Production Details / Press Releases
“Navy Blue” opens in an ugly place: an oppressive universe where twelve dancers, charged by the condemning notes of Rachmaninoff, are trapped in never-ending production lines. Irish choreographer Oona Doherty clothes the mistakes of living generations in the colours of the working class, only to return with a re-birth: the sound of Jamie xx and the artist’s voice draw us into a cosmos where hope spills from the wounds of violence and shooting stars paint the sky with a submission into love.
Irish choreographer Oona Doherty, based in Belfast, creates raw and powerful performances that examine notions of gender, identity and religion and illuminate the human condition in the face of hopelessness and deprivation. Her debut work “Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus” (2016) received multiple awards and in 2017 she was selected by the Aerowaves network. She has since produced “Hard to be Soft – A Belfast Prayer” (2018) and “Lady Magma” (2019) which she brought to multiple festivals and venues across Europe. She has been awarded the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale (2021) and has been invited to Dublin Dance Festival as an Artist in Residence (2020 – 2022) and Kampnagel, Hamburg (2022). With her company OD Works she continues to create and tour worldwide.
[Source: play bill]
TFB Nr. 1674
Cast & Credits
Choreographer: Oona Doherty
By & with: Amancio Gonzalez Miñon, Andréa Moufounda, Arno Brys, Kinda Gozo, Hilde Ingeborg Sandvold, Joseph Simon, Magdalena Öttl, Mathilde Roussin, Sati Veyrunes, Thibaut Eiferman, Tomer Pistiner, Zoé Lecorgne
Original musicscore: Jamie xx © by Universal Music Publishing Ltd. By courtesy Universal Music Publishing GmbH.
Additional music: Sergej Rachmaninoff
Text: Oona Doherty with Bush Moukarzel
Video design: Nadir Bouassria
Lighting designer & technical director: John Gunning
Stage manager: Lisa Marie Barry
Costume designer: Oona Doherty with Lisa Marie Barry
Production management: Gabrielle Veyssiere
Navy Blue is a creation of Oona Doherty, produced by OD Works, coproduced by Kampnagel International Summer Festival (DE), Sadler’s Wells (UK), Théâtre National de Chaillot (FR), La Biennale di Venezia (IT), Maison de la Danse (FR), Belfast International Arts Festival (UK) and Big Pulse Dance Alliance (coproduced by Dance Umbrella (UK), Dublin Dance Festival (IR), Torinodanza Festival (IT) and Julidans (NL) ) and presented by Tanz im August/HAU Hebbel am Ufer (DE), Zodiak – Side Step Festival (FI), ONE Dance Week (BG), International Dance Festival TANEC PRAHA (CZ), New BalticDance (LT), CODA Oslo International Dance Festival (NW), funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, co-funded by the Creative Europe program of the European Union, Supported by the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Direction régionale des affaires culturelles d’Ile-de-France – Ministère de la culture.
Tanz im August as a guest at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele.
The premiere is supported by the Embassy of Ireland Berlin.
Tanz im August 2022
Artistic Director: Virve Sutinen
Executive Producer Festival: Stefan Nagel
Curator & Producer: Andrea Niederbuchner
Producer & Assistant to Artistic Director: Alina Scheyrer-Lauer
Producer: Ekaterina Voronova
Production Assistant: Johanna Herrschmann
Production Associates: Vivien Hohnholz, John Hoobyar, Mmakgosi Kgabi, Raquel Moreira, Lilli Ruopp, Tammo Walter
Technical Director Festival: Ingo Ruggenthaler
Tanz im August is a festival by HAU Hebbel am Ufer, funded by the Capital Cultural Fund.
Haus der Berliner Festspiele
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)