A collaboration between Mmakgosi Kgabi and Dasniya Baddhanasiri invited by
Tanznacht Berlin 2020.
Sound and vocal composition / performance: Mmakgosi Kgabi
Choreography / set design / dance: Dasniya Baddhanasiri
Thanks to Julian Weber, Jacopo Lanteri, and Tanzfabrik.
Pictures by Dieter Hartwig.
There are currently no shibari group workshops yet, because the Covid situation doen’t feel stable to offer big classes. If you are interested in learning shibari please write to workshops(at)dasniyasommer.de. We’ll keep you posted when open classes start again.
September 13th, 2020
For the closing event of Tanznacht Berlin 2020, two very different female artists have been invited to combine their practices: Mmakgosi Kgabi is a voice-over artist who finds ways of embodying language and speech with her own «(Dance) Encyclopedia of the Mouth». Dasniya Baddhanasiri is a ballet dancer and choreographer who runs a dojo in Wedding in the Japanese art of Tight Bondage.
In «An Unboxing Ballet Beat», Mmakgosi Kgabi and Dasniya Baddhanasiri conduct an open, body-voice dialogue, simultaneously breaking down sentences and ballet vocabulary to create a rough working environment. By their reciprocal approach of bodily listening, they open spaces in which processes of connecting and dividing occur equally, in parallel. The audience is cordially invited to engage with this exchange and to join the artists on their journey through a space-time continuum full of surprises.
Mmakgosi Kgabi is a trained physical theatre and improvisation performer and also a performance facilitator. Her work often interrogates the premise of identity and nationalism, revisiting themes on the Black Female Body Politics and Migration.
The choreographer Dasniya Baddhanasiri researches movement from the perspective of the dancer. Her primary interest is the redefinition of body images, which she seeks within a physical and cultural spectrum ranging from Japanese bondage art to deconstructed ballet practice.
Ticket and more information here
Dear shibari people,
looking much forward to slowly start teaching again mid September. We will have small groups of maximum 4 couples, the dates will be announced at the end of August. Keep roping through the summer. :)
Dear shibari students,
there are also no private tuitions in March and April, until small gatherings are again allowed to take place.
New years vacation, knitting and knotting this and them, developing part of the stage design for ‘The Männy’. On the left suspended a cocoon which gives birth to an adorable rope creature in the piece. The happy side of the cocoon is made of more organic material, flowers, willow cotton, beeswax and compostable left overs. The back is covered in bitumen, an oily and somewhat burned, demolished landscape. ➿
Just finishing an inspiring challenge with Kevin Rittberger, Nora Khuon and Sandra Fink at Schauspiel Hannover. ‘The Männy’, created with texts and themes from Donna Haraway’s work ‘Staying with the Trouble’, amongst others.
It was intense! My brain turning to mash reading and discussing theories and highly sensitive texts with five devoted actors, and a patient team. Everybody was open to the very end. Working so detailed through and inbetween each sentence with Kevin and Nora. And, open to dive with me into the rope world, learning some shibari, and navigating my rope installation through space as if it was another play partner. A sort of rhizom, air roots, or anarchically grown dendrites.
It wasn’t my first stage design with ropes, but the first in close collaboration with the workshop and technical department of the theatre. Using thousands of meters of jute and hemp. Feels.
And also the first time using rope juxtaposed and at the same time closely intertwined with 90 minutes poetic theoretical content, and developing it over the course of the evening.
The actors did a really good job. Telling an utopia involving plantoids. A kind of cyber biological connection between plants, insects and humans. Screaming of the shrinking population to safe our planet from dying (very roughly). Or for example other systems of ‘care’.
I much enjoyed searching for scenes/images, and developing a dance sequence with the actors. Opening up the more bodily dimension to them, and working through pain, muscle memory, nerves and endorphines. And, there was also the level of finding an approach together with Kevin, and get to know his work. Sometimes rough, often new but in the end productive I find. Yea, I’ d like to continue choreographing in this way, crossing over fields!
REGIE Kevin Rittberger BÜHNE Kevin Rittberger, Dasniya Sommer KOSTÜME Sandra Fink CHOREOGRAFIE Dasniya Sommer DRAMATURGIE Nora Khuon
Fabian Felix Dott Tabitha Frehner Anja Herden Torben Kessler Alban Mondschein
Big thanks to Vanessa Scarra and the supportive technical team of Ballhof 2!
Premier: February 21st, 2020
More dates: 3 + 19 + 29 März
Dear shibari friends and newbies,
there are three beginner and intermediate shibari classes in March:
Because of Covid – 19 all upcoming shibari classes from March to August are cancelled!
I hope small gatherings are allowed to takes place soon again.
Tuesday evening classes:
March 10 + 17 + 24
April 7 + 14 +21 +
May
June
July
August
Intermediate level: 6pm – 8.15pm
Beginner level: 8.15pm – 10.15pm
The intermediate class focusses on floor work and introduces half- and/or full-suspension technique. You need to know basic shibari, firm column ties and A suspendable TK (box tie/gote).
We look closely at the tension of harnesses and test if they are suspendable. Lock-off techniques for half-/suspension, up-lines on ring, and in the second step on bamboo.
The material also contains: safety principles like general friction, pain processing strategies for the model, and sculpting the body in the air.
We recommend to attend this class with a partner. If you don’t have a partner, or if you are not sure about the level please contact us.
The beginner course is directed at learning the basics of Shibari/Kinbaku technique. We start systematically with efficient handling of body, rope, and safety principles. The material contains a wide range of harnesses for floor work. Understanding restriction from the models perspective, and the complex skill set of the rigger, to create erotic phantasies or a meditative tie.
– Please bring soft clothes and ropes if you have.
– You don’t need to sign up for all three dates. Its a drop in class.
If possible I suggest regular participation and repitition at the beginning to create a solid technical base.
– You can register alone or with a partner. If you come alone you can pair up with each other, and in case there is an odd number of people we usually make a trio, or I jump in. It always works out. :)
– Costs 20 Euro per person
Register beforehand:
workshops@dasniyasommer.de or DM on FB at haussommer
+49 174 393 70 49
Costs: 20 Euro per person
10 class card 160 €
Uferhallen Kulturwerkstatt – Wedding Uferstrasse 8,13357 Berlin. Entrance B6
Call this number in case the door is locked: +49 174 3937049
Map here
This summer during Norio Sugiura’s workshop in Copenagen, a photographer asked me to tie her. For a long time she had a deep scar in her lower back. And anew she wanted to make friends with it. It was her birthday. We sneaked to the first floor factory hall and had a fun midnight session.
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A careful photo documentation of our show Blume Blume at Eurix XV Berlin here by Michaela Stella.
