Tumult of Transformation

Elena Philipp
Editor

What are the effects of a persistent crisis? The Tanzfabrik Berlin and its associated artists seem to be feeling a bit dizzy: Vertigo (Part One) is the title of this year’s Tanznacht Berlin. Usually, the Berlin dance festival takes place biennially, but due to the pandemic the schedule had to be thinned out in 2020, and Vertigo (Part Two) will follow as early as 2021 – in the hope of making up for what had to be postponed. Nevertheless, what is on offer in September is dizzyingly extensive: the choreographic group exhibition in Studio 14 at Ufer­studios is an exchange of artistic positions from various disciplines. In the performance program, Antonia Baehr and Latifa Laâbissi, among others, will present their human-ape hybrid show “Consul and Meshie” in an installation by Nadia Lauro. In their video-performance-space choreography “Aeon”, Moritz Majce and Sandra Man seek out wasteland and urban nature. They create a terrain for the audience to explore the ongoing planetary transformation such as global warming or the pandemic. With both Vertigo editions, the Tanzfabrik is focusing on its four-year theme “Age of Displacement”. Based on fantasies of space colonization from the 1970s, Vertigo explores the concept of displacement in terms of its utopian, subversive potential, without losing sight of its dystopian, marginalizing aspects. According to the motto: Open your eyes and hope for the best!