True balls. Photo: from artists' archieve.
On Saturday, 31 August (8 pm), during Berlin’s Ausufern festival, Rafał Dziemidok will present his solo (Dance) Rafał, directed by Daniel AlmgrenRecen. The solo will be shown at the Ufer_Studios (studio no. 8), where Dziemidok presented his work-in-progress My life in tears at the end of May while he took part in the joint residency programme of Ufer_Studios, Mica Moca and the Polish Institute of Music and Dance.
Also on Saturday (6 pm), as well as on 1 September (5 pm), in studio no. 12, the audience of Ausufern will see the latest piece by Sheena McGrandlesand Anna Nowicka, True balls.
About the performances:
Dance (Rafał)
I can take any empty space and call it a stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.(The empty space, Peter Brook, 1963)
The dancer Rafał Dziemidok is generously inviting the audience to witness his intimate and expressive transformation through the theatre space, where he is sharing his intellectual, physical and emotional dance. This solo performance is exposing the strength and vulnerability of the single performer on stage, while he is submerging himself in movement. There is no clear plot, metaphor, lyrical raptures or autothematic discourse. Only a ravishing, hypnotic presence which cannot be verbalised or analysed.
Dance (Rafał)is part of a series of solos that highlights the dance and the dancer in their bare form, by focusing on the performer’s relation to the body, movement and the immediate situation around. Previous pieces Dance(Fabián)andDance (Maria)have been named after the dancer performing.
Concept und direction:Daniel AlmgrenRecén
Dance:Rafał Dziemidok
Light:Ewa Garniec
Costume:Malgorzata Fudala
Realised with support from the Ciało/Umysł Foundation.
Special thanks to: Marysia Stokosa, Agnieszka Jakimiak and Agata Awruk
TRUE BALLSis a body carried by two pairs of double-jointed legs that finish at the pelvis, sometimes it’s headless, and sometimes a mess of parts that have the hallmarks of a tragedy. On another occasion a body rolls fantastically, in spite of arms that are trying to grasp everything that comes their way. This intertwining sensorial landscape echoes and morphs in constant motion. Through the physicality we shift between the associate and abstract body, working toward the unfamiliar, unspeakable and uncanny. True balls is an artistic research project that combines both a performative and visual practice, attempting to queer the body drain it from recognition and push it toward absurdity.
Extending the approach to objects and materials, both in their raw and procession state they open the slippage where the choreographic space at the same time spills and bleeds enabling the possibility for a re-reading.TRUE BALLScomes 4th in a series of works on the queer and uncanny that Sheena began during her studies on MA SODA.
Concept & creation:Sheena McGrandles
Co-creator:Anna Nowicka
Dramaturg:Ivona Šijaković
Costume:Michiel Keuper
Voice Coach:Walli Höfinger
Light:Henning Eggers
Mentors:Sharon Smith, Maria Scaroni and Joao da Silva
Produced within the residency program of K3 – Center for Choreography | Tanzplan Hamburg and partially supported by the Hamburgischen Kulturstiftung. In co-operation with K3 Tanzplan Hamburg Uferstudios present this and two further K3 residency choreographies. The presentation is made possible with the support of the NPN (National Performance Net).
About the festival:
Artists from Berlin and partners from the Uferstudios invite you to a summer event held over four consecutive days. Performances will take place in the 14 studios, the extensive courtyard area as well as the shops and buildings on the adjacent Badstraße in celebration of the 35th birthday of Tanzfabrik Berlin. The event will reach its climax on 31.8. with a circuit of shows and events for the whole family from 1pm on. More than 40 contributions “made in Uferstudios” – a.o. premieres by Christine Borch, Franz Rogowski, Britta Wirthmüller, Ellinor Ljungkvist, Raisa Kröger & Katharina Meyer, zw4rt, previews by Ami Garmon, shifts and Elisabete Finger, performances “on tour” by Christina Ciupke, Nik Haffner & Mart Kangro, An Kaler, Hyoung-Min Kim & Tommi Zeuggin, Tian Rotteveel und Dragana Bulut, choreographies by Berlin-based artists Sheena McGrandles, Adam Linder, Josep Caballero García in the frame of the K3 – Tanzplan Hamburg residency programme, installations, interventions – reflect the international and artistic variety of Berlin’s dance scene and of the choreogaphic offspring at the HZT Berlin.
The summery atmosphere on site will provide the opportunity to recuperate between showings and to stick around for the whole day. The joint party with Tanz im August rounds off the 31.8. with music from DJ T-INA Darling (Swing, Elektro-Swing) in the Kesselhaus – the new location on site, which will be available for artists in the near future.
Information & programme: www.uferstudios.com
AUSUFERN is an event by artists and organisations in the Uferstudios: ada Studio, Hochschulübergreifendes Zentrum Tanz Berlin, Tanzbüro Berlin/mapping dance berlin, Tanzfabrik Berlin and Uferstudios GmbH.
In co-operation with Tanz im August.
