RECOVERY revolves around struggle as a process of healing and the stage as an arena, in which questions of coping with trauma, a fresh start and female support are raised. It all started with Florentina’s accident during a performance of Silk in Norway, when she crashed three meters to the ground. The work Recovery, inspired by this experience and the title of American rapper Eminem’s seventh studio album, is the product of a lengthy recovery period. Florentina aims at transforming herself into a warrior on both a spiritual and a physical level. Now, evening by evening, she enters the ring to defy the art world, fear and trauma. She prepares for every show as if it was a fight. Thus, each instalment of Recovery is characterized by physical healing and starting fresh, by the recovery of what seemed lost and by the recovery of artistic data. The performance emerges from the conviction that the only art worth being made is art that can heal. Florentina Holzinger is inspired by George Balanchine’s legendary ballet Agon, created in 1957. The work’s title means competition and is considered a highlight of Balanchine’s examination of Igor Stravinsky’s music. Florentina created her own Agon which was shown at festival ImPuls-Tanz 2014 and Recovery is based on that piece. Recovery was shown at theatres and festivals all over Europe.

FLORENTINA HOLZINGER (AT/NL) studied choreography at the School for New Dance Development (SNDO) in the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten. She received the danceWEB Scholarship in 2008 and in 2011 at ImPulsTanz Vienna. Her Diploma Solo work Silk got awarded the Prix Jardin d’Europe at the lmPulsTanz Festival 2012. Her collaboration with Vincent Riebeek resulted in a trilogy of pieces – Kein Applaus für Scheisse, Spirit, and Wellness – that quickly gave them a name in the scene and still tours all over the world. Florentina Holzinger developed her group work Recovery in autumn 2015 which built the foundation for a series of workshops concerning the relation of fighting, self defence and art. The Trilogy with Vincent Riebeek found continuation in the making of Schönheitsabend – Tänze des Lasters, des Grauens und der Extase. Florentina is Co-Author and Performer of the Webseries Body and Freedom, shot at Berliner Festspiele, which will be available to online viewers worldwide from spring 2017 on. She is currently artist in residence at the International Choreographic Arts Center ICK Amsterdam. Florentina will premier her newest show Apollon Musagete in September 2017 at Steirischer Herbst in Graz/AT.

[Source: play bill]

TFB Nr. 1098