The desire to acknowledge and interact with non-human beings brought Jared Gradinger and Angela Schubot into a deep immersion with nature and its inherent intelligence. Rather than a traditional dance piece, with “YEW” they co-create an experimental evening of intense encounters with a plant nature, which they can only describe as a “soilless garden.” They share their interspecies encounters with the audience.

Jared Gradinger and Angela Schubot have developed their own original and distinct aesthetic and movement language together over the past 9 years. With extreme physicality and radicality, but at the same time in fragile situations of high intimacy, their works are constantly revolving around the question: How can we co-exist together? Their work “What they are instead of” (2009) searches to exhaust the ‘I’ in order to make it disappear while “is maybe” which premiered at HAU Hebbel am Ufer in 2011 and reran 2012 and 2014, goes even further by producing a hybrid being, without identity, which emerges from the radical symbiosis of two bodies. Can I escape myself by finding a home in the other through an unconditional togetherness? The two-part project “Les Petites Morts”, links back to this question, but adds a new dimension to the theme of the dissolution of the self. The first part of that project “i hope you die soon” which premiered at HAU in 2013, poses the question of how can we die together. The second part of this work is the trio “all my holes are theirs”, which was created together with Aleesa Cohene. In this work, both performers attempt to die and disappear by radically and mutually devoting themselves to another. In 2014 HAU Hebbel am Ufer showed “SOON YOU ARE THEIRS”, a retrospective by Jared Gradinger and Angela Schubot. With their new trilogy, in their desire to find new and ever more vital needed forms of co-existence Gradinger and Schubot invite other beings into their work as co-creators, collaborators and partners. The trilogy wanders around the concept of gardens as a way to work collaboratively with nature and the responsibilities and new relationships that come with them. “YEW” is the first part: as an interspecies group piece it is a collaboration with nine plants and a creation of a ‘soil-less garden’. For the second part, they will bring “YEW” outdoors (Premiere June 2018). The final work, ‘The Nature of Us’ (2019), will be their first time working with a group of humans and other intelligences, continuing their search for other forms of co-creation through an unconditional intimacy.

Stefan Rusconi studied jazz piano at the Zurich University of the Arts. Since then he has been releasing music and touring with his band RUSCONI, Fred Frith, Thomas Wydler (Nick Cave), Dieter Meier (Yello) among others throughout the world and collaborated with artists such as Pipilotti Rist, Roman Signer and Meg Stuart. He played at festivals such as Montreux Jazzfestival, Jarasum Festival Korea, Fusion, Ruhrtriennale, London Jazzfestival, Überjazz Festival, Jazz à la Défense, Garana Jazzfestival among many others. He runs his own label Qilin Records and also writes music for theater and film.

Annegret Schalke lives and works as a dancer/ choreographer and light designer in Berlin. She holds a master degree in mathematics and graduated in the Dance, Context, Choreography MA at HZT Berlin in 2013. Besides working as a performer on stage (e.g. with Kat Válastur, Eva Meyer-Keller, Julian Weber, Rose Beermann) she develops installational and choreographed lighting designs for dance/performance, including collaborations with Eva Meyer-Keller (“Some Significance”), Lea Moro (“FUN”, “The End of the Alphabet”, “(b)reaching stillness”), Angela Schubot and Robert Steijn (“brothers”) and Cecilie Ullerup-Schmidt (“EXODUS”). In 2014/15 she was part of the light/ sound/video artist residencies Gangplank Zagreb and Berlin with Bruno Pocheron. In 2015 she received a danceWeb scholarship in the frame of ImpulsTanz Festival Vienna.

Gretchen Blegen is an interdisciplinary artist and light designer. She lives and works in Berlin since 2011. Her artistic work includes creating bibliophile publications comprised of texts, photos, collages and drawings. Since 2012, she has worked on productions as part of various collaborations and projects, including ausland, SissiFM Radio, Vierte Welt and Plants and Empire. She is interested in birdcalls, silence in politics and in the general apathy for reality.

Claudia Hill is a cross-disciplinary artist. Her subject is the body in relation to textile, performance, and community-building. Her work ranges from film-making through costume design, drawings to an artists’ book and visual interventions, e.g. at ZKM or Centre Pompidou. 2017, she was part of Barbara Raes’ “Unacknowledged Loss” at HAU Hebbel am Ufer, where she created her ritual “Softcore”. She was part of various performances developed by Meg Stuart at HAU Hebbel am Ufer, such as “Hunter” in 2014 and “Sketches/Notebook” in 2013. Hill is also a member of the artist group Supernova which developed out of the framework of “Sketches/Notebook”. As a costume designer, she collaborated with choreographer William Forsythe and the New York based ensemble The Wooster Group. She worked on artists’ films by Michaël Borremans or Boris Achour and created the costumes for Jeremy Wade’s Battlefield Nurse in the context of the Symposium “Take Care”. claudiahill.com

Juliette Quilici is a french textile designer. She studied at École Nationale des Arts Appliqués et des Métiers d’Art (ENSAAMA) in Paris and at École Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et du Textile (ESAAT) in Roubaix, near Lille. In addition, she has a background in contemporary dance. She came to Berlin for a work semester with Claudia Hill. Juliette Quilici lately assisted on the creation of the costumes and set for the piece “Pharmacist or Balloonist” by Elpida Orfanidou & Guests.

Sigal Zouk is a dancer and artist working in Berlin since 1997. She received her training at the Emek Izrael Dance School and joined the Bat-Sheva Ensemble from 1994–96. After moving to Berlin and working with artists such as Luc Dunberry and Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola, she became a member of Sasha Waltz & Guests from 1999–2004. In 2005, she began her collaboration with Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods as a dancer and later on as a choreographic advisor/outside eye. In 2007, she began her long time collaboration with Laurent Chétouane in which she created ten dance and theatre works for the stage. She has worked with other artists such as Boris Charmatz, AWST & Walter, Zeitkratzer, Simone Aughterlony, Ian Kaler and others. Zouk accompanies artists and choreographers such as Gradinger/ Schubot, Meg Stuart and Sheena McGrandles on their artistic journey, helping them to work with their limitations and their potentiality. She was awarded the best performer in Dortmund Festival 2010 as well as dancer of the year from Tanz Magazine 2011.

[Source: play bill]

TFB Nr. 1159