In 2026 the Goethe-Institut London embarks on a new partnership with The Place (UK) and Explore Dance (DE). The overarching aim is to explore practice and process for making the best contemporary dance available to young audiences through commissioning structures, artist development and touring. This year, to start the collaboration, we have jointly commissioned an updated version of Rotem Weissman’s PRISMA. The performance has toured extensively in Germany and will tour to schools in England in summer 2026 as part of The Place’s The Playground Tour.
In January, we welcomed Rotem and the PRISMA company to London for a two-week residency at The Place and the Goethe-Institut London. The company took the opportunity to rework the performance and gather input from other artists and professionals as well as primary school pupils from Richard Cobden Primary School in Camden. Lia Prentaki supported with facilitating the school sessions, encouraging the young people to feedback and inform the development of the performance. Jenny Bakst and Sybille Schorm supported in the development of a student workshop that will be offered to schools alongside the performance in summer.
The team will come back together in June to do final rehearsals before their planned five-week tour to schools in England.
PRISMA
When light passes through a prism, it splits into a colourful ribbon, revealing the entire spectrum hidden within a single beam. In Prisma, choreographer Rotem Weissman and her collective embrace this phenomenon as a metaphor: even when we look at the same thing, each of us perceives it differently.
Drawing inspiration from children's books that open doors to fascinating worlds — from the wild imagination of Where the Wild Things Are to microscopic universes and the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly — Prisma translates stories, images and characters into movement. The concrete becomes abstract, figures dissolve and reappear, and narratives merge to create a mysterious, humorous, colourful and unexpected world. Like a daydream, meanings shift and new contexts emerge.
Prisma invites young audiences to explore, celebrate and expand their own interpretations, discovering that every perspective is another colour in the rainbow.
Choreography: Rotem Weissman
Dance: Susanna Ylikoski, Karolina Szymura, Lauren Ellen Jenkins, Rotem Weissman
Concept & Creation: Rotem Weissman, Jin Lee, Jihun Choi
Music: Tai Rona
Costumes: U.Kaiju, Han Lai
Dramaturgy: Susanne Schneider
Artistic Support: Ceren Oran
Created with the support of Explore Dance – Dance Network for Young Audiences. The 2026 programme is developed with and supported by the Goethe-Institut London, and is produced and toured by The Place.
