Suffering is often seen as something inevitable, at times even character-building. But it doesn’t have to be that way: lasting victory is the goal of this intimate, rhythmic, and restlessly probing duet «No More Suffering». Martin Hansen & Kareth Schaffer are seeking exit strategies from a familiar yet untenable present: through chanting, skipping, manifestos, and psalms, the pair exorcise—and exercise—their own lifelong penchant for suffering. The strongly atmospheric sounds of Mars Dietz and the opulent stage design by Dan Lancea, referencing Catholic religious images, counteract the beat set by the performers. The theater itself remains in limbo: heaven – or hell – lurks at every exit.

constructioncompany.dance

Kareth Schaffer practices an extended concept of choreography with manifold collaborators under the name Construction Company. To date her works have scrutinized ancient monastic practices, honey bee movement patterns, prophecies, mudwrestling, synchronized swimming, foley, Angela Merkel, emojis, and imposter syndrome—among other things.

Martin Hansen is a choreographer and dancer working between solo and collaborative endeavors in theatres and galleries. Their work has been a way to think through such topics as the biopolitics of the theatre, ghosts and why they haunt us, the problems with dance history’s obsession with icon and monument, and suffering and its hopeful cessation.

[Source: tanzfabrik-berlin.de]

TFB Nr. 1624