With works by Lars Ksienzyk, Lisa Hellmich and Willie Stark
The platform for up-and-coming choreographers regularly shows first works, projects, and works-in-progress by North Rhine-Westphalian artists. Up to three short pieces will be presented during one evening. Afterwards, there will be an exchange with the artists. In the Now & Next October edition, Lisa Hellmich, Lars Ksienzyk, and Willie Stark present their visions of what dance could be in the future.
Duration: 90 min. approx.
| Thu 20.10. afterwards | Talk |
Lars Ksienzyk: Blumen im Osterwind eines Lächelns (AT)
This work tackles the dark sides of our cultural heritage in the form of a fever dream. In the shadow of brittle pathos and on the backdrop of crumbling monuments of proud ideologies, rites, and practices, hurling their effects across the centuries into our present: raw, sketchy, and incomplete.
Lars Ksienzyk finished his studies at the Centre for Contemporary Dance in Cologne, where he lives and works.
Choreography, Performance: Lars Ksienzyk; Dramaturgy, Direction: Gaia Pellegrini; Music, Performance: Ungemach; Costumes: Jens Schabbach; Digital Stage and Animation: Lukas Becker.
Lars Ksienzyk is supported by the program #TakeCareResidenzen of the Bündnis internationaler Produktionshäuser as part of the NEUSTART KULTUR by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media and by the programs #TakeThat of the Fonds Darstellende Künste.
Lisa Hellmich: unapologetic synthetic
In the unapologetic synthetic performance, Lisa Hellmich explores how the self-determined wearing of synthetic hair can be a performative sign for Unapologetic Blackness, and a new definition. Unapologetic Blackness is a concept that encourages Black persons to not apply any energy to the consideration of what white people might think of them. In dialogue with her hairdo, new movement qualities become possible that lead to a confident gesture of empowerment. The synthetic hair, in merging with one’s own, generates a body extension and takes up the space it deserves.
Lisa Hellmich is currently concluding her master studies in dance composition, movement notation / movement analysis at the Folkwang University of the Arts.
Concept, Performance: Lisa Hellmich; Music, Sounddesign: Lukas Tobiassen; Artistic Coaching, Dramaturgy: Robert Schulz; Outside Eye: Akasha Daley; Text-development: Lisa Tracy Michalik; Costume: Karen Afia
Willie Stark: NIREUS
In NIREUS, Willie Stark translates her observations of the Narrow-Banded Blue Swallowtail (a butterfly native to sub-Saharan Africa) into movement and music. The butterfly serves as an example for the transitional geometry of movement into erratic fluttering patterns, which are the central object of the choreography.
The focus of this artistic approach lies on the idea of spatial shaping. With improvisation, choreographic interpretation, music, and sound, Willie Stark examines the coexistence of lines and curves in space.
By researching the butterfly’s rhythmical and coloured batting patterns, the performer creates a harmony between form and space in front of a soundless melody. This produces beautiful pictures, embedded in soundscapes.
Willie Stark is a celebrated performing artist with a work emphasis on contemporary dance techniques, on urban dance as well as on African dances.
As a dancer and choreographer, she has shared her knowledge and artistic practice for House dance and Afrobeats as a tanzhaus nrw teacher since 2014.
Conzept, Performance: Willie Stark; Music: Willie Stark und Christine Mayanja; Kostume: Jotjot Fashion; Outside eye: Dominique Breuer
