Production Details / Press Releases
Florentina Holzinger’s new performance A Divine Comedy catapults the world-famous work of the same name by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri right into the present. For her own version of the story, the exceptional choreographer condenses the three parts of the original – hell, purgatory and paradise – to create heaven and hell in the here and now, and set them in motion. Blurring the distinctions that are so deeply rooted in our culture, she brings an all-female cast of performers of all ages and with a mixed background in various physical, musical and dancing disciplines to the stage to explore the human dimensions of life and death. In a spectacular performance, Holzinger devises her own Divine Comedy, journeying through European choreography together with an ensemble spanning seven decades in search of connections between generations and the roots of the images and fantasies of death in our culture. Holzinger does not shy away from placing death itself on the dissecting table, creating an experimental field of extremes upon which she practises dances of death as exercises in dying that refer to death but mean life. How can you represent what cannot be imagined? The performers‘ bodies are the site of metaphysical and anatomical explorations to find a way. In the process, traditions of dance, music and literary history transform into the choreographer’s own creative material. High culture is used as a treasure trove and a rich source of entertainment including stunts, motocross and hypnosis. Holzinger populates her own afterlife with the faults and fears of our time and asks no lesser question than whether spirituality is possible in the 21st century.
somethinggreat.de
[Source: volksbuehne.berlin]
TFB Nr. 1642
Cast & Credits
Performance & Choreography: Foxxy Angel, Amanda Bailey, Linda Blomqvist, Renée Copraij, Beatrice Cordua, Paige A. Flash, Alba Gentili-Tedeschi, Noam Gorbat, Ria Higler, Florentina Holzinger, Susanne Jablonski, Steffi Laier, Paula Reinitzhuber, Annina Machaz, Maartje Pasman, Courtney May Robertson, Audrey Merilus, Xana Novais, Maja Osojnik, Bärbel Schwarz, Anna Tierney, Linnéa Tullius, Miranda van Kuilenburg, Isabelle Volckaert
Concept & Directing: Florentina Holzinger
Composition & Sound Design: Maja Osojnik, Stefan Schneider
Stage Design: Nikola Knežević
Dramaturgy: Renée Copraij, Sara Ostertag
Dramaturgy RT: Sara Abbasi
Dramaturgie Staatstheater Kassel: Dirk Baumann
Real Choreography: Ty Boomershine
Lighting Design: Max Kraußmüller, Anne Meeussen
Video Design: Noam Gorbat
Technical Lead: Anne Meeussen, Stephan Werner
Stage Technician / Drawbar Operator: Dörte Wilfrorth
Assistant Stage Designer: Camilla Smolders, Nicole Marianna Wytyczak
Music Coach: Almut Lustig
Stunt Coordination: Leo Plank (Haeger Stunt & Wireworks) Stunt – Factory
Hurdle Training: Valerie Kleiser, Ulrike Kleinschmidt
Animal Preparation Coach: Lydia Mäder
Timbersports Coach: Josef Laier
Outside Eye: Fernando Belfiore
Production Intern Kassel: Lisa Birkenbach
Management and international distribution: Something Great
Production Management: Ricardo Frayha
A commission by Ruhrtriennale. Produced by Something Great, Spirit, Ruhrtriennale and Staatstheater Kassel. In co-production with Tanzquartier Wien, Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg -Platz, deSingel, Theater Freiburg and Julidans
Funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes and Cultural Department of the City of Vienna
With friendly support of Rudolf Augstein Stiftung, Arts and Culture Division of the Federal Chancellery of Austria, documenta Halle (Kassel), Montévidéo (Marseille)
Supported by the NATIONALE PERFORMANCE NETZ Guest Performance Funding for Dance, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as well as the Culture and Art Ministries of the Federal States.
Thanks to Uwe Leifheit, Impulstanz Vienna
Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz
Linienstraße 227
10178 Berlin
Video Documentation
The video documentation is produced on behalf of the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. 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)