With works by Solomon Quaynoo and Nora & Davis
The Urban Double Bill presents two positions from the urban dance scene over one evening. The format offers artists an opportunity to further develop their own choreographic practice and to present new works before an audience. It aims to give visibility to urban dance cultures, to foster exchange and to provide up-and-coming artists with space for their artistic development. Selected artists will be invited via an open call and accompanied by experienced mentors throughout the development process: Yeliz Pazar and Takao Baba will be at their side with their expertise from urban dance practice, stage work, and community building. In previous editions, Nasrin Torabi and Diana Schöne aka Ruby, among others, presented their work as part of the Hood of Sisters (HoS) collective. The Düsseldorf dancer and choreographer Rymon Zacharei aka Rayboom also showed his work as part of the Urban Double Bill.
This edition features works by Solomon Quaynoo and Nora & Davis.
Nora & Davis – WhaleSpit
WhaleSpit is a dance piece about pollution in the world and within oneself. Based on the dance technique of waving, opposites collide: inside and outside, loud and quiet, nature and consumption. Movements flow like waves, returning and colliding. Soundscapes and minimalist stage design create images of a balance that can quickly tip between growth and destruction, calm and storm.
Nora Hertwig is a dancer, performer and somatic therapist. Her training in Berlin and at the Flow Dance Academy in Paris laid the foundation for her urban dance style. She has been part of international projects in Cape Town, Paris and Luxembourg, among others. In addition to the stage, she is involved in bodywork as a tool for self-empowerment – especially for women*. In 2023, she completed her training in somatic therapy.
Paul Davis Newgate is a German-Nigerian dancer and performer from Düsseldorf. His artistic focus is on breaking, expanded by influences from acrobatics, dance theatre and various other movement cultures. He has been working as a freelance artist since 2016, including at Urbanatix, Theater Marabu and Theater Kohlenpott. He combines urban physicality with narrative elements. In 2024, he was part of the selection jury for Westwind.
WhaleSpit is a dance piece about pollution in the world and within oneself. Based on the dance technique Waving
Davis and Nora worked together for the first time in Luxembourg in 2023. Their artistic connection deepened during ‘Wave to the Stage’ – a piece developed with the Tidetogether Collective and PEZ Rocio in Berlin, in which Waving was explored and further developed as a choreographic vocabulary.
Duration: 20-30 mins.
Solomon Quayno – Black Style – Fäden der Erinnerung: Getanzte Identität
After its first encounter with the audience, Black Style continues its journey – a piece that doesn’t recount memories but lets them breathe through the body.
At its centre stands Solomon Quaynoo, whose krumping emerges like a pulse from inner landscapes: powerful, vulnerable, defiant. The costumes by Brooklyn Odunsi Ifeacho are more than garments – they carry traces, stories, answers, and open questions. Within the sonic spaces created by DJ Spoonmann, an atmosphere unfolds that doesn’t explain itself but carries, pulls, and sinks beneath the skin.
Black Style weaves textile past and lived present into a delicate mesh of identity and transformation. With no stage set, only the body remains – raw, real, unprotected – and it is precisely there that its strength lies. Every movement a thread. Every gesture an echo.
Dance / Concept / Dramaturgy: Solomon Quaynoo; Sound Design: Claas Sandbothe; Costumes: Brooklyn Odunsi Ifeacho; Lighting Design / Technical Direction: Martin Wiegner; Dramaturgy / Concept: Joachim Goldschmidt; Social Media: Bettina Henningsen.
Black Style is funded by the Regional Cultural Programme NRW (RKP) – Kulturregion Münsterland, in co-production with tanzhaus nrw, the LWL-Museum TextilWerk Bocholt, and ProArtiSt urban production.
