Jochen Roller + Yuki Kihara:
Them And Us

The Samoans are back! A century after they were lucratively exhibited in German Zoos, three of them return to Germany in a folk-colonial spectacle by the Berlin choreographer Jochen Roller and the Samoan performance artist Yuki Kihara. "Our new countrymen" was the motto under which the Samoans were presented to Germany at the time. The three invited dancers Malili, Lafaele and Paul take this motto literally - they study the culture and customs of their white brothers and sisters and alight on strange connections between the two cultures. The Bavarian people dance the Samoan Fa'ataupati in lederhosen, the painters of 'die Brücke' group use Samoan painting techniques and people in Berlin clubs wear Samoan chieftain's tattoos on their shoulders. Them and us is a mixture of hybrid choreography and film, in an extremely pleasurable way, the protagonists develop a re-writing of the German anthropological viewpoint of their former colony of German Samoa.

Jochen Roller born 1971 in West-Berlin, studied Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen and Choreography at the Laban Centre in London. He has choreographed over 50 works for stages, galleries, fashion and film. His stage productions tour in Europe, Middle-East, Asia and the Pacific. His three-hour solo-trilogy „perform performing“ (2002-2004) was performed 147 times and was sold in 2009 by the auction house Christie’s in Hamburg. His last piece „Trachtenbummler“ was premiered 2013 in the frame of the festival Tanz im August. As a dancer Jochen Roller works for the ensemble Gintersdorfer/Klassen and for Martin Nachbar. As dramaturge he has collaborated with Joavien Ng (Singapur), Kadir Memis (Berlin) and Jecko Siompo (Jakarta). From 2007 until 2010 Jochen curated together with Anne Kersting the seasonal dance program of Kampnagel Hamburg. In this period he founded together with 7 European performing art centers the annual Live Art Festival. He was artistic director of the editions 2009 and 2010. Jochen worked as a jury member for Tanzplattform in 2010 and Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes in 2011 und in 2012. Since 2004 Jochen Roller has been listed by the Goethe Institute as one of Germany’s most influential choreographers.

A native of Samoa, Yuki Kihara is an interdisciplinary artist whose work engages in a variety of social, political and cultural issues. Often referencing Pacific history, her work explores the varying relationships between gender, race, culture and politics. In 2008, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York presented a solo exhibition of Kihara’s work entitled ‘Living Photographs’ featuring highlights of her interdisciplinary practice, followed by an acquisition of her works by the museum for their permanent collection. Kihara’s works and performances has been presented at the Asia Pacific Triennial (2002 & 2015), Auckland Triennial (2009), Sakahàn Quinquennial (2013) and the Daegu Photo Biennial (2014). Kihara’s works has also been exhibited, among others, at the Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art; Bozar Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels; Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Norway; Utah Museum of Fine Arts, USA; de Young Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, USA; Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre, New Caledonia; Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney and Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand.

ARTISTIC DIRECTION Jochen Roller, Yuki Kihara DANCE Lafaele Fagasa, Malili Tautala, Paul Tuisaula VIDEO Andrea Keiz LIGHT DESIGN Marek Lamprecht ASSISTANCE Laura Böttinger PR, PRODUCTION björn & björn

Produced by Jochen Roller in co-produktion with Theater Roxy Birsfelden, Theater Freiburg, FFT Düsseldorf and SOPHIENSÆLE. Funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds and the Mayor of Berlin - Senatskanzlei - Kulturelle Angelegenheiten. Friendly supported by Fachausschuss Theater und Tanz BS/BL, Creative New Zealand and the Goethe-Institut New Zealand. media partners: mulitcult.fm, Jungle World, taz.die tageszeitung