Selection 2020

Beats can be overpowering and dominating, they can give impulses and not just dancers forget time and space when they hear them. Choreographer Stella Caric and her company explored the ways that beats affect individuals and groups. What is their significance and what happens to our body, our mood, if we surrender to them? What exactly is a beat and what kinds of beat shape our everyday lives? How can we communicate with dance to beats? This piece works without language, but it isn’t mime. With and without music, it creates a great variety of atmospheres and the company guides the audience through different spaces and states of mind. “#10BEAT” is physically demanding, fuelled by the energy and passion of the dancers and combines various techniques of urban dance styles, including house and hip hop, with concepts of contemporary dance.

The 12 dancers are between 16 and 21 years of age and developed the piece during an intense 12-week rehearsal period. They are all participants of the ACADEMY Bühnenkunstschule & Produktionshaus, a socio-cultural project of Alte Feuerwache e.V. in Berlin-Kreuzberg.

What am I envious of? For what do others envy me? How does envy feel? What does it look like, how does it operate? Is it loud or quiet, direct or subtle, garish or understated? The quote by Rupi Kaur inspired us to ask these questions and to approach them from a conceptual and physical angle. Two perspectives soon became apparent: An internal side, where envy feels like we are transforming into a werewolf that we often try to repress without much success. And the look outside, were envy often manifests as meanness, but mostly in a socially acceptable way. It does bad things and then tries to cover them up or claims that it “didn’t mean it”. It makes cutting remarks and then tries to hide its ugliness. In “ENVY”, we will show the emotion in all its facets, the way it feels, the way it acts, the ways it looks and sounds.

The youth company Saltazio currently consists of 17 dancers between 15 and 25 years of age, representing a wide range of different ages and dance styles. They see the performing arts as a medium and continue to bring new angles, opinions and plenty of individuality.

The 12 dancers are between 16 and 21 years of age and developed the piece during an intense 12-week rehearsal period. They are all participants of the ACADEMY Bühnenkunstschule & Produktionshaus, a socio-cultural project of Alte Feuerwache e.V. in Berlin-Kreuzberg.

We have created this video project to capture the atmosphere of this very special spring and to encourage others (and ourselves). On the one side, there is the coronavirus pandemic and on the other, there is nature, unimpressed and constant proof of how beautiful the world is. We can depend on spring: It will come and save us from the grey of winter. Everything is in motion and connected with each other. The beautiful and the terrible – the light and the dark – winter and spring. In all its terror – or perhaps precisely because of it – this spring has shown us what is really important. And that there is hope. Elias Langermann and Lenny Sarmiento have never met person to person. Independently of each other, both of them were asked for their interpretation of the spring of 2020 and their two pieces were merged once they were finished. They are both united in a strong desire for freedom and self-determination. They are young artists who express their thoughts and emotions without subjecting themselves to rules, limitations or requirements.

Pushing limits, crossing borders, setting limits. Our own or those of others. Physical or mental. We are confronted with a wide range of limits every day. Especially nowadays, we face a great number of limitations. Our own four walls, no way out. The current situation has inspired me to look at my own limits and my desire to overcome and overstep borders. To see myself as someone who crosses borders. At first, I found myself faced with many questions. Questions that I am now asking of my audience and myself: “Who are the people who cross borders? What makes them what they are? Am I someone who crosses borders? What do I feel when I cross a border? What does crossing borders mean for me and others?”

Perhaps I have found an answer for myself. Perhaps the audience can give me their answers. Freedom, self-determination, everyday rebellion, loss, enrichment, regret, taking it to the limit…Between 2012 and 2019, I was a member of the dance theatre Lysistrate Schwerin. Ensemble work at first in the junior company and later with the older groups gave me plenty of opportunity to contribute autonomously in various projects. To find my own impulses, my own ideas, my own movements. This way of working was an early influence and has been found its place in my own project, too.

“Innerer Konflikt (Internal Conflict)” is an urban-contemporary solo, created, developed and produced over 7 days during the loosened shutdown period of the coronavirus. A dance piece that deals with the topic of human isolation and confinement.

This solo does not depict stasis but rather embodies the inner state and thoughts of people. A human being tries to understand, to comprehend. They are looking for answers to reassure and comfort them. But people aren’t always emotionally stable: An internal dilemma ensues, a conflict.

The dance piece portrays confinement in the space of one’s own thoughts. Choreographer Hannah and dancer Daria met in Saarbrücken’s dance scene. As teenagers, they performed together and took part in several youth projects in their home town.

“nullachtsiebzehn” is about the phase of growing up. The childhood feelings of lightness and emotional security are followed by exhausting and mechanical physical growth. Changes occur, both in our own bodies and in our relationships with others. Our strengths and weaknesses become clearer every day. Pressure and expectations are rising. You go along or you’re left behind. Overload and exhaustion. Identity conflicts. Do I accept the opinions of others or do I form my own? Dealing with self-doubt and insecurity is one of the hardest and most impactful tasks for us – far beyond puberty. And self-doubt and insecurity also influence how we deal with closeness and distance in relationships with other people. The point is to develop the art of finding your own balance within all this chaos.

Tanztheater GRAZIA is a part of Bühne art&shoK e.V. It gives children and young people an opportunity to express themselves in dance and creativity. A company of eight dancers between the ages of 15 and 18 is involved in this project.

Do you know the feeling of making a promise to yourself and then totally screwing up? How much do you think about it? Do you regret what you did and is there such a thing as reasonable punishment?

Based on this and other questions, six young female dancers explore the topic of prison and express their thoughts in movement.

The research for this piece was conducted in the form of workshops in the women’s prisons of Berlin-Pankow and Berlin-Lichtenberg. The exchange between the dancers and the imprisoned women was generated by movement, drawings and texts. Based on this exchange, the dancers set each other tasks and developed movement and scenes with and for each other.

“Through Walls” is the seventh dance production by the junior company of CeWe24 of TanzTangente Berlin. The current company formed in September 2019 as part of the overarching project "Exchange Through Walls”, which is supported by the German Children’s Fund. It consist of seven dancers between 16 and 21 years of age.

The piece “Why Don’t You” has the same name as a song by Cleo Sol. We, Adama and Klara, felt inspired by the patterns of this song and intuitively allowed them to guide our movements. While working on the choreography, we soon realised that our personal dance history is reflected in the music. As a duo, we met through our involvement in contemporary dance and there are elements of this kind of dance in our piece. The dance style of afro and hip hop also created a strong connection in our joint experience of dance. The piece shows our development as dance partners, our similarities and our differences. During the work, we found that we were able to achieve more when we “let go” of our (dance) habits and created a mixture that moves us. “Why don’t you let go” has become a guiding principle for this work. Letting go of expectations, giving yourself room to develop, but also learning from each other without limitations and thinking outside of categories is a motto that we like to follow and pass on.

We are Klaraadama and like our company name suggests, we are two dancers. Klara’s dance origins lie in contemporary dance while Adama comes from the core scenes of hip hop and afro. We are both involved in Berlin’s urban dance scene.