Alexandra Waierstall , Seconds in Clouds

Light becomes sculptural material, music the fundamental base, solos condense into pause, duets dissolve into the group: Alexandra Waierstall reacts to our present in Seconds in Clouds, to a present marked by acceleration, division and singular isolation. To do this, she presents her choreography as a social and temporal sculpture – visitors will be invited to engage with a different rhythm of time. A search for a sense of atmospheres, changing relations as well as for the brittle intensities of living together. Full of encounter, an elusive structure made up of presence, awareness and living community emerges – fragile, intense, and in the moment.  

Seconds in Clouds is the new work by Düsseldorf choreographer Alexandra Waierstall. Reflecting on Rita McBride’s sculptural language – especially her work Arena Seating (1999, mahogany on plywood, steel, 216 by 216 by 198 cm) – the piece develops in collaboration with lighting designer Caty Olive, composer and pianist Volker Bertelmann AKA Hauschka as well as with dancers from several generations, morphing into a malleable spatial composition. Minimal and sculptural, atmospherically characterised by a varying permeability and monumentality, carried by a fine concentration, presence and time constantly vibrate here.

Alexandra Waierstall, born in England, grew up on Cyprus, currently living in Düsseldorf, works as a choreographer and artist with strong local roots as well as with international appeal. Her works, marked by concept and physicality, find their expression in choreographies, installations, sounds, text and images and are presented in theatres, galleries, museums and publications as well as in public space. She presented in or at Dia:Beacon in New York, Musée du Louvre, Sadler’s Wells, Dansenshus Oslo, Athens Epidaurus Festival, Mousonturm, Crossing Festival Beijing, Fringe Festival Shanghai, International Festival Seoul, Dansenshus Stockholm, Forum Mundial Sao Paolo, De Pont Museum, Kunsthalle Mannheim and Bauhaus Museum Dessau as well as elsewhere. Additionally, she received invitations to create pieces for the National Dance Company of Wales and tanzmainz, for example. Her work was selected by and received support from networks such as Aerowaves, Modul Dance, IDEE – Initiatives in Dance through European Exchange as well as Chin-A-moves. Since 2007, her work has been created in coproduction with tanzhaus nrw. 2025 saw the publication of her book And here we meet: Choreography at the edge of time at edition Verlag Theater der Zeit, a continuation of her work that opens yet another space: Pages that – despite their two-dimensional nature – resonate, accessing creative space through the reflection of past projects and raising questions for future work.

Duration: 70 mins. + intermission