Theatre | The 10 Selected Productions
TANZ
Eine sylphidische Träumerei in Stunts
Concept Florentina Holzinger
A production by Florentina Holzinger in co-production with Spirit and Tanzquartier Wien, SPRING Festival (Utrecht), Productiehuis Theater Rotterdam, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (Frankfurt), Arsenic (Lausanne), Münchner Kammerspiele, Take Me Somewhere Festival (Glasgow), Beursschouwburg (Brussels), deSingel (Antwerpen), SOPHIENSÆLE (Berlin), Frascati Producties (Amsterdam), Theater im Pumpenhaus (Münster), asphalt Festival (Dusseldorf)
Premiere 3. October 2019 (Vienna)
TANZ © Eva Würdinger
With stubborn discipline, Florentina Holzinger’s ballet class hurl themselves into spectacular and violent stunts, finding ecstasy in a magical world of nature, horror and nudity.
A vertiginous spectacle about physical disciplining and the cult of beauty in dance-tradition: Through joint rituals, a ballet class directed by Beatrice Cordua learns to govern their bodies and spirits, finally attaining supernatural powers. With devices from the genres of freak show, splatter, acrobatics and horror, Holzinger and her outstanding cast create parodies of sensationalist images which, in their search for perfection, transform the coarse into the sublime.
Statement of the Jury
Florentina Holzinger’s “TANZ” is a response to images and fantasies handed down through the centuries by classical ballet. Among other sources, the dancer, performer and choreographer draws on “La Sylphide” by Filippo Taglioni. In her version, however, the sylphs (spirits of the air) don’t glide over the ground in pointed shoes: They circle the stage on motorbikes stark naked or fly through the air on brooms – and they smoke, too! “TANZ” inserts motifs from romantic ballets like “Swan Lake” or “Giselle” into a plot based on Dario Argento’s “Suspiria”: a ballet class that takes an ominous turn for the worse. Ever since her programmatic work “Kein Applaus für Scheiße” (No Applause for Shit), which she developed with Vincent Riebeek in 2011, Holzinger has been known for a blood-curdling use of bodies. Her performances carry the chutzpah of Viennese Actionism, but even more than that, they celebrate subversive stage formats that see the body as a spectacle and an instrument of power: sideshows, stunts, martial arts.
Cast
Concept, Performance and Choreography Florentina Holzinger
Video Design, Live Camera Josefin Arnell
Sound Design, Live Sound Stefan Schneider
Lighting Design Anne Meeussen
Stage Design Nikola Knezevic
Technology Koen Vanneste
Dramaturgy Renée Copraij, Sara Ostertag
Music Coach Almut Lustig
Theory, Research Anna Leon
Outside Eye Michele Rizzo, Fernando Belfiore
Stunt Support Haeger Stunt & Wireworks
Management Something Great, DANSCO
International Distribution Something Great
With
Josefin Arnell, Renée Copraij, Beatrice Cordua, Evelyn Frantti, Florentina Holzinger, Lucifire, Annina Machaz, Netti Nüganen, Suzn Pasyon, Laura Stokes, Veronica Thompson, Lydia Darling
TANZ
© Eva Würdinger
TANZ
© Nada Žgank
TANZ
© Eva Würdinger
TANZ
© Eva Würdinger
TANZ
© Nada Žgank
Funded by the City of Vienna’s Department of Culture, the Federal Chancellery for Art and Culture, the Performing Arts Fund NL and Norma fonds NL. Supported by O Espaço do Tempo, Fondation LUMA, De Châtel Award and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Art, Culture, Public Service and Sport, Section IV – Art and Culture.