Darko Radosavljev

For dancer and choreographer Darko Radosavljev, growing up in a family of Yugoslav migrants in Germany was punctuated by stories of situations and personalities impossible to reach physically. Although the stories and mythology of his family were ever present, he himself could neither become part of these stories nor have his own physical experiences with them. In his work Salaš – a working tale, he dedicates himself to intense artistic research into the myths of work and physicality with which he grew up, choreographically developing them into this solo performance. “Salaš”, in Serbian, denotes a field hut in which agricultural labourers dwell. Radosavljev's paternal family inhabited one of these huts before they accumulated the material security to move to the nearest village. Salaš therefore denotes, on one hand, a specific place in his family’s story. On the other hand, never having lived there himself, Salaš also symbolises a projection and a space of desire. This solo performance invites its audience to explore ideas of physical work and family community, and to re-imagine their way into these spaces again and again. Beyond this, Radosavljev also creates specific and queer perspectives on physical work and family participation. Between performer and spectator, this imagined and imaginary Salaš becomes the scene of a shared opportunity to rethink narratives and actions and to (re)write family history.

Born in Serbia, Darko Radosavljev lives and works as a choreographer and dancer in Essen and Berlin. He studied dance and choreography at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen and at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels, as well as art and politics at Goldsmiths, University of London and the London School of Economics. Between 2010-15, he was the first-ever dance stipendiary of the German National Academic Scholarship Foundation, and in 2018, he received entry-level funding from the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe for his solo work Seascape. His creations have been shown at the Liverpool Biennial, Performing Arts Festival Berlin, Act! Bilbao, Tanzfabrik Berlin, Uferstudios Berlin, PACT Zollverein, and tanzhaus nrw. Radosavljev was a company dancer of the Folkwang Tanzstudio from 2017-2023 and has collaborated with Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Boris Charmatz, Reinhild Hoffmann, Xavier Le Roy, Nevin Aladağ, Michiel Vandevelde, and others.

Duration: ca. 60 min.

In German, English and Serbian with German and English surtitles. The play is understandable without knowledge of the language.