Production Details / Press Releases
Do we still want to see people on stage feel something? And if the answer is yes: are they to approach it individually and authentically, or rather in a stylised manner, according to the rulebook of affect? Under which conditions do emotions come about? Do we want to feel something ourselves? Would we rather see others think? Which music, which singing would match current concepts of emotion and affect? Where is the transitional from affect to madness, where is the link between madness and singing, which seems to be so often suggested by the representation of emotion in opera? How does the psychological development of a character relate to the singer’s acute fear of the coloratura? What does devotion mean in opera? And what is needed for it?
With HOW WE FEEL, Novoflot is undertaking a fundamental research with all thinkable means of musical theatre. It is presented as a series of three thematic evenings at the opera. Each instalment of the series is developed as a musical-theatrical combination of new compositions and selected material from the opera repertoire as well as other genres like film, literature, science. The research directly addresses the very heart of the genre of opera: the affects, their representation or production with the old as well as the latest musical and theatrical means, the relationship between affect and narration, as well as the architecture of pathos on the opera stage. Each of the three parts is devoted to a different emotional state.
Part 1: Fear
Part 2: Exhaustion
Part 3: Happiness
Cast & Credits
With: Bini Lee (Soprano) Yeri Anarika Vargas Sanchez (Dance) Luise White (Cast) Ceri Williams (Mezzosopran) Ensemble Mosaic
Concept and libretto: Sven Holm and Malte Ubenauf Composition: Aleksandra Gryka Director: Sven Holm Musical direction: Vicente Larrañaga
Stage and costumes: Elisa Limberg Dramaturgy: Malte Ubenauf Choreography: Yeri Anarika Vargas Sanchez Video: Philip Kießling
Technical management and lighting: Jörg Bittner Production management: Dörte Wolter
A production by NOVOFLOT in collaboration with Sophiensaele Official satellite-partner of transmediale.11
Sponsored by the Governing Mayor of Berlin – Senatskanzlei – Cultural Affairs and by the Fonds Darstellende Künste
Sophiensæle
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)