with works by Yana Novotorova, Philine Herrlein, Diana Treder & Axel Pulgar; Paula Pau & Igor Meneses as well as by Katharina Rerich

The platform for up-and-coming artists from North Rhine-Westphalia regularly presents the works of young regional dance creators producing under their own names for the first time.

Yana Novotorova, Philine Herrlein, Diana Treder and Axel Pulgar present an excerpt from their performative research project “Recircling”. On the backdrop of the global depletion of energy resources, they examine the concept of “energy” from varying angles, all the while concentrating on dance and choreography-based debate utilising the principles of self-replenishing, renewable energies. The simplest motion principle, the one that lies at the core of wind energy and hydrodynamic power, is a circling. With the motif of the circle in repeat, a re-circling, dancer and choreographer Yana Novotorova and musician Axel Pulgar collaborate in an on-stage research for ways to find this principle in the human body and in choreographic structure, or to transfer it to them.

Dancers Paula Pau and Igor Meneses, originally from Malaysia and Brazil, come together in their first joint effort, “Imminent Arrival”, to conduct research on the performative aspects of the relation between their families’ spirituality and their own queer identities. In this, they negotiate how marginalised bodies behave towards a concept of faith. Both dancers* enter into a personal and dance-based examination of the intersections of religious practice, lacking privilege, and queer identity.

Paula Pau and Igor Meneses are both currently completing their dance studies at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. They will show the intermediate result of their work which is due for further development into a full-blown piece in which the complex references of Malayan-Chinese Taoism, Brazilian evangelical church ceremony, queer femininity and electronic music collide.

Katharina Rerich is a Visual Vernacular artist and sign language interpreter. She regularly interprets performances at tanzhaus nrw and made stage productions by Céline Bellut, Reut Shemesh and Kollektiv Zoo and a number of others accessible for hearing-impaired visitors*. Visual Vernacular as an art form originated in the hearing-impaired community and represents a means of visual storytelling without resorting to sign language, but instead featuring a unique employment of body and movement. Visual Vernacular utilises facial expressions and gesture in a multifaceted manner, thereby generating more and more interest also among the hearing. In this edition of Now & Next, Katharina Rerich will show one of her Visual Vernacular video works.

Duration: 90 min. 

New: With the purchase of a solidarity ticket (I for 10 € or II for 17 €) you can now visit tanzhaus nrw. Of course, you can also book a ticket at the normal price (€ 3). Please note: After booking you’ll receive the link to the event shortly before the performance starts.