Moving bodies require (open) spaces; they rise up, destroy, and create new things. They are a reflection of today's struggles and demands, but are also evidence of how crisis can lead to new beginnings and creativity.
Opening the festival, Monstres, on ne danse pas pour rien by DeLaVallet Bidiefono will meld everyday experiences in a country ravaged by war and dictatorship with visions for the future. Con Grazia is a performance concert dedicated to the meticulous and noisy destruction of objects. Another alloy of arts with its loud, acoustic response to control and restriction is Fruits of Labor. Manuel Roque's piece creates something new from exhaustion. In Bang Bang he goes beyond peak physical performance, chasing constant repetition without a moment’s peace, and connects all of this to Big Bang theories. Louis Vanhaverbeke's piece on the other hand transforms refuse into something new. In Multiverse he moves between earth and outer space, between male and female, interweaves self-made objects with the art of movement.
The pressures of the working world, the body in sync and in constant repetition are a source of beauty. The juggling piece Humanoptère by Clément Dazin requires efficiency, even if the poetry of gravity seems larger than the pressures for success in society.
Gender and gender roles are also part of the debate about identity, one held on the level of the body. Stereotypes Game by Yasmeen Godder deconstructs gender positions, mixes and questions gender roles through dance. In 1.7, Zsuzsa Rózsavölgyi examines the female body with the aid of different kinds of media, thereby also examining assigned associations and expectations. A very timely topic in light of the current #metoo movement. Isabelle Schad dissects movements into fragments and then reassembles them anew in Solo für Lea. In Bora Kim's A long talk to oneself, a confrontation of the self transforms the female body from a flowing, fragile creature to a stiff kind of puppet.
This year’s festival also features a small retrospective on the work of the French choreographer Martine Pisani, who the fabrik Potsdam considers one of the pioneers of new dance - a dance of accident - of the last 25 years. She was one of the first to discover the beauty of an untrained body and was able to highlight the poetry of the missed step. Martine Pisani returns to fabrik with sans, which premiered in Potsdam in 2000, and UNDATED. UNDATED was inspired by the condensation of water and is an amalgam of her work of the past few years. A piece full of humour and inspiration.
The productions Bang Bang, Voicing Pieces, and Con Grazia are part of the focus on PAS DE DEUX Potsdam/Montréal, emphasizing years of friendship between fabrik Potsdam and Québec. These choreographers have all been part of the residence program Studio Québec, which offers residencies in Potsdam and Montréal.
Preparations for a big celebration of dance as a prologue to the festival are well underway! How willing are we to move our bodies? More than 100 lay dancers from Potsdam have taken the leap and together will present the European premiere of Le Grand Continental by Sylvain Émard at the Lustgarten and in the Schiffbauergasse as an overture to this year's Potsdamer Tanztage. The piece shows the individual as part of a whole, between micro and macro worlds, socially driven and in continuous dialogue with the audience.
In addition to the performance programme, the Potsdamer Tanztage present a wide range of concerts that invite you linger into the night: JazzLab, SCHNELLERTOLLERMEIER, Cats & Breakkies, Khaled Kurbeh & Raman Khalaf are just some of the bands that will liven up the fabrik open-air stage.
Furthermore, the festival invites you to visit any of the 33 workshops for professionals, amateurs, and children, or to deepen your experience in audience discussions.
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THE FESTIVAL IN NUMBERS
Visitors: 7,995
Performances: 28
Concerts and parties: 8
Showings: 6
Talks: 14
Other events: 8
Workshops: 33
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PERFORMANCES
PROLOG: LE GRAND CONTINENTAL® (Deutschlandpremiere) | SYLVAIN ÉMARD DANSE (MONTRÉAL)
MONSTRES, ON NE DANSE PAS POUR RIEN (Deutschlandpremiere) | DELAVALLET BIDIEFONO / COMPAGNIE BANINGA (BRAZZAVILLE/PARIS)
SOLO FÜR LEA | ISABELLE SCHAD (BERLIN)
STEREOTYPES GAME | YASMEEN GODDER (TEL AVIV)
FRUITS OF LABOR | MIET WARLOP (BRÜSSEL/GENT)
MULTIVERSE | LOUIS VANHAVERBEKE (GENT)
SIMPLE ACTION | YASMEEN GODDER (TEL AVIV)
A LONG TALK TO ONESELF + TAIL LANGUAGE (Deutschlandpremiere) | BORA KIM (SEOUL)
BANG BANG | MANUEL ROQUE (MONTRÉAL)
VOICING PIECES | BEGÜM ERCIYAS (BRÜSSEL/BERLIN)
SANS | MARTINE PISANI (PARIS)
UNDATED (Deutschlandpremiere) | MARTINE PISANI (PARIS)
1.7 | ZSUZSA RÓZSAVÖLGYI (BUDAPEST)
CON GRAZIA (Deutschlandpremiere) | MARTIN MESSIER & ANNE THÉRIAULT (MONTRÉAL)
HUMANOPTÈRE (Deutschlandpremiere) | CLÉMENT DAZIN/LA MAIN DE L’HOMME (STRASSBURG)
CONCERTS
MUMUVITCH DISKO ORKESTAR (MANNHEIM)
JAZZLAB – ALMOST FALLING mit MICHAL HIRSCH, TOMER ZIRKILEVICH, SOUMITRA PAUL & NICOLAS SCHULZE
SCHNELLERTOLLERMEIER (LUZERN)
KHALED KURBEH & RAMEN KHALAF ENSEMBLE (SYRIEN/BERLIN)
CATS & BREAKKIES (BERLIN)
DANCE IN PUBLIC SPACES / HZT BERLIN
GEOMETRIE DES LICHTS | NIELS WEIJERS
VIEL:LEICHT KÖRPER | JASMINKA STENZ
UNENDLICH | MARIA RUTANEN
NOTIONS OF PROGRESS 1.2 | KATRINA ELIZABETH BASTIAN
MENSCH | ASHKAN AFSHARIN
TUTORIAL | DINA SENNHAUSER
WORKSHOPS
IMPROVISATION / TIMING | LILY KIARA
COUNTERTECHNIQUE | NINA WOLLNY
DEPTH MOVEMENT | EDIVALDO ERNESTO
PARTNERING SYLLABUS – CONTACT TO FLYING | SCOTT WELLS
WILLIAM FORTSYTHE IMPROVISATION TECHNOLOGIES | GEORG REISCHL
INSPIRE BY FIGHTING MONTEY | NATALIA PIECZURO
TAI-CHI DAO YIN | CHIANG-MEI WANG
FROM GRAHAM INTO FLOATING BODY | CHIANG-MEI WANG
ACTING BODY, DANCING BODY | DOMINIQUE DUSZYNSKI
MOVEABLE CINEMA / DYNAMIC EXPANSION | SHANNON COONEY
AFRO-HAITIANISCHER TANZ | KARINE LABEL
HAITIAN DRUMS | PAULO CEDRAZ
GAGA MORNING / GAGA EVENING | CAROLINE BOUSSARD
VINYASA FLOW YOGA | FIONA EDWARDS
PERFORMATIVE MECHANISMS – IN AND OUT | ARI TEPERBERG
GOLDEN AGE – FINDING YOUR FLOW | FIONA EDWARDS
TANZ UND PARKINSON | CLINT LUTES
ESPRIT YAMAL – L'ART DU DÉPLACEMENT | LAURENT PIEMONTESI / STEVEN KOGLIN
TECHNIQUE GERMAINE ACOGNY | AIDA COLMENERO DIAZ
BOLLYWOOD | NILEEKA BOSE
BHANGRA CARDIO | NIKEELA BOSE
SCHULE IN BEWEGUNG – FORTBILDUNG FÜR LEHRKRÄFTE, ERZIEHENDE UND PÄDAGOGEN*INNEN | NINA IHLENFELD
LET'S DANCE BABY | ODILE SEITZ
AFRO-HAITIANISCHER TANZ (7-12 J.) | KARINE LABEL
VERTIKALTUCH (7-10 J.) | ANNA BUCHENAU
PARKOUR (7-12 J. ) / PARKOUR (12-17 J.) | LUKAS SCHAPP
SAMURAI-SHIATSU (6-10 J.) | FRANZISKA HADELICH & OLIVIA RHEINSCHMITT
TANZAKROBATIK (8-12 J.) | MOUNIR MACK
GROSS UND KLEIN TANZEN MIT ODILE | ODILE SEITZ
GROSS UND KLEIN TANZEN MIT JONATHAN | JONATHAN BOU
