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Sophiensæle 23/24

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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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TANZTAGE BERLIN 2024 | OPEN CALL

Tanztage_2024
© Jan Grygoriew

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.

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Tomi Paasonen Pas de Q

  • Tomi Paasonen-final-15
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • Tomi Paasonen-final-2
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • Tomi Paasonen-final-4
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • Tomi Paasonen-final-6
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • Tomi Paasonen-final-14
    © Mayra Wallraff
Dance
2022 December 01 02 03 | 20.00
2022 December 04 | 18.00
Festsaal

PREMIERE 

in English

Due to the Christmas market in Sophienstraße, the Sophiensæle are not accessible by car on 03 and 04 December.

It is compulsory to wear an FFP2 mask. Exceptions are made for visitors who are unable to wear an FFP2 mask for health/physical reasons and for visitors who communicate in sign language.

Pas de Q invades the classical ballet world to shake up and reinvent its choreographic forms and traditions. The queer ensemble of male and non-binary dancers combines drag with pointe dance, a practice of romantic ballet. The fairies, ghosts, fairy-tale figures and swans from the romantic ballet era are supposed to appear unreachable and weightless, as if floating. The pointe shoe is also a gender symbol, because only women danced on pointe.

In Pas de Q, the effortless fairies come from a distant future. The team, which consists entirely of professional drag artists on and behind the stage, allows their own life experiences and worlds of thought to flow into the performance. There they transfer their perspectives on sexuality, gender identity and romantic love into other galaxies: as science fiction goddesses they dance in a world detached from hierarchical and racist structures and common cultural gender norms. The result is a labyrinth of imaginative perversions beyond morality and shame that fans out the various possibilities of taking movement, dance and queer aesthetics – quite literally – on point.

If any questions remain from the following information, please feel free to contact Hannah Aldinger at barrierefreiheit@sophiensaele.com or 030 27 89 00 35. Please note that details may change by the day of the event.

The performance lasts 70 minutes and uses English spoken language as well as German written language. Black light, fog, haze, spotlights and strobe lights are used on stage. There are projections on a curtain in the backdrop. An abstract image is shown in the projections. Interviews with the performers are played as an audio track. There are German subtitles for the interviews.

The audience sits in the dark. The audience area on the grandstand is seated. There are two wheelchair seats and two beanbags, which can be reserved or purchased at the online ticket shop or box office, depending on availability. Due to the Christmas market in Sophienstraße, the Sophiensaele cannot be accessed by car on 03 and 04 December.

If, for artistic reasons, the door to the auditorium does not open until very shortly before the performance begins, there is the option of early boarding. This is early admission for all people (especially those with visible or non-visible disabilities) who wish a specific seat or a more relaxed entry. Early Boarding usually starts 10-20 minutes before the performance starts. The meeting point is next to the bar. Five minutes before Early Boarding begins, an on-site announcement will draw your attention to it once again. Our evening staff will be happy to help you find the meeting point.

You can also find more information about accessibility here. 

TOMI PAASONEN was a ballet dancer with the Hamburg Ballet, San Francisco Lines Contemporary Ballet and Joffrey Ballet in Chicago until a serious accident ended his dancing career in 1997. In 1998, he founded the cross-disciplinary dance company Kunst-Stoff in San Francisco before moving to Berlin in 2002. From 2013 to 2018, he was artistic director of ITAK in Finland and curated several theater and two annual dance festivals. During his 30-year career as a choreographer and director, he has created nearly 70 pieces and projects with various artists, dancers, in different places and contexts around the world between 1991 and 2022. www.paasonen.com

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DANCE Kai Braithwaite, Joel Small, Llewellyn Mgnuni, Leonardo Mancuso MUSIC, COMPOSITION, PERFORMANCE Ixa STAGE DESIGN, PAINTING, PERFORMANCE Rory Midhani COSTUME DESIGN, PERFORMANCE Anne Fidler / Poppy Cox STAGE DESIGN, TECHNICAL INSTALLATION, PERFORMANCE Colin Comfort / Gieza Poke LIGHT DESIGN, PERFORMANCE Bryan Schall / Nana Schewitz  PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT Alex Dimitriou PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Yuko Matsuyama

A production by Tomi Paasonen in co-production with SOPHIENSÆLE, supported by the Hauptstadtkulturfonds. Media partner: taz, die tageszeitung.