Umzug in eine vergleichbare Lage

What does it mean to be a contemporary*? What are the specific means that dancers* can employ to witness and document contemporary events? And how does this documentation turn into political action? Following “New Animations” by US-American dancer and choreographer Simone Forti, Artmann&Duvoisin listen to and process radio news. They explore the route from the word, passing language, to the gesture that takes over the body, imparting physical reality to the words.

While coronavirus spread throughout the EU countries in the spring of 2020, thousands of people seeking refuge sat at the European borders, enduring catastrophic conditions, and their situation remains as yet insufficiently covered. Artmann&Duvoisin seek out the potential of a dance about the news, to make forms of dehumanisation palpable on the one hand, while at the same time challenging them through danced actions and the performers’* presence on stage. The performers act as both the archive of events as well as of the specific situation from which one experiences the events, or from which one can attest to these events from afar. Can a physical approach to media-related contemporary events yield action beyond futile attempts of empathy or immersive voyeurism?

“Umzug in eine vergleichbare Lage” superimposes a live spoken-word text montage, acoustically amplified and distorted, onto dance actions. From this, a shift, almost imperceptibly, between solicitousness and cruelty, between solidarity and ostracism, emerges, confronting the audience with the atmospheres and cracks of the past spring.
Elsa Artmann and Samuel are Artmann&Duvoisin have most recently guested at tanzhaus nrw with “Hätten Sie von sich aus die Familie erfunden” (“Would you have invented family by you own free will?”) in 2018. They explore forms of collective composition in their works. With their approach, utilising our contact with each other as a central compositional impulse, they gaze at concepts of community that influence our political climate. They were educated at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig/ Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig and at the Centre for Contemporary Dance Cologne.

Duration: 70 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.