HELLO TO EMPTINESS
How does a society deal when it experiences that it is fundamentally vulnerable? In what ways has the pandemic shifted our view and our thinking about loss? How have climate change, the extinction of species, and continuous wars shaped our means of grief and sorrow? HELLO TO EMPTINESS encounters these questions as a performative reflection – based on the pre-antiquity Greek “Moiroloi” laments. Director and choreographer Stephanie Thiersch develops a poetic space in which old laments and traditional rituals undergo reinvigoration, being put into new contexts. The exceptional cast, consisting of five musicians and dancers, embarks on a search for a lost knowledge. A “Choir of Elders” supports, comments or twists songs and images, connecting darkness with light and ease with wit. The performance simultaneously probes both for the intimacy and communality of the laments, setting all those present into motion.
It is possible to visit the film installation VOICES OF LAMENTS as a prologue to the performance. It was made within the work context of HELLO TO EMPTINESS and connects its artistic team to local actors and actresses. They pursued different cultural techniques, songs, and rituals from countries such as Greece, Ukraine, Korea, and Kenya as so-called “satellites”, and they also found their way into the performative concept.
Stephanie Thiersch regularly guests at tanzhaus nrw with MOUVOIR. She most recently presented Bilderschlachten/ Bataille d’ Images in 2019. This staging for 55 artists in all went on to become a celebrated international success. As an uncompromising observer, she dissects her environment with MOUVOIR, employing her tools of pop culture, philosophy, visual arts, and music.
Duration: 70 min.
| Fri 29.04. + Sat 30.04. 19:00 & 19:30 | Presentation of the film installation VOICES OF LAMENTS as a prologue. Small stage, limited seating capacity. Duration: approx. 20 min. |
| Sat 30.04. 19:00 | cancelled tactile guided tour |
| Sat 30.04. | cancelled audio description |
Registration for the accompanying program via ticketservice@tanzhaus-nrw.de
By and with: Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola, Julien Ferranti, Manon Parent, Mariana Sadovska, Martha Mavroidi and a „Chor der Älteren“; Associated artists: Gyung Moo Kim, Hyerim Jang, Kepha Oiro, Min Hye-kyung, Ogoya Nengo; Artistic direction, direction, stage, text: Stephanie Thiersch; Musical direction: Martha Mavroidi; Composition: Martha Mavroidi, Mariana Sadovska; Dramaturgy, texts: Stawrula Panagiotaki; Light design, technical direction: Begoña Garcia Navas; Costumes: Lauren Steel; Accompanying expert: Guy Cools; Management: Tanja Baran, Agnes Missel; Production management: Sarah Heinrich; Photo: La French Focale; Drawing: Stephanie Thiersch.
Produced by: MOUVOIR e.V.; In co-production with Greek National Opera Athens (Greece), Théâtre de Nîmes, (France), SIDance – Seoul International Dance Festival (Korea), tanzhaus nrw (Germany), Freihandelszone – Ensemblenetzwerk Köln (Germany). In cooperation with HELLERAU – Europäisches Zentrum der Künste und dem Greek National Opera Chorus. Sponsored by NATIONALE PERFORMANCE NETZ Koproduktionsförderung Tanz, sponsored by Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien, Kunststiftung NRW, Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen and Kulturamt der Stadt Köln. The VOICES OF LAMENTS film installation is supported by das Goethe-Institut Kenia and Goethe-Institut Athen.
