Collage: Hannah Shakti Bühler Collage with images from Barthel Beham, Joueurs de flute et cornemuse (um 1530). Strasbourg, Cabinet des Estampes et des dessins)
Hand in hand we’ll form circles to dance
jumping for days in a hypnotic trance
Hand in hand we’ll form circles to dance
A wild delirium, a rhythmic romance
Complaints of oppression, groaning in fright
Haunted by visions we will dance through the night
Corruptions of power no law could ever tame
Persecutions and misery keep on being a cruel game
A new complaint, a dance of defiance
In the face of disaster - a bold reliance!
Barons feuded spreading fear in the air
The rivers overflow while the towns in despair.
Amidst this landscape, this wretched plight
may this dance of protest be a beacon of light
Amidst the music's rhythm and beat,
listen to your breath and keep feeling your feet.
Let the dancing be loud: this is your voice.
In the wildest trance, you’ll make your choice.
inspired by 'Die Tanzwut, eine Volkskrankheit im Mittelalter' by Justus Hecker
CONCEPT AND CHOREOGRAPHY: Hannah Shakti Bühler
SOUND DESIGN, MUSIC AND PERFORMANCE: Charlotte Simon and Hannah Shakti Bühler
OUTSIDE EYE: Simon Mayer
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT: Lisa Anetsmann
PROJECT ACCOMPANIMENT: Karoline Wibmer
CHOREOMANIACS reflects and embodies dance as both a medium for liberation and ecstasy as well as a medium for disciplining the body. The work describes a journey through time that, under the term “Choreomaniacs”, recalls and connects the dancing bodies of the medieval dancing plagues with the so-called “tarantate” from the southern Italian tarantism rituals as well as with the waltzing bodies of the 18th century and revisits them with a contemporary, humorous and post-feminist perspective. A dance concert, where the audience becomes part of a liberation ritual in which the archaic is combined with the digital. A ritual between order and disorder in which the body becomes both organic matter and machine; between obsession, hysteria, humor and resistance.
Further showings:
15th Februar 2025 at Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, in the frame of the exhibition Tanzwelten.
The piece will be followed by 'FolkDanceParty': a hosted dance floor with live music.
PREMIERE
12th March 2025 @ Kammerspiele, Staatstheater Darmstadt.
Unterstützt durch das NATIONALE PERFORMANCE NETZ Koproduktionsförderung Tanz, gefördert von der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien, KulturAmt Frankfurt, Tanzplattform Rhein Main/Staatstheater Darmstadt.
