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Recording: 2023-07-01 , Sophiensæle (Video © Bickmann & Kolde GbR)

Double Much

COILING AGAINST THE SUN

Leisure & Pleasure Festival | Sophiensæle

Production Details / Press Releases

In 2020, a group of suddenly unemployed Berlin-based dancers living in uncertainty amidst strict state regulations on physicality, touch and mobility started to regularly meet in public space. There they played Double Dutch: a game played with two skipping ropes swung in opposite directions so that they cross rhythmically, with one or more people jumping in the middle. What started as a response to the Corona lockdowns, has since blossomed into an ongoing practice where five artists regularly explore the game’s connection to trance-like states, club culture from early hip hop to techno. From the Black feminist perspective, Double Dutch belongs to the long lineage of ways in which Black US-Americans have maintained community and culture: The game offers a space of bodily practices and oral tradition to combat controlling images and narratives attempting to erase an existence. But Double Dutch also invites the exploration of joy, creativity, non-productive artmaking, playfulness and togetherness as a safe haven within the twisted lifestyle of the freelance dancers.

DANI BROWN was born and raised in Rochester, NY, USA. She completed her Bachelor of Dance at ArtEZ University of the Arts in Arnhem, NL. She now lives in Berlin and works internationally as a choreographer, performer, researcher and teacher. Her work and collaborations have been presented worldwide and her latest work, The Pressing, premiered at Radialsystem in Berlin in July 2022.

JUSTIN F KENNEDY (VI/DE) is a Berlin-based dance and vocal artist, teacher and DJ from St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. Justin’s research evolves from a longstanding dance and vocal practice and its further translation into workshops, science fiction operas, installations, street interventions, happenings, music and film.

NASHEEKA NEDSREAL is a multidisciplinary artist, dancer and choreographer from Louisiana who works through the mediums of sound and visual art. She employs voice, collage, found objects, textiles, and masking in her work, which explores themes of identity, ritual, futurism, play, and improvisation. Her work has been shown at Ballhaus Naunynstraße, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Kampnagel, Sadler’s Wells, and Theater o.N., among others. Most recently, Nedsreal was artist in residence at Black Rock Senegal in 2022. She is currently a member of the dance ensemble at Schauspielhaus Zurich.

SIMO VASSINEN (FI/DE) is a dancer, performer, writer, translator, bodyworker and former futurologist. His performances deal with psychotherapy, emotions related to climate change, the Eurovision Song Contest and subcultural codes, among others – often mixing social research and journalism with dance and physicality. He has shown his work at Tanztage Berlin, Delphi Theater, ada, Uferstudios and Kiasma Museum, among others. He is currently working in Germany and Finland with an urge to combine the transcendence of dance and rave culture with psychoanalysis, dynamic meditation, bodywork and futurology.

GABRIELLE VON WÄRE is a dancer, choreographer and mother of two from Rochester, NY. She began dancing at a young age and her career has taken her from the US to Istanbul and now to Berlin. Describing her range of movement as a “physical lyricist,” she has performed in films, music videos and numerous theaters throughout Europe. After working with stars such as Jasmine Masters, Von Wäre additionally began designing clothing and textile patterns. She also works as a movement coach and teacher with a strong focus on voice and what she calls “Ancestral Fascia”.

[Source: sophiensaele.com]

TFB Nr. 1782

Cast & Credits

ARTISTIC DIRECTION: Nasheeka Nedsreal
PERFORMANCE: Dani Brown, Justin F. Kennedy, Nasheeka Nedsreal, Simo Vassinen, Gabrielle von Wäre

A production of Double Much in co-production with SOPHIENSÆLE within the frame of Leisure & Pleasure, supported by the Capital Cultural Fund.

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 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)

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