Tanzhaus Basel. After showing the studio version of ‚Autonomous Avatar‘ by Tobias Staab last year, we are soon back with the whole show at. Ramping up for the art week/ Art Basel ^^ to revive our avatars!
June 18 + 19, 2025 at 8pm. Silo 1, Tanzhaus Basel.
Here doing dramaturgy for vAL / Corey Scott-Gilbert‘s new work at Tanztage Berlin 2025/ Sophiensaele. Passionately exploring what a dramatugical approach means from a practical dancers perspective. Thanks for this beautiful collaboration, and the lovely team brought together by Corey.
INTERMISSION
Reality has become so absurd that it’s hard to distinguish fact from fiction and we, simultaneously the viewers and the subjects, are left numb. If our authentic self is being clouded by the ravages of social ills, what do we have that can break through this psychic interference to be shared? The answer could be in our dreams, but what if we are so overwhelmed and oversaturated that we can only stare in a dreamless abyss?
INTERMISSION is a solo work based on a collective archive of dreams, aiming to fill the gaps of a fragmented remembering. By falling through a procession of postures stored in his body’s archive, vAL mines for clarity in a dense fog of disrupted dreams. What memory remains is shared through a stichting of narration, ballad and physical conjurings that start to reimagine what new dreams might sound or look like. The archive is brought to life by his own performative doubt, variability and curated interruption. This relentless pursuit of lost dreams inspires anarchy which ultimately becomes his repair. What may eventually erupt when we sit together in our puzzlement?
Cast and credit:
Performance: Corey Scott-Gilbert | vAL
Choreographic Associate: Ariel Cecelia Freedman
Dramaturgy: Dasniya Sommer
Sound: ILYICH
Light: Gretchen Blegen
Scenographer: Lea Steinhilber
Costume: SADAK
Production: Neda Sanai
Photos: Mayra Wallraff
This performance features hanging textiles made in collaboration with Luis Alberto Rodriguez and SADAK as well as the voices of Charli Reese Kane, Harvest Shira Shiloah, Kayden Tickner, Stelios Tsatsos, Gus Solomons Jr.
A production by vAL. Originally commissioned by Emerging Change Tanzfestival with the support of Flutgraben Performances Residencies and Sophiensæle. The 34th Tanztage Berlin is a production of Sophiensæle. Funded by the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. With the kind support of Tanzfabrik Berlin e.V., Theaterhaus Berlin and Uferstudios GmbH. Media partners: Berlin Art Link, Missy Magazine, Siegessäule, taz.
Dates: Thu + Fri 19. + 20.December 2024. And Sat + Sun 4. + 5. Januar 2025.
German text and tickets here
“Breathe in, breathe out. Find a niche in the brutal world until the storm has passed. Breathe in, breathe out. Dealing with the authorities, healthcare forms. Noise & light are no longer a simple joke, but nasty everyday hurdles. Breathe in, breathe out. What happens when the limits of consideration meet the limits of perception? Breathe in, breathe out.”
“Raven” is a symposium, gathering and performance about peak performance and the question of what happens when nothing else works. The frame of reference is the chronic illness ME/CFS, as a chronicised form of Long Covid. Sick and non-ill artists are involved in the conception and design of the event series with various contributions. The title refers on the one hand to the dance and party culture of the 90s, and on the other to the claustrophobic fantasies of forced standstill as sketched by E.A. Poe in his famous poem of the same name.
Over four days, “Raven” creates space for the art that is created with and despite ME/CFS. ‘Raven’ is explicitly designed for sick people, companions and allies, as a theatre in a reclining position, with quiet spaces and landscapes with reduced stimuli.
Concept, realisation: Showcase Beat Le Mot / Artistic collaboration: Florian Feigl, Christopher-Felix Hahn, Albrecht Kunze / Performance by and with: Philip Albus & Ana Berkenhoff, Catherina Cramer, Katharina Cromme, Gosia Gajdemska, The Millennial Midlife Crisis, Malin Harff, Stephan Hellweg, Clara Heinrich, Anja Ibsch, Sunniva Innstrand, Ania Kolyszko, Josephine Lange, Sophie Lenglachner, Roxane Llanque, Romy Lutze, Sebastian Meissner, Dana Müller, Rebekka Muth, Leonard Nadolny, Carolin Ott, Crash Theater, Johanna Pigors, National Ballet of Kosovo, Julia Sandforth, Louisa Schiedek, Lilia Schliephacke, Showcase Beat Le Mot, Elisabetta Solin, Dasniya Sommer, Birte Viermann, Mirjam Wählen, Sebastian Warne, Lisa Wiedemann, Erik Zürn, 4 Faule Frauen, Dania Alasti, Toni Kritzer, Moritz Andreas Bürge, Amar Halilović, Lukas Kahn Kesler, Black Ferk Studio (Matthias Mollner, Judith Schößbock) /Technical direction: Bart Huybrechts / Production management: Olaf Nachtwey
Photo: Michael Shenbrot.
Production: Showcase Beat Le Mot. Co-production: HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Funded by: Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion, Hauptstadtkulturfonds.
Heraklion
An inspiration journey with Fungi Fung. A while ago Fungi said she is eligible for the BJJ (Brasilien Ju Jitsu) Para World Championship in Crete this year. Do it! I said, but the registration turned out too pricey. Take these dollars from the Tanzpraxis scholarship, we continue our choreographic research SPK (der Sommer-Phuong-Komplex, see below), and you bring gold home! ^^
Happy experiencing a new world of performing sports! An extremely beautiful competition hall with more than fifty nations competing. There were six fighting areas, many female referees and most interesting set up that during fights, coaches are allowed to sit behind a counter feedbacking and screaming advices, as from the outside they often have a better view on how to undo the complex Ju Jitsu drills. If you want, these locks look like a forceful killing embracement.
All para fights took place on the last day. Fungis opponent was a male fighter on the autism spectrum. It was important to know, as the para categories are put together by the official board and coaches, so that restrictions are relatively equal, and both fighters have a realistic chance to win. There was valuable briefing from Yakup Mutlu, a fighter himself, and Fungis dear friend and adviser to prepare her strategy. She hardly warmed up I wondered. It was all about mind setting, and became a beautiful fight. Two rounds. They both were so utterly present, like big cats spiraling. At the start one of the Brasi fans loudly macho laughed, seemingly shouting ‘you get her down in a second’, but Fungi submitted his companion in two rounds of three. The whole Brasilian team, and biggest BJJ para-organizer worldwide, were deeply fascinated by her dance-like style. Later in the day I documented the award ceremony, a.o. the Brasilien First Lady handing over gold medals, and one for Fungi! ^^
All in all I took more than 2000 photos, some videos and soul supported when possible. It definitely was a sweat producing challange, in such a testo-loaded sport event. We both admired the Mongolian and Kasachstan athletes like teenies.
The more I enjoyed running around as accredited photographer, being allowed to the edge of the tatamis, and highly aware of fighters crossing the outlines to quickly jump away.
The camera was my magnifying glas. Observing the rough take downs closely, feeling into, anticipating attacks and dramatic facial expressions after submission. Especially I liked the protocol before and after the fight. Bowing and respectfully shaking hands, that’s what I learned to little in ballet training – the sporty team spirit! One of the club board leaders told me, to shoot the as much as possible emotional snap shots for the German team, they appreciate it a lot.
For the choreographic research I am still pondering how to structurally access this form further. There is a lot of floor work, and so called ‚Duo’s’. Set sequences judged by realistic self-defense elements. One scenario for example was a person in a wheel chair taking down someone standing.
Anyway I am looking forward to take a few classes, and wonder if there is a queer, BiPoc fightclub in Berlin, to hopefully duet further with what Fungi and I started at Ada-Studio this year.
With many thanks to Senatskanzlei für Kultur und Medien Berlin / Tanzpraxis for the support of my choreographing research, and to the DJJB (Deutscher Ji Jutsu Bund).
Joining this fun pilot project last minute: an interactive sound/rope installation at a former deep bunker in Friedrichshain from the 60ies. It was build for 250 people, several small rooms, and is now pretty run down and moist.
Both inspiring and irritating to bondage historical space, and during I was pondering about possible meanings. Is this how bunker architecture should be used, or exactly not?
But we only had two days. About the rope work it was most surprising that Keke and Wick managed to make the organic material sound. Jumping on the web and playing strings with fingers the audience co-created a sonic uncanny vibe. Thanks a lot to Keke (concept/sound) and Wick (cello) for inviting me. It was lovely to meet Taiga, tie with Natasha, and to add to Andy Buru’s ropy space ship.
Premiere
12.5.2023
Nächste Termine:
12.5.2023, 20:00
13.5.2023, 20:00
14.5.2023, 18:00
BALLHAUS OST
Pappel Allee 15
10437 Berlin /Prenzlauerberg
U2 Eberswalderstrasse
Strudel aus Verpackungsmüll zirkulieren im Ozean. Feminine Haie leuchten. Flinke Hände falten Oversize Origami. Seile werden zu Nudeln, zu Gedärmen, zu Geisternetzen. Care-Pas de Deux’ und Slow-food Porn treffen am Wok-Lagerfeuer einer thailändischen Megacity aufeinander. In der Tanzperformance entlädt sich der visuelle Kosmos einer glutamatgeschwängerten Fast Food Welt und aus eurozentristischer Sicht schwer verdauliche Lebensrealitäten führen rituell in absurde Gewässer.
Dasniya Sommer sucht mit Michael Schumacher vom inklusiven Ensemble Meine Damen und Herren, der MMA-Performerin Fungi Fung, der queer-ecologischen Tänzerin Tara Jade Samaya und Yui Kawaguchi Zusammenhänge zwischen Verdauung, Künstlichkeit und Kulturen. Mit Reflexionen über ‘Bodies of Water’ und Hydrofeminismus entsteht eine assoziative Bilderreise für eine kritische Auseinandersetzung mit Antiasiatischem Rassismus (und Exotismus).
Haus Sommer ist das Netzwerk-Label der Tänzerin und Choreographin Dasniya Sommer. In wechselnden Kollaborationen mit anderen Künstler:innen untersucht und erweitert sie die Formensprache klassischen Balletts unter dem Einfluss von Shibari, Body Art und zeitgenössischer Performance Kunst.
Eine Produktion von Haus Sommer in Kooperation mit dem Ballhaus Ost und mit Unterstützung des Meine Damen und Herren Ensembles. Gefördert durch die Prozessförderung des Fonds Darstellende Künste aus Mitteln der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien im Rahmen von NEUSTART KULTUR.
HAUS SOMMER is open at:
How to Stay Tuned – Open Studios
1. Juli 2023, 15 – 21 Uhr
Eine Kooperation des Neuen Berliner Kunstvereins (n.b.k.) mit dem Uferhallen e. V. im
Rahmen des Kultursommerfestivals 2023
Mit / With:
Elena Alonso Fernández, Quirin Bäumler, Atelier Biotti / Ferrero / Grassetti / Prati / Szaflarski, Studio Antje Blumenstein, Peter Böhnisch, Peter Dobroschke, Heiner Franzen, Wolfgang Ganter, Matthias Galvez, Harriet Groß, Asta Gröting, Christian Henkel, kennedy+swan, Rainer Neumeier, Manfred Peckl, Hansjörg Schneider, Bettina Scholz, Atelier Kerim Seiler, HAUS SOMMER / Dasniya Sommer, Studio dB X Weberei (Rasmus Bell, Charlie Casanova, Timur Novikov, Josua Rappl, Caleb Salgado, Noël Saavedra, Johannes Weymann, Sebastian Zimmerhackl), Friedemann von Stockhausen, Daniel M Thurau, Ria Wank, Norbert Witzgall, Susanne Zeile.
Programm:
16:30 Uhr
Führung mit Adrienne Goehler, Kuratorin der Ausstellung “Zur Nachahmung empfohlen!”
(Uferhallen)
18 Uhr
Performance ODC un-ready made #1: shifting and drifting von David Brandstätter mit Michiyasu Furutani, Sofia Casprini, Camille Chapon, Sophie Prins, Nora Varga u.a. (Uferhallen)
Rehearsing our way into the air. With Liz Rosenfeld for the exhibition opening
‘Fossil Experience’ at Großer Wasserspeicher/Pratergallerie.
Very lucky to start working with Michael Schumacher/Meine Damen und Herren Ensemble on Glutamat 2.
It has been a long way to make this collaboration happen. Our research is based on combining Michaels text performance and his auratic presence when he speaks with different movement approaches. We developed a way to dance and rope-tie together, and some dramatic scenes with somewhat absurd poetry. There have been scenic ideas for a Care-Pas de Deux, plenty of sculpturous moments, and a wellness noodle bath.
We continue working on the material all through the year for a show in 2023.
Many thanks to Meine Damen und Herren, especially to Christoph Grothaus and Simone Burkhardt. And to Mark and Sina Schröppel.
Supported by Fleetstreet Theatre Hamburg, the Hamburgische Kulturstiftung, Kulturbehörde Hamburg and the Rudolf Augstein Stiftung .
