any body out there?

“Corona? We children weren’t asked!”, says a pupil from Wim Wenders Gymnasium. That is correct! – The world is in lockdown. Many spaces that have been taken for granted have disappeared. Spaces in which we ask ourselves: how are we, really? Spaces in which children and youths had been lent a voice. Spaces that irritate our everyday reasoning. Spaces in which we ponder the future.
The 2021 Take-off Festival makes an attempt at constructing tiny new spaces and to subsequently fill them with loud artistic actions and quiet meditation on the situation of children and youths during this pandemic. It transports art and cultural education in the form of digital workshops and digital performances to selected cooperation schools and the world. In a generation-spanning digital symposium titled “Corona? We children weren’t asked.”, it poses the question where our own leverage for shaping the world lies.
Let us stay connected and let us create spaces in-between!

The festival program takes place digitally. Some of the events are aimed at closed school groups from the Take-off: Junger Tanz Cooperation Network. The publicly accessible events of tanzhaus nrw can be found HERE.

Take-off Festival 2021 is a project of tanzhaus nrw in cooperation with FFT, Junges Schauspiel Düsseldorf and Tonhalle. Cooperating schools are Wim-Wenders-Gymnasium and LVR Gerricus-Schule.

With Dodzi Dougban, imaginary company, performing:group, Josep Caballero & Kamila Kurczewski, Lea Martini, Stefanie Elbers and the Ensemble of Junges Schauspiel as well as kids and teens of the participating projects.

Public events

Radio play „Schulausflug – Eine Hausaufgabe“ & „Zoom-Gespräch für Nachmacher*innen“ (“Field Trip – A Homework Exercise” & “A Zoom chat for imitators”)

imaginary company
Radio play intended for imitation / ages 8 an up
FFT Düsseldorf

It’s field trip day: Put away your exercise books, put on your headphones, and off we go! Theatre collective imaginary company channel their young (and old) audience through as-yet undiscovered worlds of the education system, equipping them with a map and directions in their auditory canals. In the vortex of disciplinary measures and butties, audio walk and radio play twist into an adventurous excursion.

And for all the imitators* who would like to talk about their experiences: imaginary company invites children, youths, school classes, families and everyone interested to take part in the exchange on their experiences, to ask questions and to get to know the artists behind the audio play during the “Zoom call for imitators”.

The radio play is available free of charge from Tue 23.02. 15:00 on the website of FFT Düsseldorf.
Zoom call for imitators: Sun 28.02. 16:00 + Tue 02.03. 10:00
Register here: tickets@fft-duesseldorf.de with the subject line "Gespräch 28.02." or "Gespräch 02.03."

Schulausflug: Schülerinnen mit Kappen und Kopfhörern — Charlotte Bösling

Come together digital „Rausch. Ein Glückstrip“

Gregory Caers and Ensemble
Digitales Offering / ages 14 and up
Junges Schauspiel Düsseldorf

With a keen sense for the absurd and an interest in the surreal, Belgian theatre maker, together with the Junges Schauspiel Düsseldorf Ensemble, devises a world in “Rausch. Ein Glückstrip”, a world that arises when strict rules, discipline and performance pressure permanently dictate our lives. This contrasts with the archaic need of people, both young and old, for a shattering of constraints, for community. At “Come together digital”, the Take-off Festival will present selected scenes, interactive games and exciting talks all around this staging. You are called upon to get engaged in talks and movements with the ensemble members as well as with your peers. You only need to bring a desire for experimentation, for movement, and for exchange.

Tue 23.02. 19:00 + Wed 24.02. 11:00
Via Zoom. Register here: saliha.shagasi@dhaus.de. More info here: Junges Schauspiel Düsseldorf. Event with TGSD (German sign language done by deaf interpreters).

Drei Schauspieler, einer davon auf dem Boden, auf der Bühne — David Baltzer

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Film Premiere „Hey du!“

Josep Caballero Garcia, Kamila Kurczewski and pupils from the Wim-Wenders-Gymnasium
ages 10 and up
tanzhaus nrw

How are you doing in these strange times? How do you remain strong? Have you been thinking about the first thing you want to do when these times are over? The artistic team and children from the Wim- Wenders-Gymnasium tackle the pandemic time. Between movement and language, they create an intimate encounter and make themselves heard. They launch their thoughts onto the digital stage in a video presentation.

Sat 27.02. 19:00
Online Premiere via Vimeo, free entry. Register here: info@tanzhaus-nrw.de. More info HERE. With subtitles, talk with the artists afterwards with TGSD (German sign language done by deaf interpreters).

Eine Tänzerin beugt sich nach hinten und hält sich an einer Tür fest — Kamila Kurczewski

Zoom Performance „glitchy communication“

Stefanie Elbers & Youths
ages 10 and up
tanzhaus nrw

We all use it, constantly and permanently. Video chats have become our new daily routine, and our dialogue partners have been reduced to tiles or dots. The bodies disappear, and people seem to have lost the lower parts of their bodies. And even if we cut each other off before, wholly new phenomena of interruption are happening now: It stutters, things get stuck, it shakes, it repeats. We seek contact by stretching our heads towards the screen yet only gain distance by disclosing our nostrils. “glitchy communication” playfully examines our online video communication during this time while conducting artistic choreographic experiments in it.

Mon 01.03. 15:15
Via Zoom, free entry. Register here: info@tanzhaus-nrw.de. More info HERE. Event with TGSD (German sign language done by deaf interpreters).

Zwei Parkbänke stehen einander gegenüber — Christine Nowak

Digitales Symposium „Corona? Wir Kinder wurden nicht gefragt.” (“Corona? We children weren’t asked.”)

ages 10 and up
tanzhaus nrw

In a digital encounter of children, youths and adults alike, time will be dedicated to reflection on their respective situations within the pandemic and to blow off steam while empowering oneself with the movements and the music of one’s own body. Thoughts will be exchanged in parallel safe spaces for children and adults before they will be brought together in a generation-spanning dialogue. Following this, there will be artistic workshops by Saliha Shagasi, Takao Baba, Sabine Vogel and a number of further hosts.

Mon 01.03. 16:00 - 20:15
Via Zoom, free entry. Register here: info@tanzhaus-nrw. More info HERE. Event with TGSD (German sign language done by deaf interpreters).

Events for cooperating schools

Digital project start school project „feel it!“

Participatory joint dance project by Tonhalle and the LVR-Gerricus-Schule

How do arms and legs react to a double bass vibrato that enters the body through the soles of your feet? How does the stroke of the bow change when interrupted by a spontaneous leap? The Tonhalle Düsseldorf Education Programme will start with participatory dance project “feel it!” on February 24^th. Hearing impaired and deaf sixth and seventh form pupils from the LVR Gerricus School Düsseldorf will encounter musicians* from the freelance music scene. With artistic guidance provided by deaf dancer, choreographer and tanzhaus teacher Dodzi Dougban, the pupils figure out to what extent dance can become a new form of communication for them. This dance project is designed to cover four months, and it will conclude in a public presentation at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf in June 2021.

Tryout digital classroom play „Wir sind die –Ein Trashedy Klassenzimmerstück“

performing:group for the pupils of the Wim-Wenders-Gymnasium

This digital classroom play is based on the production “Trashedy”. The play handles complex problems from the topics of environment and consumption, with simple means and in an entertaining way. In it, unequivocal, sometimes exaggerated scenes alternate with ambiguous body images. Pupils approach the topics in a digital workshop for the Wim-Wenders- School with the help of video chat tool BigBlueButton. The space in front of the screen becomes a moving space for thought in conversations, physical interventions and performative moments.

Thu 25.02., 3 tryouts in the morning
Wim-Wenders-Gymnasium

Zwei Performer ähnlich gekleidet auf der Bühne, einer mit Mikro springt in die Luft — Clemens Nestroy

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Digital Workshop „Wie es wirklich war“ (“What it actually was like”)

Lea Martini, Enis Turan, Johanna Ackva for pupils of the Wim-Wenders-Gymnasium

In this hybrid online format, artists Lea Martini, Enis Turan and Johanna Ackva as well as the workshop participants pursue the question how the world came into being. Assumptions, evidence and proof are realised in bodies and on screens, through talks, in the form of workshops and in instant performances, with the aid of earthly materials.

As in the stage play that precedes this format, “Eine Geschichte der Welt” (“A History Of The World”), a “sensual invitation towards openness, fantasy and thinking for oneself” (Potsdamer Neue Nachrichten) applies.

Mon 01.03. + Tue 02.03.
Wim-Wenders-Gymnasium

Männchen und Ball in Neonfarben auf dunkler Bühne — Élise Scheider

Credits:

„Schulausflug – Eine Hausaufgabe“ From and with: imaginary company (Ossian Hain, Anne Kapsner, Anne Mahlow, Arthur Romanowski, Anja Schneidereit) Coproduction: FFT Düsseldorf.
„Rausch. Ein Glückstrip“ With: Ali Aykar, Felicia Chin-Malenski, Natalie Hanslik, Ron Iyamu, Eduard Lind, Nora Pfahl; Director: Gregory Caers; Stage design, costume design: Martina Lebert; Choreography: Lito Anastasopoulou; Dramaturgy: David Benjamin Brückel; Theatre education: Saliha Shagasi.
„feel it!“ Artistic direction: Dodzi Dougban. In cooperation with with the LVR-Gerricus-Schule Düsseldorf.
„Wir sind die - Ein Trashedy Klassenzimmerstück“ Artistic concept, producers: performing:group.
„Wie es wirklich war“ Storytellers, dinosaur heads, talk, performance: Johanna Ackva, Enis Turan, Lea Martini. Stage design, costume design, props: Filomena Krause; music: Theresa Stroetges.

Project coordination: Ciprian Marinescu
Co-coordination: Lisa Zehetner

Take-off Festival „any body out there?” takes place in the context of von Take-off: Junger Tanz. It is funded by Kulturamt der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf and Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes NRW.