Tanz im August
From August 19th to September 19th, the 22nd edition of the TANZ IM AUGUST – INTERNATIONAL DANCE FESTIVAL will present works by internationally renowned choreographers as well as pieces from a new generation.
The largest German dance festival will bring a total of 38 productions from 19 countries in an overview of contemporary dance to Berlin’s stages.
The curators of TANZ IM AUGUST have established two points of focus for this year’s edition: human rights and dance history.
More and more often, choreographies include appeals to deal with people and resources responsibly giving dance the function of social criticism. In this respect many issues relevant to human rights apply to the body, for example, the ban on burqas, inhuman working conditions ordiscrimination based on sexual orientation.
This last aspect is addressed by les ballets C de la B/Alain Platel und Frank Van Laecke in „Gardenia“,the TANZ IM AUGUST opener on August 19th. The actress Vanessa Van Durme, born as a male, and six men who spend a part of their lives as women tell of their existence in the grey area between genders. It is a touching and entertaining plea for tolerance and openness that was developed with a sensitivity for the personalities, experiences and abilities of the non-professional performers.
In his powerful and demanding works, Lemi Ponifasio, one of New Zealand’s most important directors and a High Chief of Samoa, melds contemporary dance with South Pacific imagery.Ponifasio describes his theater work as a ritual, ceremony and space of consiousness. “Tempest:Without a Body” is sensual and full of powerful symbolic images between light and dark, with precise, synchronized movement sequences that transport a sense of freedom and awareness on stage.
In its second theme the festival looks at dance history and its current relevance. Increasingly, contemporary choreographers use historic works and discourses as a source of inspiration, turning the possibility of dealing with their medium’s history into a subject of their works.
As a prominent example of this, Boris Charmatz composed a moving version of the photo catalogue “Merce Cunningham: Fifty years” by David Vaughan, who documented his work from 1944 to 1994. Charmatz’s choreography enlivens the images like a flip book on stage. He will present “50 Years of Dance” with dancers from different generations of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. “50 Years of Dance” is archive and memory work in one – and an unusual homage to a dance legend.
Jérôme Bel also approaches Merce Cunningham. ”Cédric Andrieux” is the fifth part of the dance portrait series that began in 2004 with “Veronique Doisneau”. Andrieux, a Merce Cunningham DanceCompany dancer from 1999 to 2007, reflects on his career in Bel’s solo. “The almost shy austerity that exists when Andrieux stands alone on the large empty stage makes Cunningham’s work conditions visible. He created his figures on the computer with a program that was developed for him […].” (Axel Minge)
Other guests at TANZ IM AUGUST 2010 are Meg Stuart and Philipp Gehmacher, Simone Aughterlonyand Jorge Léon, Héla Fattoumi and Éric Lamoureux, Les SlovaKs Dance Collective as well as, for the first time, Jecko Siompo from West-Papua (Indonesia) and the Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor Dance Projects from Israel. Two programs show works by up-and-coming choreographers.
In addition to the evening shows, workshops for dancers and the audience, lectures, discussions and films offer the opportunity to learn more about dance styles, choreographic methods and artistic visions. To experience the artists invited to the festival in other projects – for example, as musicians– the sommer.bar at the Podewil is the right place. The sommer.bar will be open during the entire festival and serves, as it has in past years, as the meeting place for the scene and the public.
