with Dodzi Dougban & Thomas Kunfira, TachoTinta and Wilhelmina “Willie“ Stark among others

Non-verbal communication is at the centre of “(K)eine Kommunikation – (No) Silence!“ (“(No) Communication – (No) Silence!”), conceived by deaf dancer Dodzi Dougban and artist Thomas Kunfira. Together, they probe for the misunderstandings and opinions on sign language as well as hearing-impaired communication. In this, they provide insight into the history of sign language, make choreographies grow from hand signs, showing the speaking capacities of facial expression and gesture, clearly demonstrating: The individual personalities are at the forefront of this conversation. 

Artists’ collective TacoTinta dub their work “Ms. Mon” and describe the phenomenon surrounding a dancing woman. A pipe dream, a legendary creature, an idea, composed of many images. Choreographers and dancers Sooyeon Kim, Mirjam Schirk and Silvia Ehnis exhaust their own physicality in order to share their own and personal “Ms. Mon” with the audience. They search for the moment that occurs when the audience stops regarding them as dancers and recognises their other side, the side signifying their own dreams.

With the solo Wilhelmina “Willie” Stark developed in the course of the “Sprungbrett” junior support programme at tanz nrw 2017, she, for the first time, pours her virtuosic abilities applied to House Dance, with which she won numerous battles and which made her a valuable teacher at tanzhaus nrw, into a stage play. She produces an exact gaze on bodies and the way they encounter the audience with her performance “Melanin”. Therefore, she attends to questions of “race” and “gender” that are central to her work as dancer, teacher and judge.

Duration: 90 min.