Allgemein – tanzschreiber

This too was at Sinai

27. March 2023, Parvathi Ramanathan

Language:
EN

What happens when a monk, a priest and a rabbi walk into a bar? Scratch that…you probably know that one already.

Okay, what happens when a Jewish performer walks up to their grandmother’s cupboard of antiques?

Where do you think this was going? Is there space for this joke in a dance review today? In Germany? And who can make such a joke?

There is, in fact, no joke to make. But I take this chance to tread the nuance that art allows to reclaim what may be said. Performer David Bloom does it too, with “nigunim”. Premiered on 23 March 2023 at Uferstudios, the solo was part of Tanzfabrik’s Narratives and Transgressions curatorial fold.

The Cool, Deep Maths of the Body

17. March 2023, Richard Pettifer

Language:
EN

Questions of time, space, and mathematics dominate in “Deepspace”, a choreography based in scientific collaboration and research from James Batchelor, viewed at Trauma Bar und Kino in Berlin-Moabit on 14 March 2023.

The Music Rushes Through the Struggling Bodies

13. March 2023, Maria Ladopoulos

Languages:
DE
and
EN

The two-part, nearly two-hour evening “Beethoven 7” (Sasha Waltz & Guests) premiered on 11 March 2023 in Radialsystem. Choreographer Sasha Waltz asks questions about freedom and social constraints, set to the music of contemporary composer Diego Noguera and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.

Splitting Roles

11. March 2023, Richard Pettifer

Language:
EN

“Time Out of Joint” is a concept and choreography from Jule Flierl and colleagues, targeting the perception of female* politicians speech. Premiering 8 March 2023, International Women’s Day, at Sophiensæle.

The Colourful World of Lightness

6. March 2023, Inky Lee

Languages:
DE
and
EN

“LUFT” is a dance performance for the audience from age three and up, created in collaboration between Nir de Volff and Theater o.N. It premiered at DOCK 11 on 2 March 2023. The theatre bustles with the energy of excited children on the Sunday afternoon of 5 March, when Inky attends the last show.

The Ghost Has Not Left the Machine

3. March 2023, Cory Tamler

Language:
EN

Philippe Quesne’s “Fantasmagoria”, in its German premiere at HAU2 on 2 and 3 March 2023, looks at new materialism through the theatrical lens of eighteenth-century storytelling and scientific experimentation, searching for a vital spark.

Still Bursts, Frills, and a Mating Call

28. February 2023, Richard Pettifer

Language:
EN

“Oiseau” from Berlin-Paris company La Cage undertakes a detailed movement examination of birds, under the direction of Aliénor Dauchez and viewed at Kultur Büro Elisabeth in Berlin-Mitte on 26 February 2023.

For Small Heroes and Anti-Heroes

24. February 2023, Maria Ladopoulos

Languages:
DE
and
EN

What does it mean to be a hero? With “I NEED A HERO,” Camilla Pölzer presents a journey through the expectations and norms of the character of the superhero. The 50-minute performance for all ages nine and up premiered on 22 February 2023 at TANZKOMPLIZEN in Podewil.

Treading through sticky power dynamics

22. February 2023, Inky Lee

Languages:
DE
and
EN

Two Swedish choreographers of two different generations, Mats Ek (b. 1945) and Alexander Ekman (b. 1984), share a total of six evenings of performances (Three in February and three in March) at Deutsche Oper. “A Sort Of…” by Ek and “Cacti” by Ekman is performed by Staatsballett Berlin and premiered on 16 February 2023.

A Committed Sense of Rhythm

18. February 2023, Richard Pettifer

Language:
EN

“Rhythm Is The Place” certainly has a sense of humour. Developed by clown-cowboy-dancer Juan Domínguez at Radialsystem and viewed on 16 February 2023, the performance has an array of eccentric and esoteric nods and winks – almost as if the performer is undertaking some kind of deadpan dad joke.

Of Romantic Love, Longing for Community, and Other Human Algorithms

10. February 2023, Micha Tsouloukidse

Languages:
DE
and
EN

In “Beyond Love,” the final installment in her trilogy about the economic and technological interpenetration of emotions running from 8 to 11 February 2023 at HAU3, the choreographer Dragana Bulut focuses on hybrid forms of love and desire between humans and machines.

Putting in the Time

8. February 2023, Cory Tamler

Languages:
DE
and
EN

Makisig Akin’s “Asian/LOVE”, premiering at DOCK 11 on 3 and 4 February 2023, is a gift—if one you may have to work for.

Poetry in Passing

4. February 2023, Johanna Withelm

Languages:
DE
and
EN

With “Zur Zartheit von Rissen” (The delicacy of cracks, 3 – 5 February 2023), Lea Martini and Bella Hager present a finely crafted blend of sensory expedition, performance and retreat, and a quiet homage to Uferstudios’ Heizhaus.

fake it till you… …make it, …break it, …break through. Fake it till it breaks you!

23. January 2023, tanzschreiber-Werkstatt Texte in Bewegung

Languages:
DE
and
EN

TANZTAGE BERLIN 2023 >>> Bully Fae Collins’ “Songs of the Dopamine Carousel” and Liina Magneas’ “She’s constructing the exit” present true orgasms and fake excess (and vice versa) at the close of the festival and deal with the performance struggles of our time.

The Solution for (Almost) Everything

23. January 2023, tanzschreiber-Werkstatt Texte in Bewegung

Languages:
DE
and
EN

TANZTAGE BERLIN 2023 >>> On the double bill “Songs of the Dopamine Carousel” by Bully Fae Collins and “She’s Constructing the Exit Signs (Hope & Delusion)” by Liina Magnea at Sophiensaele.

Drama Without Drama

21. January 2023, Richard Pettifer

Languages:
DE
and
EN

Constanza Macras and the team of DorkyPark have created a funny beast in “DRAMA” – a smorgasbord of performance styles within an absurd satire, premiering at Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz on 19 January 2023.

Dance of the Future

20. January 2023, Johanna Withelm

Languages:
DE
and
EN

The 7th edition of PURPLE – International Dance Festival for Young Audiences includes the world premiere of “In Future I am a Comet” by Yotam Peled at Theater Strahl for spectators age 13 and older.

Earth. Water. Fire. Red moon. – “The same way I miss nothing I miss everything.”

17. January 2023, tanzschreiber-Werkstatt Texte in Bewegung

Languages:
DE
and
EN

TANZTAGE BERLIN 2023 >>> Artist Slina da Soledade aka Slim Soledad and her guests premiered their new work on 14 January 2023 at the Sophiensæle.

Two texts by Diana Schümann and Elina Pantsyr

A Sensation of a Truth

16. January 2023, Richard Pettifer

Languages:
DE
and
EN

TANZTAGE BERLIN 2023 >>> Is there no way out in choreographer/performer Kévin Bonono’s “A Sensation of a Truth”, played over 13 and 14 January 2023 at Sophiensæle?

The Matriarchy Has Arrived

14. January 2023, tanzschreiber-Werkstatt Texte in Bewegung

Languages:
DE
and
EN

TANZTAGE BERLIN 2023 >>> In “Matria – Motherland” by Rocío Marano and “To be a fish in a Raki bottle” by Elvan Tekin, two choreographers rotate staunchly around concepts of masculinity, identity, and political engagement.

Text: Anna Chwialkowska

Two Positionings

14. January 2023, tanzschreiber-Werkstatt Texte in Bewegung

Languages:
DE
and
EN

TANZTAGE BERLIN 2023 >>> In “Matria – Motherland” by Rocío Marano and “To be a fish in a Raki bottle” by Elvan Tekin at Sophiensæle, two choreographers negotiated geopolitical references in different ways.

Text: Vera Knolle

The Landscape of Dreams

9. January 2023, Inky Lee

Languages:
DE
and
EN

TANZTAGE BERLIN 2023 >>> “Pariyestan: Tails of Sisters, 青蛇+白蛇: 緣起” by Parisa Madani invites the viewers into the world of dreams and fantasies. This “durational collective dream meditation” took place at Sophiensæle from 10 p.m. on 7 January to around 5 a.m. on 8 January 2023 in the frame of Tanztage Berlin.

“Ahhhhhhhh……..”

8. January 2023, Richard Pettifer

Languages:
DE
and
EN

TANZTAGE BERLIN 2023 >>> Marga Alfeirão and collaborators’ premiere “Lounge”, the second performance on opening night of Tanztage Berlin at Sophiensæle on 5 January 2023, blurs the lines between self and other in an erotic exploration of resting.

Centripetal Performance

6. January 2023, Cory Tamler

Languages:
DE
and
EN

TANZTAGE BERLIN 2023 >>> In Xenia Koghilaki’s “Bang Bang Bodies”, the opening performance (5 & 6 January 2023) of Tanztage Berlin at Sophiensæle, a force builds slowly and insistently, pulling the audience into the performers’ orbit.

tanzschreiber articles about Tanztage Berlin 2023

5. January 2023, TANZTAGE BERLIN 2023

Languages:
DE
and
EN

All reviews can be read here >>> From 5 to 21 January, the 32nd edition of the Tanztage Berlin, organised annually by the Sophiensæle, brings together 10 performances by upcoming Berlin-based artists, accompanied by knowledge-sharing formats. Authors and guest authors from the Tanzbüro Berlin’s online review portal tanzschreiber are reviewing the 10 pieces selected for the Tanztage Berlin 2023 on tanzschreiber.de. Some of the texts are written by the six participants of the tanzschreiber writing workshop “Texte in Bewegung” under the direction of Agnes Kern and Johanna Withelm.

To the Girl on Tram M4

4. January 2023, Parvathi Ramanathan

Languages:
DE
and
EN

Parvathi Ramanathan writes a letter to a girl on the tram after watching “Her Noise” by the Company Christoph Winkler which premiered on 29 December 2022 at Radialsystem.

A Phantasmagoric Gamelan Frenzy

21. December 2022, Richard Pettifer

Language:
EN

In “AWAL / BEGINNING” created by choreographer Ruben Reniers and collaborators at the Rumah Budaya Indonesia Berlin, an explosion of performative pedagogy blends traditional and contemporary choreography in a phantasmagoric performance event taking place over three days from 16 to 18 December 2022.

Strange Mutations

14. December 2022, Micha Tsouloukidse

Languages:
DE
and
EN

TANZTAGE BERLIN 2023 >>> On 10 & 11 December 2022 at Flutgraben, “Bicho Raro”, a video and performance work by dancer and choreographer Danilo Andrés, examined the strange world of bodybuilding. Another version of the piece will be shown under the same title during the Tanztage Berlin festival in January 2023.

Some Uncertainty in the Relationship

11. December 2022, Richard Pettifer

Language:
EN

A certain ‘sliding doors’ approach to interpersonal relationships and the realities they create marks Sita Ostheimer Company’s premiere “The Inevitable and You”, playing at DOCK 11 from 8 to 11 December 2022.

This galaxy that you create yourself

3. December 2022, Micha Tsouloukidse

Languages:
DE
and
EN

Tomi Paasonen’s “Pas de Q”, which takes place from 1-4 December 2022 at Sophiensæle, is a radical performance of community that gives the impression that drag and classical ballet have always been meant for one other.

Die Steuer-Erklärung

28. November 2022, Richard Pettifer

Language:
EN

Actually… what is taxation? “Die Steuer-Erklärung” by hannsjana premiered on 22 November 2022 at Sophiensæle, and took a languid look at the absurdities of the tax system, with curious results.

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?

In the Dark, Dark, Ship

14. November 2022, Richard Pettifer

Language:
EN

What happens when we peer into the violent void? Based on extensive artistic research, Min Yoon‘s “Dancing with Violence” shown at Hošek Contemporary on 12 November 2022 invites us to “evolve the perpetrator and victim archetypes” and glimpse at the atrocities around us.

How about One Last Game?

11. November 2022, Parvathi Ramanathan

Language:
EN

“No Gambling” a performance by Simone Aughterlony and Julia Häusermann, was shown at HAU2 as part of the NO LIMITS – Disability and Performing Arts Festival Berlin (9-19 November 2022). Through an assemblage of moving installations, the performance explores ideas around hope, desire, and addiction.

Restive Bodies

7. November 2022, David Pallant

Language:
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.

Floating Over the Philippines

28. October 2022, Richard Pettifer

Languages:
DE
and
EN

A part of Ballhaus Naunynstraße’s PORTRAIT series, “Pepe Dayaw: a portrait performance”offers the performer’s unique set of skills and performance research as a means to dissect contemporary performative paraphernalia.

Revenge, Rest, Repair

23. October 2022, Inky Lee

Language:
EN

Ligia Lewis poses questions about destructing pre-existing plots and reconstructing new ones in “A Plot / A Scandal”, which premiered on 20 October 2022 at HAU Hebbel am Ufer.

Dance Ritual with Witnesses of Mourning

22. October 2022, Micha Tsouloukidse

Languages:
DE
and
EN

Clébio Oliveira and Zula Lemes’ new solo “DARK RED,” playing 20-23 October 2022 at Acker Stadt Palast, exposes the many emotional shades of the post-pandemic body, shaped by loss.

A Brief Chance for Dwelling

17. October 2022, Richard Pettifer

Language:
EN

Christina Ciupke and Darko Dragičević’s “Take me somewhere nice” offers a deep spatial contemplation of travel – transforming Uferstudio 5 into a dark portal, filled with conceptual water, for the 13 October 2022 premiere as part of Tanzfabrik Berlin’s Fold – New Works.

Pausing for Breath in the Maze

16. October 2022, Maria Ladopoulos

Languages:
DE
and
EN

Looking for ways out of dense and individualized webs of discrimination, the dance performance “Labyrinth” with choreography by Ricardo de Paula and featuring dancers from the Grupo Oito celebrated its premiere at HAU2 on 14 October 2022.

The Murmur of Invisible Hyperpresence

11. October 2022, Micha Tsouloukidse

Languages:
DE
and
EN

Choreographer Johanna Ackva presented the restaging of “CLOUDS ON CLEAR SKY,” the result of an ongoing engagement with death and dying, at the interdisciplinary venue Vierte Welt at Kottbusser Tor from 6 to 9 October 2022. This fourth and final part of the solo series was created in collaboration with dancer Akemi Nagao.

Rearranging Time

8. October 2022, Maria Ladopoulos

Languages:
DE
and
EN

PURPLE DANCE FESTIVAL 14-22 JANUARY 2023 >>> What happens when tomorrow becomes yesterday? In “Über Überüberübermorgen” (About the day after the day after the day after tomorrow), a science fiction journey through time that premiered on 6 October 2022 at FELD Theater für junges Publikum, Cécile Bally and Cathy Walsh investigate the future — with the help of their audience, which welcomes anyone 5 years of age and up.

Longing for Mountains: Interspecies Performance Experiments

28. September 2022, Cory Tamler

Language:
EN

Barbara Berti’s “Zone of Acceptance” premiered at Uferstudios from 25 – 28 August 2022. Dance collective Mapped to the Closest Address first showed “Turn off the house lights” at Cordillera Raum für Körper und Utopien on 4 March and 21 May, and a new version from 18 August – 11 September in Japan as part of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale in conjunction with their installation, “We like to watch clumsy-seeming mountains.” Both projects have evolved, and continue to evolve, out of collaboration and experimentation undertaken by humans with nonhumans: dogs, cats, plants, and landscapes.

Grounding Ballet: In Conversation with Adam Linder

26. September 2022, Liza Weber

Language:
EN

Calling from a cab on the way to the airport, the Los Angles-come-Berlin-based choreographer Adam Linder talks to Liza Weber about his new work “Loyalty” and renovating in the ruins of ballet. Shown at the Tanz Im August festival from the 25 to 26 August 2022, “Loyalty” was performed in three acts just like any ballet but proved, on several counts, unlike any ballet.

The ‘I’ of Cyclops

23. September 2022, Parvathi Ramanathan

Languages:
DE
and
EN

“Cyclops”, conceptualized and directed by Zé de Paiva, shows us incomplete abundant fleeting images through his viewfinder. We see images of ourselves and those of de Paiva and co-performer Nasheeka Nedsreal in their avatars as cyborg-ed Cyclops. Images direct and challenge the narrative in this performance that was shown at Ballhaus Naunynstraße.

Blood, Sweat & Talent

21. September 2022, Liza Weber

Languages:
DE
and
EN

Watching the premiere of Florentina Holzinger’s “Ophelia’s Got Talent”, I was reminded of an essay I once wrote that, using Ophelia in Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ as an example, argued how women were drawn in fainter lines than their male counterparts. Nowhere is this further from the truth than in Holzinger’s show, which takes a fat marker pen to her name and, indeed, the name of every woman that has ever lived in her wake. Premiering on 15 September 2022 at Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, “Ophelia’s Got Talent” opened the season with a celebration of womanhood that shouldn’t be missed.

Caring for the Space

18. September 2022, Cory Tamler

Languages:
DE
and
EN

Anajara Amarante’s “Butching Cowboys” played at Sophiensæle as part of the Queering the Crip, Cripping the Queer Festival from 15 – 17 September 2022. Part of the festival’s larger creation of an intersectional queer-crip space, the performance modeled care for everyone in the room.

Aural Rorschach

16. September 2022, Parvathi Ramanathan

Languages:
DE
and
EN

In “Die Hörposaune”, Werner Hirsch (alias Antonia Baehr) and Jule Flierl drive audiences into a sonic exploration of bodies, objects, and textures. Without saying a single word in a recognisable language, they communicate a scholastic enterprise that is both serious and humorous at the same time. The performance premiered at the 1929-built silent-cinema theatre, Theater im Delphi in Berlin-Weißensee.

Sorry For Your Loss

13. September 2022, Liza Weber

Language:
EN

On the 11 September 2022, two contemporary dancers and a cellist came together in a collaboration called “Consolation”, which was performed at Dock 11 as part of the international festival for contemporary dance and music, soundance berlin 2022.

After “after aftershock shock”

31. August 2022, Liza Weber

Language:
EN

Running from 27 August to 1 September 2022 at Berliner Ringtheater, “after aftershock shock” by Jingyun Li and Saori Hala is a multimedia dance performance that explores what it means to shake, but not necessarily be shaken.

To Dare to Create

22. August 2022, Parvathi Ramanathan

Language:
EN

“No. 60”, choreographed by Pichet Klunchun, sensually and systematically moves the edges of Thai Khon dance. By unpacking the traditional form and tapping into instincts from the head, heart, and gut, it democratises it and sets it free for new creative impulses. The work was shown at HAU2 as part of Tanz Im August 2022.

Singing Soil to the Sky

15. August 2022, Parvathi Ramanathan

Language:
EN

Shown at Tanz Im August 2022, “Vástádus eana – The answer is land” by Elle Sofe Sara powerfully embellishes on the primacy of community and coexistence with nature through the body, voice, and certainly, through a more sustainable way of being.

Don’t Blink

9. August 2022, Cory Tamler

Language:
EN

Marrugeku’s “Jurrungu Ngan-ga / Straight Talk” played at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele from 5 – 7 August 2022 as part of Tanz im August. Choreographed by Dalisa Pigram with direction and dramaturgy by Rachael Swain, it staged a ‘prison of the mind’ that was a call not to pity people suffering far away, but rather to wake up to the deadly incoherencies we live with here and now.

The Art of Staying With the Subtle

4. August 2022, Parvathi Ramanathan

Language:
EN

I sit here with my finger poised on the keyboard, wondering how to begin writing about “H_SPACE_H” by Isabel Lewis and Sissel Tolaas with Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop and Ethan Braun. When words fail to come forth, I bury my face in the denim jeans I had worn the day of this durational performance (30 July 2022) near E-WERK Luckenwalde. An amalgamation of the many smells from the multi-site performative intervention still seem to linger in the fabric. My tongue is tickled by the memory of them, and questions tumble out.

Relativity in the Here (and There) and Now (and Then)

5. July 2022, Cory Tamler

Languages:
DE
and
EN

Susanne Kennedy and Markus Selg’s “Einstein on the Beach” (30 June – 3 July 2022 at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele) reworks the minimalist opera classic for a maximalist era, playing with relativity, simultaneity, and how to feel time differently in an endless present.

A Circle in a Square Place

20. June 2022, Parvathi Ramanathan

Language:
EN

Set up by Galerie Wedding – Raum für Zeitgenössische Kunst, as part of Movement Research ACROSS, the “Flexible Colour Circle”, an inhabitable outdoor stage, offered a space for performances and encounters over two extended weekends in June. “Dabke Community Dancing” by Medhat Aldaabal and Adel Sabawi, presented by Sasha Waltz & Guests and Berlin Mondiale, was part of the curation at this site.

Tell Me Another Story

13. June 2022, Cory Tamler

Language:
EN

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of opening their Kreuzberg studio, laborgras (Renate Graziadei and Arthur Stäldi) showed “Er… Sie… und andere Geschichten” from 2 – 6 June 2022. In conversation, laborgras shared both a deeper insight into this work and a longer view of their decades as a collective.