Benze C. Werner with Ley Ghafouri and collaborators
In the middle of the dance floor, two panting dogs, strands of drool in the light. LP is a pack experience, a remix of lesbian history, personal desires, and autotune. The starting point is material from the Lesbian Herstory Archives (NYC), love letters, flyers, audio recordings, and essays, with which Benze C. Werner's artistic team enters into dialogue through their own texts, songs, and movement. Personal stories and collective memories merge into a polyphonic collage. Three tongue-like textile installations hang from the ceiling – the central motif of the piece is the mouth. As a gateway to the foreign body, it creates a field of tension
between lust and disgust, desire and revulsion. Here, the boundaries between bodies blur, the spit of others becomes part of me. The ability to have a say, to have a voice, is also linked to the mouth, which speaks, remains silent, or sings. LP transforms discourse into catchy tunes. Song and dance are interwoven to open up different emotional approaches in a movement between history and longing. LP is a performance in which visitors can satisfy their sensory needs. Singing along, laughing, and immersing oneself are explicitly encouraged.
Benze C. Werner is a choreographer and dancer based in Cologne (GER). At the interface of dance, sound and live performance, Benze explores the affective and sensual potential of the interplay between music and movement. Their focus is on creating immersive, physically tangible situations that enable a resonance between audience and performers.
Benzes' artistic practice combines their background in contemporary dance and ballet with queer-feminist and anti-fascist perspectives. Their graduation piece Neon Serenade, created as part of their studies at the CCD in Cologne, marks the beginning of an ongoing artistic research into the aesthetics and politics surrounding line dancing, so-called country culture and the cowboy image. The piece was invited to Now&Next at tanzhaus nrw in 2024. LP, developed with musician and producer Ley Ghafouri, marks their third collaboration and is Benze C. Werner's first coproduction with tanzhaus nrw as a choreographer.
Relaxed Performance. In English.
Duration: approx. 60 mins.
Read more about the performance in this interview with Benze!
| Datum | Rahmenprogramm |
|---|---|
|
Fri 26.09. 18:00 |
|
| Sat 08.11. 19:00 | Physical Introduction with Ada Sternberg |
| Sat 08.11. subsequently | Talk: Panel A moderated discussion with the artists about their work, central themes of the performance and their questions. |
Artistic direction: Benze C. Werner; Concept: Benze C. Werner with Ley Ghafouri; Movement research: Benze C. Werner with Elin Tezel; Performance: Benze C. Werner, Ley Ghafouri, Elin Tezel; Choreography: Benze C. Werner; Music: Ley Ghafouri; Texts: Ley Ghafouri with Benze C. Werner, Elin Tezel, and Mia Hofner; Vocal dramaturgy: Thaddäus Maria Jungmann; Dramaturgy: Mia Hofner; Scenography, costumes: Diane Esnault; Lighting design, technical direction: Nils Ramme; Sound, mixing: Ley Ghafouri with Elyot Trinh; Artistic production, PR: Mona Sachße; Graphic design: Ris Pascoe.
A production by Benze C. Werner in co-production with tanzhaus nrw. Funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Diversity Fund NRW, the NRW State Office for Independent Performing Arts, the Cultural Office of Düsseldorf and the Cultural Office of the City of Cologne. Supported by TANZRESIDENZ 2025 at Quartier am Hafen, Freiraum Düsseldorf and cccc – Kreationszentrum Zeitgenössischer Zirkus. With the kind support of the Goethe-Institut as part of its project funding for research stays abroad. With many thanks to the Lesbian Herstory Archives New York.
