A dance performance with young Berlin dancers from various urban dance backgrounds, guided by Joy Alpuerto Ritter, and Lukas Steltner. Perspectives, experiences and thoughts of young Berliners, questioning the making of history as well as creating a vision of their own future.
Concept
One could say that the way we pass on history shapes the perception of events, individuals and ethnical, cultural or social groups within a certain cultural context.
Who decides about „truth“ and „lies“, and how do people perceive it?
With our group we want to search for the meaning of gestures and physical codes that are rooted in different cultural contexts. Therefore we want to re-contextualize these movements by giving space and time for its transformation in a dialogue between the bodies.
As a third main focus we want to question prejudices of a normative society. What and who defines „the norm“, what is deviant behaviour? How can we shift the norm? The presence of the moving bodies will tell their own individual stories, but they also represent the diverse and vibrant Berlin of today.
Research Questions
Who makes „history“?
What do gestures in different cultural contexts mean and how can they be de-contextualized?
What and who defines „the norm“, what is deviant behaviour?
performers/ participants/ voices
Mira Antonina Campo Jastrzębski, Maria Galina Junge, Lena Tatjana Mahlke, Nastasja Berezin, Anwen Sereina Ortiz, Hannah Juliane Steenbeck, Arnold Toko, Djamila Schäffer, Marike Eva Helena Sauer, Ann Francis Ang, Anas Allaham, Julian Emmerich
Joy Alpuerto Ritter - Direction and Choreography
was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. In her youth she was trained in Jazz and Ballett (RAD – Royal Academy of Dancing) and learned Philippine and Polynesian Folk Dance in the cultural dance group led by her mother. In 2004 Joy graduated at the Palucca School in Dresden, Germany with a dance diploma. Afterwards she started working as a freelance dancer with choreographers like Akram Khan, Wangramirez, Christoph Winkler, Anja Kozik, Constanza Macras, Milan Gervais, Heike Hennig and Yui Kawaguchi. During this time she felt passionate about expanding her repertory in Hip Hop/New Style, Breakdance and Voguing and was active in the urban dance battle scene in Berlin and Europe. In 2011 she joined Cirque du Soleil as a dancer and aerial artist for the Michael Jackson Immortal World Tour. In 2016 she has been nominated as “outstanding female dancer” (modern) in the Performance “Until the Lions“ from the Akram Khan Company by the National Dance Awards UK. With her own solo work „Babae“, she has found international response as a Choreographer and is one of the Aerowaves artists 2020. Since then Joy has been creating her own work and has been collaborating as a choreographer and associate choreographer with Akram Khan, Chen Shi-Zheng, Riz Ahmed, Ballett Black, Viviana Durante Company, Florence and the machine, such as in academic institutions in Austria, Germany, Italy and Beijing.
Lukas Steltner - Direction and Choreography
startet with Breaking out of his enthusiasm for the Hip Hop culture in 2001. As a professional Dancer he works in a variety of fields, like in dance theater (e.g. Heike Hennig & Co, Johann Kresnik, Hong Nguyen Thai, Adrian Figueroa), with his Bboy Crew Topp Doggz in Cabarets or in national and international Showcases. Lukas Steltner works also as an Actor, who appeared in various Cinema- and TV-Porductions. In different Projects he danced and Co-coreographed at the interface of Urban- and Contemporary Dance. Recently he collaborated with Joy Alpuerto Ritter as a Choreographer („Teenage Widerstand“, Theater der jungen Welt, Leipzig) with whom he produced their first full evening length piece („Heimkehr“, 2019, LOFFT-Leipzig). 2021 Lukas created his first Solo Piece „Die Wende. Aufwachsen unter normalen Leuten“ (Dock11, Berlin). As a dancer, actor and choreographer Lukas is moving on the interface of urban dance, contemporary dance, acting, theater and film.
Elsa M’Bala aka A.M.E.T. - Sound Composition
Born in Yaoundé and currently based in Berlin, Elsa M’Bala aka A.M.E.T. is a sound artist who makes live podcasts as a mixture between DJ’ing and live radio shows, in which field recordings and interviews are shared live with an audience. She performed internationally at Akademie der Künste Berlin (DE); Casino Luxembourg-Forum d’art contemporain (LUX); Dak’Art Biennale (SEN); Gessnerallee Zürich (CH), among others. She made the trailer for the Berlin Biennale 10. A.M.E.T.’s musical journey, and her reflections on race, cultural background, gender and spirituality, challenge preconceptions of how someone’s music should sound based on where they’re from. Her practice breaks with western classical music by creating graphic scores that enable her to include semi tones as it is regular in non western music. By using technology, she amplifies her unique voice and addresses narratives of inclusion and visibility. Her work is also marked by collaborations with musicians, dancers, artists, performers and makers from different backgrounds.