pallant

Languages:
DE
and
EN

REMACHINE by Jefta van Dinther, showing at HAU Hebbel am Ufer/HAU1 from 29 February to 3 March 2024, fights to stake a claim for the mystical and the poetic within the grindingly mechanical.

A Many-Headed Tale

24. November 2023, David Pallant

Languages:
DE
and
EN

Soldier M.I.A., by Ming Poon, picks apart the classic legend of Hua Mulan, before attempting to reassemble it for (and with) its modern audience. The work had its premiere on 23 November 2023 at the English Theatre Berlin.

Shots Fired

18. November 2022, David Pallant

Languages:
DE
and
EN

Cia Vero Cendoya’s “Bogumer (or Children of Lunacharski)” was shown at HAU1 on 17 November 2022, as part of the NO LIMITS – Disability & Performing Arts Festival Berlin. It asks the question: once the boss has been fired (literally), who is left running the show?

Restive Bodies

7. November 2022, David Pallant

Languages:
DE
and
EN

In Sergiu Matis’ “UNREST”, shown from 02 – 05 November 2022 as part of the FEMINIST FUTURES FESTIVAL from Tanzfabrik Berlin, ancient myths resonate through a cavernous industrial space, and are taken up as a material to question both the nature and the future of humanity.

Herd Behaviour

20. March 2022, David Pallant

Languages:
DE
and
EN

TANZPLATTFORM 2022 >>> “PACK” by Miller / de’Nobili, presented as part of Tanzplattform on 19 March 2022 at HAU2, showcases the virtuosity of its performers, and plays with group dynamics on multiple levels.

Cutting it up on the dance floor

18. March 2022, David Pallant

Languages:
DE
and
EN

TANZPLATTFORM 2022 >>> Having premiered in 2020, “Flush” by Sheena McGrandles was shown as part of Tanzplattform 2022 on 16 and 17 March, and takes video-editing techniques as an inspiration. Movement and speech become material to be cut up, folded, manipulated and stitched back together, to form an absurdist patchwork.

Thoughts on Lockdown No. 2

30. November 2020, David Pallant

Language:
EN

Gob Squad first presented their 12 hour livestream performance “Show Me A Good Time” during the lockdown in June. For the second lockdown, they remade the piece into three parts, and HAU broadcast the first episode on 26 November 2020. I decided to use it as an opportunity to reflect on this latest closure of live performance venues.

Forming Bodies / Embodying Forms

2. November 2020, David Pallant

Languages:
DE
and
EN

TANZPLATTFORM 2022 >>> Julian Weber’s “Allongé”, which premiered on 31 October 2020 as part of Tanzfabrik’s OPEN SPACES festival, takes the sculptural work of Constantin Brâncuși as a jumping off point, and the movement vocabularies of pole dancing and ballet as its material.

Looking Back

18. October 2020, David Pallant

Language:
EN

In “Retrospectrum – 5 solos for 5 decades”, which premiered at DOCK 11 on 15 October, choreographer Tomi Paasonen takes us on a deeply personal journey through his life, and his body of work thus far.

Female Futures

26. September 2020, David Pallant

Language:
EN

Between December 1989 and March 1990, the Central Round Table met in East Berlin to discuss making reforms to the GDR, and to draft a new constitution. As I enter Sophiensæle, I am informed that the year is now 2090 and those visions have been implemented. “POSTOST 2090”, by Rike Flämig, Anna Hentschel and Zwoisy Mears-Clarke, is a celebration of 100 years of the draft constitution, of feminist utopias, and of ‘Ossifuturism’.

Tanz im August Review: Liebestod

28. August 2019, David Pallant

Language:
EN

The tanzschreiber authors Beatrix Joyce and David Pallant analyze the emotional piece “Liebestod” by deufert&plischke in this chat review.

Tanz im August Review: WO CO

26. August 2019, David Pallant

Language:
EN

Alex Hennig and David Pallant talk about the unique relationship to time in Kaori Seki’s piece “WO CO” at HAU2.

Tanz im August Review: White Dog

19. August 2019, David Pallant

Language:
EN

In their newest chat review the tanzschreiber authors write about the symbolic and political aspects in “White Dog” by Latifa Laâbissi.

Tanz im August Interview Series: Nicola Gunn

12. August 2019, David Pallant

Language:
EN

A confrontation with a man cruelly throwing stones at a duck was the catalyst for Nicola Gunn’s solo work “Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster”. That encounter — and the misunderstandings inherent in it — inspired a piece in which communication, and miscommunication, take centre stage.

Tanz im August Interview Series: Nora Chipaumire

29. July 2019, David Pallant

Language:
EN

Nora Chipaumire returns to Tanz im August with her latest work, “#PUNK 100% POP *N!GGA”. Provocative, joyful, and challenging, this three-part live performance album is demanding for performers and audience alike.

The Escape Artists

7. April 2019, David Pallant

Languages:
DE
and
EN

“Tropical Escape” sees Csaba Molnár and Márcio K. Canabarro explore the politics of utopia, and the power of silliness.

Photo/synthesis

4. April 2019, David Pallant

Language:
EN

Zé de Paiva’s “CYCLOPS” casts the camera as the eponymous beast, but is this one-eyed machine a monster or a god?

Body Talk?

30. March 2019, David Pallant

Language:
EN

“HYPERBODIES”, by bücking&kröger, places its focus on movement, with enigmatic results.

Meat Market

21. March 2019, David Pallant

Language:
EN

Alexandra Bachzetsis’s “Escape Act” examines the role the body plays within the artifice of modern day visual media, recreating the most toxic of late-night YouTube binges.

Let’s Make Something Queer

6. March 2019, David Pallant

Language:
EN

Sorour Darabi’s “Savušun” and Teresa Vittucci’s “Hate Me, Tender” form a double bill to open the Queer Darlings festival at Sophiensæle, delivering timely truths laced with offbeat humour.

Encounters at the Intersection

22. January 2019, David Pallant

Language:
EN

Dialogues around race and racism are necessarily fraught with tensions. “Unrestricted Contact” raises many difficult questions, including: ‘How do we escape the white imagination?’ – this work from Grupo Oito and choreographer Ricardo de Paula has some suggestions.

Let’s Get Personal

14. January 2019, David Pallant

Language:
EN

Anjal Chande / The Soham Dance Project present “This is how I feel today”, a Bharatanatyam-rooted work charting the individual experience within its societal context.

Game Theory

9. January 2019, David Pallant

Language:
EN

Opening Tanztage Berlin 2019, Mirjam Gurtner’s “Skinned” places improvisation within a strictly delineated frame to create a contradictory, challenging work which belies any cohesive interpretation. Combining intuition and artifice, “Skinned” sets itself a difficult task, yet a generosity at its core entices us along for the journey.