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Recording: 2016-01-13 , Tanztage Berlin 2016 | Sophiensæle (Video © Walter Bickmann)

Sara Mikolai

ARCHIV-ARBEIT VII

Tanztage Berlin 2016 | Sophiensæle

Production Details / Press Releases

spiegel-zentrum.de

Julius-Hans-Spiegel-Zentrum / TANZTAGE BERLIN 2016

WITH A BACKGROUND in Bharata Natyam, Sara Mikolai develops experi-mental work. For the Julius-Hans-Spiegel-Zentrum she conceived a hidden ritual – inspired by the photography of devadasi dancers from the Box Nr. 942n Exotischer Tanz – that combines elements of the devadasi tradition, different trance practices, objects from the archive room as well as sound.

In her archive work, Mikolai investigates the gaze in colonial photography and plays with the tension of visibility and invisibility as well as knowledge and ignorance. She dives into the prehistory of Bharata Natyam, a south Indian dance that was developed out of the devadasi tradition after the abolishment of the British colonialists in the wake of the Indian nationalist movement.

SARA MIKOLAI is a performer, dancer and choreographer born in Berlin. In her work she investigates social-political issues such as the visibility of the diaspora, trauma and gender. She is currently studying in the BA Dance, Context and Choreography at the HZT Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin.

The JULIUS-HANS-SPIEGEL-ZENTRUM is an itinerant research center, which investigates the interweaving of dance cultures since modernity. In residencies of four weeks, five choreographers from Berlin and Frankfurt have developed critical perspectives on the exoticisms of modern dance. First results of their research are now being shown in short archive works during Tanztage Berlin. Starting point of their investigation was an archive box from the photo collection of the Lipperheidesche Kostümbibliothek in Berlin: Kasten Nr. 942n Exotischer Tanz. The classification logic of this archive box, which strongly discriminates between modern and traditional, foreign and familiar, makes the mechanisms of exclusion in modern dance visible that still are at work in contemporary dance.

Cast & Credits

CONCEPT, PERFORMANCE: Sara Mikolai
COSTUME: Nadine Bakota
SOUND PERFORMANCE: Tara Transitory

Julius-Hans-Spiegel-Zentrum
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: Anna Wagner, Eike Wittrock
ARCHIVE: change
SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION: Tessa Jahn
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT: Katharina Fenderl
PRODUCTION ASSISTANCE: Dominik Zippe

A production by Julius-Hans-Spiegel-Zentrum GbR, in cooperation with Internationales Forschungskolleg Verflechtungen von Theaterkulturen, Lipperheidesche Kostümbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and SOPHIENSÆLE.
Funded by the Capital Culture Fund.
Supported by Akt-Zent e.V.

TANZTAGE BERLIN 2016
ARTISTIC DIRECTION: Anna Mülter
FESTIVAL MANAGEMENT: Franziska Schrage
COLLABORATION: Cilgia Gadola
MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE: Raisa Kröger
ARTIST SUPPORT: Ece Tufan
The 25th Tanztage Berlin are a production by SOPHIENSÆLE.
Funded by the Governing Mayor of Berlin – Senatskanzlei Cultural Affairs.
Supported by Museo Universitario del Chopo, Goethe-Institut, Institut français, French Ministry of Culture and Communication / DGCA and mapping dance berlin.

 

Sophiensæle

Sophienstraße 18
10178 Berlin

sophiensaele.com
Map

Tickets: (030) 283 52 66

Video Documentation

The video documentation is produced on behalf of the Senate Department for Culture and Europe. The purpose of this contract is to document productions in the field of contemporary dance in Berlin. The master recordings are archived by the University Library of the Berlin University of Arts. Copies of the recordings on DVD are available for viewing exclusively in the reference collections of the following archives (at media desks in these institutions):

University Library of the Berlin University of Arts
Mediathek für Tanz und Theater des Internationalen Theaterinstituts / Mime Centrum Berlin
Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin (HZT)

Sara Mikolai / Trailers and Video Documentations

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