The programme 23/24 of Sophiensæle starts on 07.12.2023
On 7.12.2023, after urgently needed renovation work, the 2023/2024 season will begin at the Sophiensaele under the new artistic direction of Andrea Niederbuchner and Jens Hillje. We will publish the programme for the opening and the season on 26.10.2023, which is also the day when the pre-sale begins.
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TO ALL EMERGING DANCE ARTISTS BASED IN BERLIN
Every new year, the Tanztage Berlin is not only the city's very first festival, it has also established itself nationally and internationally as an important platform for emerging dance artists since its founding in 1996. The next edition of Tanztage Berlin will once again take place under the artistic direction of Mateusz Szymanówka. The festival is currently planned for 5-20 January 2024. The festival offers emerging dance artists based in Berlin a framework for their new productions and revivals. The programme of the last two editions can be found at: https://tanztage-berlin.sophiensaele.com.
JUAN GABRIEL HARCHA: ANGELA LOIJ
In his solo piece, the Chilean sociologist and BA graduate (HZT Berlin) takes on an exotic persona; Juan Gabriel Harcha explicitly turns himself into the “other”. His intention fulfills itself by simply stepping on stage. What follows is a non-judgmental reflection on European colonial history, as he sets off on a sensuous, rhythmic adventure driven by spontaneous decision-making.
Angela Loij, who died in 1974, was the last full-blooded Selk’nam, an aboriginal group that lived on the archipelago Tierra del Feugo (Chile and Argentina) and that – decimated by disease and massacres – died out almost completely within a few years of European colonization at the end of the 19th century. The Selk’nam developed a unique language of body painting for their rites of initiation.
"The performance displays a sensuous, rhythmical and strongly ornamental physical statement, determined by the particular conditions of space and audience and by my subjective disposition to dance.
Angela Loij was the last surviving aboriginal Selk’nam, who inhabited Tierra del Fuego and developed a rich body-painting language for their rites of passage." -Juan Gabriel Harcha
CHOREOGRAPHY, DANCE, PERFORMANCE Juan Gabriel Harcha COSTUME Elisa Seiffert Make-up Andreas Krosch SUPPORTED BY Tanztage Berlin / Sophiensæle THANKS TO Jana Unmüßig, HZT Berlin
LEE MEIR + MAYA WEINBERG: IF IT‘S FUN
After getting to know each other in Tel Aviv in 2009, Maya Weinberg came to Berlin via Ponderosa / PORCH. Lee Meir found her way here via the HZT Berlin and in 2014 received an “Einstiegsförderung” grant from the Berlin Senate. If it's fun is their first collaborative piece.
The duo describes what they do in their studio as a potpourri of creativity. In this milieu of over-abundance and limitless options, the duo creates a process-oriented and playful work; a creative analysis or a dialogue between two strong artists. Intimate and powerful, without endangering the fragile nature of the creative process.
„If it´s fun is a rummage into a state of hyper-creativity. A habitat of superabundance will be our starting point; we yield to a physicality of open links, wandering about and through self defaults, upset objects, and flickering cultural signposts.“ – Lee Meir + Maya Weinberg
CHOREOGRAPHY, DANCE, PERFORMANCE, STAGE AND COSTUME Lee Meir, Maya Weinberg PRODUCTION Tanztage Berlin / Sophiensæle Coproduction Diver Festival Tel Aviv THANKS TO André Lewski, HZT Berlin
photo © Diethild Meier
