The arts in dialogue: TextTanz (Textdance)

On 29 June 2007, the poesiefestival berlin will be bringing a fusion of the poetic arts and dance to the stage

Dance is made up of rhythm, sound and movement; poetry is made up of rhythm, sound and language. Reason enough why dance and verse are closely related. Poetry does what it has been doing since its outset when poetry, dance and music were inextricably linked: it provokes movement that takes poetic texts at their word while at the same time acknowledging their sound and rhythm. The result is a dance text. In two dance performances on 29 June 2007 ( brinnen by Hans-Werner Klohe to texts by Anja Utler and KONJUNKTIVIEN by Jenny Atwood to texts by Andreas H. Drescher) the poesiefestival berlin will be showing what happens when two art forms take inspiration from each other.

This dialogue between dance and verse is in the forefront of both pieces. In brinnen , this dialogue takes on a definite form, in KONJUNKTIVIEN , movement emerges as poetry is read. It is improvised.

In brinnen , strict form meets improvisation while structure is called into question, leading to displacement, overlapping and interlocking. In the conflict area between dance and language, a type of "text body" emerges. The dancers link their movements to the sound structure and create a new dimension for the poem in a physical-phonetic fusion with the poet Anja Utler. Whilst the text is multi-witted with a finely diversified network, the sensuous reality of dance is put to the test - the movements of a "text body" flare up then die out again as a result of the friction between body and language .

The title KONJUNKTIVIEN was taken from the poem of the same name by Andreas H. Drescher. Drescher will read out the original version of his poem to giving a uniform and vertical effect while the dancer Jenny Atwood, equipped only with the translated version, will move freely across the horizontal axis of the stage. Using Drescher's rhythm, she will improvise and interpret the text. No rehearsals have been scheduled. The fact that Jenny does not understand German raises the issue of legibility and meaning of text . The cameraman Jens Jensen will capture this experiment on film while the Australian video artist Jason Lam will produce a poetry film from it.

With kind support of the Australian Embassy and the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI.

Friday, 29 June 2007, 8pm

TextTanz

Ballhaus Ost
German premiere: brinnen
Dance and poetry - a dance performance with dialogue, with Hans-Werner Klohe and Sumi Jang and texts from Anja Utler

Anja Utler (poet, Vienna), Hans-Werner Klohe (choreographer/dancer, Berlin), Sumi Jang (dancer, Freiburg)
Premiere : KONJUNKTIVIEN
Dance performance by Jenny Atwood to a text by Andreas H. Drescher
Andreas H. Drescher (author, Saarlouis)
Jenny Atwood (dancer, Australia/UK)

Sponsored by the Capital Cultural Fund.

Boris Kruse
Presse-/Öffentlichkeitsarbeit

Literaturwerkstatt Berlin
http://www.literaturwerkstatt.org/