A TANZFONDS ERBE Project
ANIMAL FORM/ULA/S Simone Fort – central protagonist of American Postmodern Dance – has offered to Martn Nachbar the re-realization of her choreography Sleep Walkers (aka Zoo Mantras). Drawing on this key work, which will be shown in Germany for the first time nearly 50 years after it was made, Martin Nachbar, together with Forti-expert Claire Filmon, contemporary performers Antonia Baehr, Miriam Jakob, artists’ duo Krõõt Juurak & Alex Bailey and David Weber-Krebs, will research and expand on the work that is currently being conducted on the human-animal-relation in contemporary performance. The aim is not, however, to add new social or philosophical aspects to a recently trending topic. The focus is to lie on animal choreography as such – which is to be methodologically and historically consolidated as well as developed further. In order to intensify the artistic exchange and to render possible a cross-generational public discussion of new perspectives and insights concerning animal choreography, the project will involve various collaborations in addition to the performance programme itself: a cooperation with Gabriele Brandstetter’s seminar Animal Dance conducted at FU Berlin’s Dance and Theatre Studies programme, a series of masterclasses in cooperation with the Inter-University Centre for Dance and Tanzfabrik Berlin, and an artists’ laboratory. The event programme at Sophiensaele Berlin will include Martin Nachbar’s solo performance Animal Dances as well as the first performances in Germany of Simone Forti’s Zoo Mantras (aka Sleep Walkers) and Striding Crawling. An Open Lab will present to audiences direct insight into the participating artists’ research processes. As part of the discourse marathon Animal Talks, the artists involved have chosen one expert each so as to discuss specific questions concerning the artistic engagement with the animal according to an individually chosen format. The events are accompanied by video screenings and discussion rounds. The programme will conclude with an improvisaton by the artists involved and special guests. Artistic Director: Martin Nachbar Dramaturgy: Sigrid Gareis Lab and Discourse: Silke Bake Video Documentation: Andrea Keiz Light and Tech: Emese Csornai, Martin Pilz PR / Production: Susanne Beyer A co-production of Martin Nachbar, FFT Düsseldorf, Sophiensaele Berlin and in cooperation with FU Berlin/Institut für Theaterwissenschaften, Hochschulübergreifende Zentrum Tanz Berlin (HZT) and Tanzfabrik Berlin. With thanks to CND Paris. Animal Form/ula/s is sponsored by TANZFONDS ERBE – an initiative of Kulturstiftung des Bundes. (LOGO) Details concerning the project, programme and process will be made available from early September on this website: www.tierformeln.de
Events Not Open to Audiences
Mo 25. – Sa 30.09., 10am – 12noon, daily MASTERCLASS, Sophiensaele Berlin open for all levels and backgrounds
Registration via Tanzfabrik Berlin, Schulbüro, phone: +49.30.786 58 61, schule@tanzfabrik-berlin.de www.tanzfabrik-berlin.de Dances and choreographies about, as, with and for animals: Animal Dances, in which an animal is ‘seen’ or is addressed, in which animals become performers themselves, in which the relation between humans and animals is focused on, in which we perceive ourselves as animals and animals as partners of human beings: six artists and artist-teams share their working approaches and their current forms of engagement in a series of masterclasses. They provide comprehensive insight into contemporary dance practices as well as thoughts upon the relation between animals and human beings and the role of the human subject in society: through somatic practices and real-timecomposition, working with the imagination, projection and scores, exercises of animal-drag and the examination of a politics of a multiple gaze. Monday, 25.09.: Masterclass with Martn Nachbar: Somamimetcs In somatic practices, the anatomic imagination of the practitioner is used to create new modes of perception and movement in improvisation. In my choreographic work with this method I realized that the anatomic atlas can be replaced by any image system, as long as it is meaningful to the practitioners. In “Animal Dances”, we have studied animal anatomies, sensations and actions, and imagined actually becoming the studied animal, embracing the impossibility of this attempt. In this workshop, I present some of these techniques, inviting the participants to join me in simple imagination and movement exercises. Tuesday, 26.09.: Masterclass with Claire Filmon It’s with Simone Forti that I start to approach movement coming from observing animal movements. In this master-class, I'll share at first some explorations I've discovered with Simone Forti, from walking to crawling. Then from a series of pictures, videos or memories of animal movements that interested us, we will deepen the explorations and finish by short compositions in small groups with these explorations. Wednesday, 27.09.: Masterclass with David Weber-Krebs & Maximilian Haas In this masterclass, we will reflect on the possibilities of conducting artistic research, especially with atypical performers (such as animals). We will retrace some of the main steps of the project “Balthazar” (2011-2015) and ponder upon the practical, conceptual and ethical issues that we have been facing during our extensive work with donkeys. In so doing, we will touch upon broader issues of collective devising processes in performance/dance, collaboration across disciplinary and methodological difference and meeting others in and through work. Thursday, 28.09.: Masterclass with Krõõt Juurak & Alex Bailey: Performing for Pets We will share our interest in the position of pets as cultural producers and consumers, as artists, performers and emerging audiences. Domestic pets read humans mostly through body language. A typical pet spends at least as much time, if not more, looking at humans than looking at members of their own species. In “Performances for Pets” we mimic and reflect the pets’ body language back at them. A reversed version of this situation might be a parrot addressing humans in human language, however removed from its original meaning the gestures become more abstract. In this masterclass we will also introduce our practice of ‘imprinting’ various non-human physical qualities and movements onto our bodies, through which a personal movement language suited for performances for pets can be developed. What are the similarities and differences between human
and non-human audiences, is the performer inherently subordinate, i.e. working ‘for’ the audience, how does the audience gain agency? Friday, 29.09.: Masterclass with Miriam Jakob In the twentieth century, monkeys and apes were seen to inhabit a liminal zone between the “potent, mythical poles” of nature and culture. According to Donna Haraway, they are “almost human”. This “almost” points to an ambivalence which shows monkeys – and apes in particular – as an enigmatic mirror image of human beings and yet as animals, non-human “others”. The workshop will use a pre-produced video projection of gorillas living in the zoo as a catalyst for an experimental choreographic encounter between difference and indistinguishability. The question addressed will be that of the extent to which methods borrowed from film-making can be transferred to the stage. The aesthetic equality the medium of film is capable of producing is to be made available to choreographic practice. In this respect, the mechanical camera gaze and the animal gaze will constitute a starting point for an engagement with Robert Bresson’s methodology that is to form the theoretical focus of the workshop, complementing the practical exercises. Saturday, 30.09.: Masterclass with Antonia Baehr In this masterclass, we will investigate how scores can function as a constitutive factor for kinship relations. We will use scores as tools to explore portraiture and self-portraiture, in relation to temporal and animal drag. This masterclass addresses different models of conceiving and reading scores, directing and of collaboration. It also looks at gender performance as a form of score that encompasses language, gestures, and all kinds of socio-symbolic signs. It examines the boundaries between score/interpretation, rehearsal/performance, director/performer, and audience/presentation. This masterclass’s focus is an investigation through praxis.
Mo 25. – Fr 29.09., 1pm – 6pm, daily LAB, Sophiensaele Berlin For the duration of a week, seven choreographers and performers who have interwoven the topic of animals and a dance/theatre practice will engage with and negotiate their various approaches and questions concerning mimesis, embodiment, encounters with animals as well as animals as metaphor for social togetherness. At the end of this work process, an “Open Lab” open to the public will yield insight into the work process conducted by the participant artists. With: Antonia Baehr, Alex Bailey, Claire Filmon, Miriam Jakob, Krõõt Juurak, Martin Nachbar and David Weber-Krebs
Public Events
Friday, 29. September, 6.30pm / 8.30pm, Sophiensaele Berlin Martn Nachbar: ANIMAL DANCES, 6:30pm Martin Nachbar’s 2013 solo Animal Dances shows the configurations, effects and forces that emerge when a human figure imitates another species. While the result may at times be concrete and true to nature, Martin Nachbar does not refuse the possibilities of a more abstracting “becoming-animal”. Together with musician Boris Hauf and costume designer Marion Montel, Nachbar invents ritualized animal dances situated in the urban park space. Choreography and Dance: Martin Nachbar Music: Boris Hauf Costumes: Marion Montel A production of Up to Nature (brut Wien, In Between Time Bristol, Blackbox Theater Oslo, Anti Festival Kuoppio). With thanks to Dock 11/Eden. Simone Fort: ZOO MANTRAS (AKA SLEEP WALKERS) (First German Performance), 8:30pm Since his studies at the SNDO Amsterdam, Martin Nachbar has regarded Simone Forti as among the most significant protagonists of contemporary dance. Her work Sleep Walkers (aka Zoo Mantras), considered a signature piece of modern animal choreography, constitutes a foundational reference point for his research concerning the human-animal-relation. Due to her esteem of his Animal Dances, Simone Forti has conferred the piece to Nachbar, who has since studied it in intense exchange with Forti herself as well as in collaboration with French dancer Claire Filmon, long-term acquaintance and collaborator of Forti. The work was originally developed in Rome in 1968. Spending significant amounts of time observing animals, Forti selected four species for her choreography: the flamingo, the ice bear, sea algae and water striders. This new version, which Forti now calls Zoo Mantras (aka Sleep Walkers), consists of a sculptural-choreographic positing of the piece in a sequence of two solos and – as a world premiere – as a duet. It will finally be possible for German audiences to see this work, so seminal to dance history. Choreography and Original Performance: Simone Forti Dance: Claire Filmon and Martin Nachbar Light: Emese Csornai After the performances: Film Presentaton on “Sleep Walkers (aka Zoo Mantras)” by Simone Forti and Public Dinner with Claire Filmon, Sigrid Gareis and Martin Nachbar Evening Ticket: 14 € / 9 € 3-Day-Pass: 35 € / 20 €
Saturday, 30. September, 6:30pm / 8:30pm, Sophiensaele Berlin OPEN LAB, 6:30pm (free admission) For the duration of a week, seven choreographers and performers who have interwoven the topic of animals and a dance/theatre practice will engage with and negotiate their various approaches and questions concerning mimesis, embodiment, encounters with animals as well as animals as metaphor for social togetherness. At the end of this work process, an “Open Lab” open to the public will yield insight into the work process conducted by the participant artists. With: Antonia Baehr, Alex Bailey, Claire Filmon, Miriam Jakob, Krôôt Juurak, Martin Nachbar and David Weber-Krebs Simone Fort: STRIDING CRAWLING, 8:30 pm (First German Performance) Simone Forti’s engagement with the animal has been manifold and choreographically multi-layered: while her piece “Sleep Walkers (aka Zoo Mantras)” emphasizes the sculptural quality of the animal-inmotion, her later work “Striding Crawling” is based on improvisation. Having introduced the French dancer Claire Filmon to her approach to improvisation, the two have performed the piece as a duet. Prior to each performance, the dancers prepare through the practice of intense animal observation in the zoo or in nature. Corresponding to the work’s title, a circling striding and crawling will recall the animal movements explored, so that they are placed into continuously newly emerging choreographic combinations. “At first I was just looking at how the different variations of body structure lead to different ways of moving. I gradually became aware that every time, at some point during the day, I would catch sight of an animal doing a dance. . . . And though perhaps it wasn’t dancing as people do it, it shared the same ancient roots." (Simone Forti) Choreography and Original Performance: Simone Forti Dance: Claire Filmon Music: Peter van Riper Light: Emese Csornai Simone Fort: ZOO MANTRAS (AKA SLEEP WALKERS) (First German Peformance) Since his studies at the SNDO Amsterdam, Martin Nachbar has regarded Simone Forti as among the most significant protagonists of contemporary dance. Her work Sleep Walkers (aka Zoo Mantras), considered a signature piece of modern animal choreography, constitutes a foundational reference point for his research concerning the human-animal-relation. Due to her esteem of his Animal Dances, Simone Forti has conferred the piece to Nachbar, who has since studied it in intense exchange with Forti herself as well as in collaboration with French dancer Claire Filmon, long-term acquaintance and collaborator of Forti. The work was originally developed in Rome in 1968. Spending significant amounts of time observing animals, Forti selected four species for her choreography: the flamingo, the ice bear, sea algae and water striders. This new version, which Forti now calls Zoo Mantras (aka Sleep Walkers), consists of a sculptural-choreographic positing of the piece in a sequence of two solos and – as a world premiere – as a duet. It will finally be possible for German audiences to see this work, so seminal to dance history. Choreography and Original Performance: Simone Forti Dance: Claire Filmon and Martin Nachbar Light: Emese Csornai Day Ticket: 14 € / 9 € 3-Day-Pass: 35 € / 20 €
Sunday, 01. October, 11am – 6:30pm / 7:30pm, Sophiensaele Berlin ANIMAL TALKS, 11 am – 6:30 pm 11:00-12:00 David Weber-Krebs & Maximilian Haas: “The Future of Stage Donkeys” 12:00-13:00 Krôôt Juurak & Alex Bailey & Jessica Ullrich: “Art for Animal Audiences” BREAK: 60 min 14:00-15:00 Miriam Jakob & Sulgi Lie: “Animal Mimesis. Animals in the Films of Robert Bresson” 15:00-16:00 Antonia Baehr & NN: “I am I because my little dog knows me.” (quotation from Gertrude Stein as working title) BREAK: 30 min 16:30-17:30 Martin Nachbar & Gabriele Brandstetter: “Animal Dances – Mimesis and Mimicry” 17:30-18:30 Simone Forti: “Full Moves” (a recorded lecture on video) followed by a conversation with Claire Filmon and Sigrid Gareis ANIMAL FORM/ULA/S IMPRO, 7:30 pm Using the score of Simone Forti’s Zoo Mantras (aka Sleep Walkers) as a starting point, the weekend will be completed by an improvisation with the lab participants and special guests from Berlin. Juxtaposition and cooperation through performance/dance will combine into an experimental engagement with animal dances. The improvisation will constitute a playful ending concerning a subject matter that, it is hoped, will remain open for further investigation. With: Alex Bailey, Sunniva Vikør Egenes, Arianne Hoffmann, Miriam Jakob, Hilary Jeffery, Krõõt Juurak, Martin Nachbar, Peter Pleyer, Benjamin Pohlig, Jochen Roller, Maria Scaroni
Day Ticket: 14 € / 9 € (Single Tickets available for the day’s programme or impro, each 7 € / 5 € ) 3-Day-Pass: 35 € / 20 €