Demnächst

Enter the Hydra – Veit Sprenger

“How does Flying work on stage?” somebody from Hau asked me sometime in January. A couple of hints forth and back, and I suggested these guys for professional flying machinery.

“Let me know if you need help with moving in the air!”

I ended up making a sort of aerial choreography for Veit Sprenger’s Enter the Hydra, which was part of the Heiner Müller Festival at the Hau.

Rita Stelling, who in the solo installation performed Heraklis II, was super cool to work with. We immediately connected and had much fun throwing together ideas on how to treat the abstract landscape made of cubes, amorphic object and dangerous triangles created by Alexej Tcherni. The whole theatre machinery was involved. Iron curtain, revolving stage, fog, projection and life music and much more.

An overload of information in only 30 minutes, but put together in such a fine, condensed way, that each picture kept something poignant and simple. Mostly it was the tension between the whole staging and Rita as performer which made it strong on all sensory levels, I think. Visually, but also as text – image and sound installation.

All in all, a fortunate spontaneous collaboration. Here some rehearsal and performance moments.

Staging Shibari #1

The workshop, a fun experiment on 30 square meters. Ballhaus Ost borrowed lights, Uferstudios a dimmer, I threw  costumes ropes and make up in. Us 10 people figured our roles for the evening as light performance-, camera-, fog- person, singer or audience. Squeezing through my tiny dojo in Uferhallen, which currently looks more like a suspension point forrest.
We started by talking and gathering ideas, I assigned tasks to the riggers and models, we had to find a group timing, and everyone went to find small stories with their partner.
It was exciting and tricky to handle light without distance to the scene. More fog! I was hectically torn between photographing, arranging and watching, and super happy to have such great technicians in the group shibari- and stagewise.
Some hidden talents! :) There was precise as well as messy tying going on.
Within our 30 minutes sequence there were moments when things came together, when stillness took place between the three hanging bodies, and Micha started singing. Here some moments..

Meanwhile New Shibari input

Saturday I met with Lun Ario, Schnucki Rennpferd & Chiara for a rope bondage afternoon.
We exchanged new insights, us showing a front to side progression, and shortcuts for suspension.
They showed a three rope Semenawa Kasumi style and a flute suspension. Much liked when Lun Ario tied Schnucki and I just watch and enjoy :)

Teaching Profi – Ballet in March

The next two upcoming Mondays I will substitute Profi – Ballet training at Center of Dance /Kulturbrauerei for Yuko Sato.

On March 14 & 21, 2016
Begin: 12 h – 12.30 h
Costs: 7 €

Schönhauser Allee 36,
Entrance: Knaackstrasse 97/ Sredzkistrasse 1, court yard of Kulturbrauerei
U-Bahn: U2 Eberswalderstraße

The class is inspired by American ballet technique and David Howards approach. Its economic principals to map the body for the ballet repertory. It is also based on my practice as classical dancer and yoga teacher.
We emphasise on breathing in motion, on complex yet organic coordination, and on movement sequences, which allow for musical precision, groove and joy.
The sensory and skeletal perception of movement play an important role, so that dancers connect to kinetic sensation rather than external shaping.
The class is accessible to both ballet but also more contemporary trained dancers.

Biography:
Over 25 years Dasniya has collected different styles and dance concepts. Her first trainings she received in Berlin and New York, at Ballett-Akademie Vogl, with the State Ballet Berlin and at Dance New Amsterdam. With Zwi Gotheiner, Janett Panetta, Jo Siska, Susan Klein, etc.
Since 2008 Dasniya choreographs and has since collaborated and tought in various projects.
A.o. with Helena Waldmann, Romeo Castellucci, Schubot/Gradinger, Damaged Goods, Das Helmi, Deutsche Oper Berlin and currently for Veit Sprenger (Showcase beat le Mot).

In Buddhism the dancer is a cup, containing the individual vibe and the milions of steps a body can do.

POLINA Semionova!

OMG, when it comes to ballet I am such a groupie! In the last two weeks went to see the Staatsballett Berlin twice. To see Polina Semionova dance Swan Lake and Giselle.  She is utterly stunning. Every step is carefully, thoughtfully placed, and her person seems to vanish into the character she dances. Her presence and oneness with the role, especially as ephemeral being or ‘Elementargeist’.
Sometimes I would like her to perform a little more edgy, as black swan or in Giselle’s mad scene. But maybe that comes with more time, and well, thats also a lack in ballet education!
The Swan Lake evening was a double highlight, it was also Beatrice Knop’s farewell, after being a ballerina with the company for a quarter century  — what an immense effort!
It was touching, she took of her point shoes during the applause, and left them at the edge of the stage, mountains of flowers for the queen mother, her role that night.

Usually I wouldn’t bother too much, but this brought up memories. After the show I had her biography autographed by her, and when it was my turn I congratulated saying:
‘Hi, do you remember, a long time ago I was a little apprentice in the Staatsballett and we shared a dressing room.’
‘She looked up saying ‘Yea, I very well remember your face, good luck!’. ‘For you too!’ It was nice moment and reconciling with the old times ;)

Markus Öhrn’s Ghost Sonata Rehearsal Start

Just coming back from Warsaw. I was coaching Japanese rope bondage to actors from Nowy Teatr.

After a short introduction what traditional Shibari and my approach is, we got six actors into experimenting wildly with ropes and found funky ideas combining them with the text from ‘Ghost Sonata’.

Written by Swedish playwright  August Strindberg’s in 1907. At that time he was inspired by Beethovens Piano Sonata ‘Ghost Trio’, and wrote this somewhat spooky chamber play, dealing with mummies and social eval, invented from some hidden place of his mind.. Perfect for Markus and perfect for ropes I think.

The group was awesome  Normally I don’t suspend people who are totally new to ropes, but the energy was solid and there were two stuntmen in the room. One even a former Starwars stuntmen! :)

Here some rehearsal moments.

December Performances in Berlin

Dear Friends, Bondagisti, Theateristi and Dancers,

pssst.. on the third advent we open the 13th little door of Markus Öhrns advents calendar. Together with the great Silke Backofen-Schönfleisch we will honour Santa Lucia with a Shibari performance at Volksbühne Berlin…

  1. Guest Performance @ Wir sind die Guten — Adventskalender von Markus Öhrn, Sonntag, 13. Dec
  2. Performance: Uns wirst du nicht mehr los / You don’t get rid of us anymore, 8., 9., 10. Dec
  3. Blog!

Warm wishes

Dasniya

Insel der Glückseligen
Insel der Glückseligen

1. Guest Performance @ Wir sind die Guten — Adventskalender von Markus Öhrn, Sonntag, 13. Dec

Jeden Tag anders, jeden Tag eine neue Überraschung!

Frohe Botschaft: In der Adventszeit geht der schwedische Künstler Markus Öhrn gemeinsam mit der Musikerin und Schauspielerin Janet Rothe, dem Künstler und Musiker Makode Linde und den Schauspielern Jakob Öhrmann und Rasmus Slätis, sowie zahlreichen Überraschungsgästen den Pfad der Schmerzen und Erkenntnis und schöpft aus den Traditionen der christlichen Happeningkultur.

Silke Backofen-Schönfleisch und Dasniya Sommer
19h, Sonntag 13.12.2015
3rd floor
Volksbühne
Tickets: 5 €

2. Performance: Uns wirst du nicht mehr los / You don’t get rid of us anymore, 8., 9., 10. Dec

A music theatre by Cornelia Heger

The piece starts with a Shibari Express video, using ropes in the context of more political theatre.
The documentary music theatre project Uns wirst du nicht mehr los examines the psychic emotional consequences of Stasi-degradation sanctions and Stasi-imprisonment and its lasting consequences for victims and their families.

19h, 8.-10.12.2015
Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
Schumannstraße 8

3. Blog!

Many new things on my blog:
A sweet video from Brian: The Helmis in Swissland: Performance: Grosse Vögel Kleine Vögel
Photos from the filming of Uns wirst du nicht mehr los
and Rehearsing with Silke for Wir sind die Guten
More photos from Lesung: Die Insel der Glückseligen – Jekaterina Sadur und Ludmila Skripkina
And lastly, the Helmi HORA Doppelpack, I can sleep when I am dead – Theater Hora & Das Helmi

"Uns wirst du nicht mehr los"
“Uns wirst du nicht mehr los”

Video: “Uns wirst du nicht mehr los”

Before yesterday we had a shoot for Cornelia Hegener’s new piece ‘Uns wirst Du nicht mehr los’. A documentary music theatre, opening in Berlin on December 8th. Her film team, 4 people, was super nice and Burkhard made beautiful light.

It was spooky, but still there were blissful  moments, very concentrated, just some whispering and instructions once in a while.

Tying Florian made a leap. We both can read each other much better. Passing the rope around his body becomes super fluent and clear. I tied with gloves, which made things surprisingly easier and my fingers were protected. Though it needs more practice, cause the gloves get caught in the knots.

The video will be screened at the beginning of the piece, together with a reading of the Revelation of St. John. Creepy! But certainly intended and maybe just right, since the topic is rather heavy. Here is a short description in German and below some stills:

Das dokumentarische Musiktheaterprojekt „Uns wirst du nicht mehr los“ möchte den anhaltenden seelischen Folgen von „operativer Psychologie“ und „Zersetzungsmaßnahmen“ („weiße“ Folter) durch die DDR/Stasi Ausdruck verleihen und die Auswirkungen von Trauma sowie dessen transgenerationale Weitergabe an die Zweite Generation untersuchen. Ziel ist einerseits, mit Mitteln des dokumentarischen Theaters den theoretischen und staatsrechtlichen Überbau des paranoiden DDR-Überwachungssystems aufzuzeigen und den Aussagen von Zeitzeugen gegenüberzustellen. Andererseits soll unter Anwendung aktueller Erkenntnisse aus Traumaforschung die logische wie brisante Schlussfolgerung nahegelegt werden, dass psychische Folter seine Wirkung über Generationen behält, auch wenn das politische System, das sie erzeugte, längst nicht mehr existiert.

Premier:  8.12.2015 at 7 pm, additional performance 9. + 10.12.
Heinrich Böll Stiftung Berlin
Schumannstraße 8
10117 Berlin