Human Sheep (Corpus Les moutons), a baroness on a giant snail (Super Bammer’s Boris and the Baroness), critical voices on women in hip-hop (Cie. MehDia MériDio). All on display during at.tension from September 5 to 8.
I am flooded with a deluge of impressions. Dancers in colorful outfits encouraging the crowd to dance: “We are at the gym, but we are also sensual creatures!“ (Niv Sheinfeld & Oren Laor Disco, Baby!). Promotional magazines tossed in high arcs into the crowd (Peter Trabner Da Leben des Diogenes (The Life of Diogenes)). Anger and resistance (Just Us Dance Theatre Born to Exist: The Women I Know…). Queerness and the Space Race (Laura Murphy A Spectacle Of Herself).
Of the dance performances, I was particularly moved by Cie. Dyptik’s Mirage (un jour de fête), which combines traditional dances like dabke with breakdance and contemporary dance elements. Climbing, hanging, dancing on scaffolds, eight dancers move symbolically as if on the roofs, narrow streets, and squares of Camp Balata in the West Bank. Quick turns, delicate, long arms, lifts, staccato movements. Until they all fall simultaneously to the floor “it doesn’t hurt”. The piece blends joy, sadness, disappointment over the lack of attention. Being alone and being left alone. Lightheartedness as it crumbles and ultimately breaks. Keep going. Perform. Be happy. Even in inopportune circumstances. At the end, a party on the rooftops and we are all asked to join in.
It’s not just big-name French companies at at.tension. A few local artists also present their work. For example, Darragh McLoughlin with Stickman, a contemporary circus piece about a stickman, man/stick, man walking stick. McLoughlin plays with different images, balancing the stick on different body parts. Humorous and clever scenes arise, accompanied by a screen that appears to dictate what we see. Small changes generate new images, Stickman plays with our sense of perception. Who is dictating what to do or what to see to whom becomes less and less clear. In the end, we find out that someone else entirely holds the reins. The relationship between object, technology, maybe AI and human is thrown into question as well as our motivation to act.
Initiative Feministischer Circus is also there. In a double bill, betweenness and Seide&Stahl (Silk&Steel), the two Berlin artists, Zinnia Nomura und Jarmila Lee-Lou Kuznik, grapple with gendered role models and body norms. Pressure to perform, being different, and fitting in merge into an expressive image through acrobatics and dance. Everyday images that we encounter on social media are exaggeratedly called into question. Kuznik combines weight training with aerial arts to create stronger female images instead of delicate lightness. Self-exploitation and exploitation by others is questioned as well as what we value in society. Ultimately, we have perhaps discovered the feminine and strong before it all becomes irrelevant and role models are called into question in their entirety. Backstage the discussion revolves around self-exploitation and exploitation by others, around representation, precarious circumstances, and bad pay – also at the festival itself. Tired from the blaring sun, where I only sat and did not have to perform, I empathize with the artists who managed to be a part of this festival through extensive applications or good connections and do their best under less than ideal circumstances.
English translation by Melissa Maldonado
The festival at.tension #10 took place in Lärz from September 5 -8, 2024.
