Performance Session #TakeHeart

In their dance practice, Lizzie and Simeon's goal of creating a framework in which they feel comfortable on stage and highlighting their strengths repeatedly leads them to the tension between choreography and improvisation. Inspired by "everyday choreographies" as we experience them at the train station or on crowded trains, Simeon and Lizzie, together with the collective they co-founded [CHAOS] CULTURE CLUB, test and expand methods that take them one step further on the path to unlocking the theatre stage.

Artists who have accompanied and inspired their journey: nutrospektif, Victor Quijada, Saïdo Lelouh

Concept, performance: Lizzie & Simeon; Dance: Agnes Probst, Gioia Luna Stolleier, Lisa Lamprecht, Ludmilla Schemak, Mika Albrink, Simeon Pohl

Dis-Connect is based on a #TakeHeart residency in which Joya and Moona explored the connection between yoga and urban dance styles. On stage, movement concepts of dance styles such as waacking and waving are explored more deeply and fused with yoga. The aim of the research was to explore yoga practices, to put them into a performative context and to engage with ubiquitous topics such as isolation, disbalance and distance.

Concept: Joya; Choreography, performance: Joya & Moona

Takao Baba and Bounracksa Phomkhoumphon bring together elements from martial arts and urban dance styles. In search for connections between these different movement practices, the interplay between fight and dance is presented. How can form be given to these art practices and how can they be and staged? What are the parallels, differences and boundaries does one encounter in the process?

Concept and performance: Takao Baba, Bounracksa Phomkhoumphon

Willie Stark presents an extract of a piece called Le Bal des Masques. The piece deals with multiple injustices and systemic violence in women’s lives and how wearing a mask, metaphorically, is sometimes important to survive the complexities of power dynamics in contemporary societies.

Concept and performance: Willie Stark

Taking the place you've always had. Building a bridge between us. Not having to belong to one or the other. The presentation shows a small collage of pieces created from the feeling and thought of finding a home, exactly where you are, just as you are, and the process to get there.

Concept and Performance: Tamara Rahil; Performance: Jill-Marie Hackländer, Ramona Buschhaus, Sarah Katharina Becher, Tara Winterhalter, Valerio Vasile

letter to myself shows the complexity of putting pressure on oneself and the impact that pressure can have on creative processes. In the context of social networks, the uniqueness of one's own artistic work sometimes seems to fade. Pressure and self-doubt arise. It's like not being able to keep up in a race for constant change and self-optimisation. In the midst of this flood of information and images, the protagonist is confronted with a sense of frustration and a loss of creative passion, leading her to question her intention: What happened to the fun, the passion and the love? In a combination of poetry and dance, letter to myself is a process of rediscovering and rediscovering one's own creativity and self-confidence.

Concept, performance: Ruby

In his explosive, energetic and dynamic style, Paul Davis Newgate gives insight into a work in progress and looks back at previous performances. The showing is a small retrospective of his research Who's Who, in which he explored his own and others' expectations of art, his dance practice and training.

Concept and performance: Paul Davis Newgate

As part of their #TakeHeart residency, HoS (Hood of Sisters) experimented with content and forms of exchange within the Cypher – a basic structure of learning within hip hop culture. The focus was on different codes and dynamics. In The Cypher Experiment, an open performative space is created in which questions are passed on to the audience and three different dynamics are integrated into a cypher:

1. silence: there is no verbal or physical communication. The circle remains without spoken language.
2. support: movements which stand out positively are commented on and receive support. Feedback can be used to create positive reinforcement of movements and expressions.
3. hype: dancers are motivated and hyped through movement and voice. The level of expression is not important.

The artists react to impulses from inside and outside and release transformative energies to break through artistic blockades.

Concept, performance: Luisa Möller, Daria Nazarenko, Nasrin Torabi, Lisa Jones