Within the festival the work will be presented as a performance as well as a film by Stella Horta. Inspired by Monique Wittig’s Le Corps Lesbien and Octavia Butler’s novel Parable of the Sower, showdown episodically presents the encounter and coexistence of two individuals. In a strange and at the same time provisionally hopeful environment, the two dancers Nanna Stigsdatter Mathiassen and Judith Förster find opportunities to meet – from formal handshakes to body collisions. showdown refers to the worlds of Neo-Western and survivalism, blurring the boundaries between duet and duel, collaboration and sabotage.
paragliding /
______________
__________________ knotting /
___________________________________ masking /
_____________ waterfall /
This cinematic avatar of Judith Förster’s performance showdown extends the format of screen dance and dance documentary film as an audiovisual work. In search of the different ways of relating text and moving images to each other, showdown AV offers non-didactic insights into the narrative worlds and research that have accompanied the performance’s development process. Through a sensitive cut in sound and video as well as intimate close-ups, the film invites the audience to follow their own associations or to let themselves fall into the images of the film.
“The battle is over.
The dead are washed and finally covered with a wet cloth.
The living stop. They mourn while they indulge in the vividly twitching memories of the battle just past.” (Film quote showdown AV)
Judith Förster is a choreographer, dancer and set/costume designer living in Berlin. Her work is situated between visual arts and dance. Combining the performative and the somatic, she works very experience-oriented, starting from the body in its political, sensory and image-producing dimensions. The interaction of body and material is at the centre of her research and is constantly finding new forms in collaborations with choreographers, visual artists and dancers.
Stella Horta works as a freelance filmmaker. She develops projects in the fields of experimental film, narrative film and new media. She studied sound, light, representation and directing at the European Film College in Denmark and graduated from the Lisbon based Art School António Arroio in Audiovisual Communication. Frequently she is collaborating with performers and documenting pieces or artistic processes in Berlin.
Artistic directOR Judith Förster VIDEO, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Stella Horta DANCE Judith Förster, Nanna Sigsdatter Mathiassen COSTUMES Martin Sieweke STAGE Julian Weber SOUND Fjóla Gautadóttir LIGHT DESIGN, Technical AND Production Assistant André Uerba DRAMATURGY Isabel Gatzke AUDIO DESCRIPTION Judith Förster, Isabel Gatzke, Renae Shadler FEEDBACK AUDIO DESCRIPTION Sophia Neises VOICE Merel Steenbrink
The 30th edition of Tanztage Berlin is a production of SOPHIENSÆLE. Supported by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe. With the friendly support of Tanzfabrik Berlin e.V., Theaterhaus Berlin Mitte and Förderband e.V./Berliner Spielplan Audiodeskription. Media partner: taz. die tageszeitung