s

Collaborations

Research

Developing a visual sketch and new collaborations in the frame work of the Tanzpraxis stipend: with Naniek K. (81), Laurie Young (52), Dasniya Sommer (45) and Fungi Fung (32).
‘There is a big lack of spending time with older women.. ,’ Laurie said after these try outs, and I so agree. Most of my life I haven’t spent enough time with elderly people due to family constellations, project directions and seemingly insurmountable cultural gaps. Both our Asian parents are/were not living in Europe, and during our dance try outs Naniek K. filled the room with a familiar vibe only elder Asian people do, which strongly reminded us to them. It’s a certain perspective and wiseness they own. Keeping spirit and humour high, while their often non-linear live experience of living outside their culture for a long time, in western societies, resonates along. Naniek K. made us laugh pointing to the absurdest observations in human behaviour, always maintaining her politeness, dignity and a sense of humbleness. And keeping hand contact while she talks to us. It‘s actually lovely. Later she spoke more about the downsides of working in an every day job in western Germany in the 80es. I well remember similar stories in my own family.
If we were to develop a performance format further I am curious how to find choreographic translations for Laurie’s and Naniek K.‘s performative archive. Switching from directing to joining them as dancer was as always tricky, but could if necessary after figuring out how their classical and more contemporary dance forms relate. I am curious also how the musical concept we developed for Fungi plays into it.
Testing these small scale ideas as a first step feel essentially productive. Sometimes beyond resources but the stipend was strongly supportive for it. Allowing some time to pass to chew and reflect over creative topics and intangible gut feelings before getting active, watching out for the right people and getting together. Thanks again to the choreographer Jee Chan who supported this collaboration.
In a similar spirit I see an irony in unfolding my dance practice with such wise dancers only now. It took a long time, but I also appreciate this reverse opportunity going from intense performance art back to creating a body friendly, minimalist dance practice.

Photos: Fungi Fung.

Performance: Bellied

 

Few rehearsals and special concentration with Corey Scott-Gilbert / vaL for his new solo work Bellied during Art Week / PERFORM! 2025.

When: Sunday, September 14th at 3pm.
Where: Terrasse Neue Nationalgallerie

Music and sound design: Turkana
Dramaturgie: Dasniya Sommer
Costume: SADAK

Photos: Neue Nationalgallerie and fottomatti.

Research: Storia Infinita

Try outs: Eliko moves and suspends between plastic plates. Moss-swings, passepartout underlay for organic material and the skin as intimate surface. Eliko‘s partner joins the session, lifts and swings her gently for hours in the air.
Meanwhile woollen clouds are falling apart. One looks like Falkor from the Never Ending Story, maybe after the Japanese luck dragon Fuku Ryū.

Model: Eliko
Fotos: Werner Amann
Support: Iman.rhv
Space concept + ropes: Dasniya Sommer

Some thoughts trying to connect different levels of a research and questions on how the space would be shared with sound and performance. During Open Studio weekend at Uferhallen one guest asked if the contrast of the material has specific meaning. Others saw references to the Czech/Slovak feminist female artist Anna/Anča Daučíková.
To star with I was mainly inspired by the bright, oversize Dojo of the BJJ championship in Crete I saw last autumn.
Or is it a colourful chessboard? A dojo as place of learning, or a chessboard as place to play against each other? Speaking with a sound person they wondered if the geometric plates is a visual arrangement of music? Is there a correlation between the coloured areas and a performers physical impact on the material, for example a extra boxing dummy? And is the boxing dummy recognisable as such, or is it stuffed with sheep‘s wool into an amorphous structure that eventually bursts open, revealing soft wool?
Do the squares represent tonal sound diagrams, or are they simply colored dojo mats depicting a non-hierarchical space? Do the panels in the primary colors need to be complemented with intermediate/pastel tones? Is the wooden ladder part of the space and does it suggest something about the process-oriented, unfinished nature of the work, which is what research always is? Not a finished piece, but a step/phase in the creative process.

 
Autonomous Avatar at Festival der Zukunft
Autonomous-avatar-Tobias-Staab-Nadja-eller-Corey-Scott-Gilbert-dasniya-Sommer 

On tour at ‚Festival der Zukunft‘ – enjoying our 10th show and arriving at a mind set where dancing becomes second nature. Walking on stage and just do it.
Date: Friday July 4, 2025

Location: Deutsches Museum München/ Planetarium

Time: 19 Uhr
Can machines learn on their own? Is an algorithm able to hallucinate? What if our lives were just a computer’s dream? The hybrid dance performance AUTONOMOUS AVATAR deals with these questions. Two performers discover their human bodies until they transcend into superhuman forms. The encounter with these new digital deities takes place on the threshold between analog and virtual realities.
Berlin-based artist Tobias Staab has developed the choreography together with the dancers Dasniya Sommer and Corey Scott-Gilbert. Using live motion capture technology, their organic physiognomies are combined with the immaterial bodies of the avatars. The texts were created on the basis of a story by Jorge Luis Borges and in close collaboration with various artificial intelligences. The spoken and sung sounds derive from on a number of voice recordings made with the award winning actress Sandra Hüller. The score was conceived and arranged by composer Beni Brachtel.
Direction, Text, Concept: Tobias Staab

The choreography was developed in close collaboration between Tobias Staab and the dancers Dasniya Sommer and Corey Scott-Gilbert.

Performers: Corey Scott-Gilbert & Dasniya Sommer

Voice: Sandra Hüller

3D-Design: Luis August Krawen

Music: Beni Brachtel

Stage Design & Concept: Nadja Sofie Eller

Costume Design: Annika Lu Hermann

Motion Capturing: Warja Rybakova

Light Design: Matthias Singer
Funded by: Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien / NEUSTART KULTUR, Dachverband Tanz Deutschland / tanz:digital. Produced with support by: DOCKdigitalLab, Planetarium Bochum
Premiere: War Games @ Münchener Kammerspiele
 
Choreographing for WAR GAMES by Skart at Münchener Kammerspiele.

After a longterm rehearsal process, stretching over two years, with 12 devoted teenagers from Munich, we opened yesterday with a blast. There are two more shows at Therese-Ghiese Halle this week end:
Premiere June 26, 2025 at 19.30h

Saturday 28, at 19.30h

Sunday 29 at 16h.
Theatre of the new generation
War is as old as mankind. For 300,000 years, there has been fighting somewhere in the world – despite all the cries of “Never again!”. Why can’t mankind break out of this spiral? “War Games” examines war as a performative cultural history and social vicious circle. Together with children and young people, SKART questions power, violence and the rules of the game. The result is a multi-layered performance with theater, video, sound, costumes and stage design – perhaps even dance. But “War Games” is not children’s theater. SKART and the team deal with “adult topics” on a radically equal footing: What is violence? What does it do to us?

Humorous, provocative, intense – SKART is one of the most innovative groups working with children and young people in the German theater scene. “War Games” is art, education and a social statement at the same time. SKART gets involved – with a bang!
SKART & Friends Charlotte Heidenreich (Performerin), Stephan Janitzky (Künstler), Anton Kaun (Video- & Noisekünstler), Deniz Khan (Musiker), Lea Letzel (Künstlerin & Pyrotechnikerin), Janne Plutat (Kostümbildnerin), Mark Schröppel (Performer & Theatermacher), Dasniya Sommer (Tänzerin & Choreografin), Henrik Weber.
With Karla Bacher, Lionel Barth, Isaac de Mercey, Sophie Einloft, Milan Glück, Anna Haas, Emma Konrath, Lukas Lauser, Nala Ouaffi, Melanie Siebs, Jakob Waldow.
Artistic Production Management: Elke Bauer, Daniela Schroll

Technical Production Management: Richard Illmer

Stage Management: Thomas Graml, Josef Hofmann

Lighting: Wolfgang Eibert, Yongwoo Kwon, Christian Mahrla, Louis Nickel

Sound Paolo Mariangeli, Alejandro Nieto

Video: Technician Julia Römpp

Carpentry: Florian Thoma

Props: Julia Molloy

Costume: Janne Plutat

Make Up: Jannes Donner

Stage Manager: Hanno Nehring

Photos: Judith Buss
Throw back
 
Photos from almost a decade ago which when posting I shouted: I live for that shit! ;)

Being tied by Tamandua Kinbaku was deeply revealing. Even after years of teaching shibari myself, tying others, performing with ropes and hosting kink spaces. It was the chemistry, and his Akira Naka inspired style which clicked.

I passionately wanted to renegotiate my limits, also my border crossing drive as performer and in general. As ballet dancer I learned from early on to overstretch tendons and pain limits. For my inner punk and desire for edge it became a performative tool of resistance, which I thought needed to be reformulated with a more contemporary and fem signature. After almost 20 years, instagram compatibility, and shibari/bondage becoming so socially acceptable I often wonder about the resistant potential of it (artistically). Think people who like to enjoy ropes should just do that (if its accessible to them). For ropes on stage I guess it depends on the stories that are told, questions of constellations, and hacking ideas around ‚power play‘ and the functions of it.

The sessions with Tamandua were blissful. A rush and fine sense switching between degrees of devotion, carefully feed backing borders and teasing around them. Also a meditation and emotional empowerment it felt. Later I figured such relationships of unbounded power play dynamics in combination with shibari can be unexpectedly complex. It’s always a learning. Reflecting and positioning oneself around threshold experiences, and integrating them as performative qualities and personally takes time.

As Kinbaku photography with a deeply devoted vibe I like them.
Raven with Long Covid
 
A special view to see the audience 10 meters beneath me. Lying on camp beds looking up to the sky loft. A bondage-inspired vertical theatre by Showcase Beat Le Mot.


Dates: Thu + Fri 19. + 20.December 2024. And Sat + Sun 4. + 5. Januar 2025.

Trailer, 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.
Cast
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/ Sandra Fink.
Production: Showcase Beat Le Mot. Co-production: HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Funded by: Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion, Hauptstadtkulturfonds.
Tanzpraxis Research I : Para Ju Jitsu WM in Crete
 
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).