A whale passing by. A talk

In the performance "The man who did not see the whale pass by," Panaibra Gabriel Canda tells the story of a man who did not hear the whale songs by the sea and did not taste the salt of the water, let alone feel the movement of the waves. In an online talk hosted by Olivia Hyunsin Kim, Panaibra Gabriel Canda and Zwoisy Mears-Clarke discuss the identity of this man. The performance addresses the imbalance of a world in which people are born in a place where they have access neither to the resources nor to the knowledge that surrounds them. Based on this, the two choreographers Panaibra Gabriel Canda and Zwoisy Mears-Clark talk about belonging to a place, the sharing of resources, as well as power and manipulation. In doing so, they also investigate how the consequences of unequal distribution of resources are inscribed in the body and senses: What does it do to people when the oil that is extracted at home is transported on ships to supply people on another continent? What knowledge arises when we attempt to describe such situations without words? In order to approach these questions, the two choreographers exchange strategies for translating political issues into physical forms of expression and making the spaces that are filled with these forms welcoming for an audience.

Olivia Hyunsin Kim (올리비아 Hyunsin 金), is a choreographer and curator living in Berlin, Frankfurt am Main and Seoul who deals with exoticism in relation to non-white, ‘other’ bodies and uncanny connections between seemingly unconnected bodies, species, ways of being and realities of life.

Panaibra Gabriel Canda, born in Maputo, Mozambique, is considered one of the most important choreographers of Africa, who reflects the post-colonial upheavals in his country more ambiguously than almost any other. After studying theater, dance and music in Mozambique and Portugal, he has been developing his own artistic work since 1993, with which he tours worldwide and for which he has received numerous awards.

Zwoisy Mears-Clarke is a choreographer of the encounter. Zwoisy uses the expanded potentiality of dance to confront forms of oppression such as neocolonialism, sexism and ableism to open encounters that might otherwise seem unreachable. Zwoisy is currently based in Rösrath, NRW.

Starting Wed 16.12. 17:00

free on tanzhaus nrw-Vimeo
Duration: 50 Min. / in English with German subtitles