Opening Performance at the Attakkalari Interim Festival 2019
We are proud to announce that
Germany is
country in focus at the
Attakkalari Interim Festival 2019 which opens with
Situation with Doppelgänger / Oliver Zahn & Julian Warner.
Conceived as the launch of a new phase for Attakkalari’s strategic initiatives in Movement Arts and Transdisciplinary endeavours, the Attakkalari Interim Festival will present international performances and partnership initiatives and will also see the launch of the much-awaited
Incubation Centre for the Arts and Media (ICAM).
Situation with Doppelgänger
In 2013 white pop starlet
Miley Cyrus performed a so called
twerk choreography at the Video Music Awards together with her Afro-American dancers. The rhythmic shaking and the pornographic exhibition of the butt to bassy music caused indignation. At the same time, the performance made twerking accessible to a mass audience.
© Nicole Wytyczak
The appropriation and commercialisation of black dances and dances of other minority groups has a long tradition in pop culture and goes as far back as the Minstrel Shows of the 19th century. The questions these cultural appropriations raise arestill the same: What meaning do the dances carry? Do the dances belong to someone and who is allowed to dance them?
Based on Minstrel, Pop and Folk Dances,
Oliver Zahn and
Julian Warner examine cultural appropriation in its different forms.
Situation with Doppelgänger is a performative essay produced by the German dance company
Hauptaktion with and about dancing, the potential of popularisation and construction of authenticity.
A production by
Hauptaktion with Theaterakademie August Everding and Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, in cooperation with Ballhaus Ost Berlin.
Oliver Zahn (*1989) is a German theatre maker, working in various capacities both on stage and behind the scenes. Oliver Zahn’s performance essays circle around the ideas of nationalism, memory, history and corporeality. Based on extensive research made up of work in the field, in the archives and on stage, the resulting work is situated on the intersection of performance art and contemporary dance. Past works include
Situation with Outstretched Arm (on the history of the Nazi salute),
Situation with Doppelgänger (with Julian Warner, on cultural appropriation and minstrelsy) and
Second Essay on Gymnastics (with Julian Warner and 6 other collaborators) on performing citizenship in the history of the German Gymnastics Movement.
© Nicole Wytyczak
Julian Warner (*1985) studied Theatre Studies, American Literature and ethnology at Ludwig Maximilians University Munich. His first artistic research took place in the area of futurology for the “Brand Fiction Project” of Audi AG. He curated workshops, performances and urban district projects for Lothringer13 Kunstareal of the City of Munich as well as lecture series in Favorit Bar. Since October 2015, he works as Research Associate at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology of the University of Göttingen. His research focuses on Black Diaspora Studies, Racism and Pop Culture. As ‘Fehler Kuti’ he is part of the experimental band 1115 (Alien Transistor). Since 2015, he works together with Hannah Saar and Oliver Zahn in the association for artistic research Hauptaktion.
Cast & Crew
Performance: Julian Warner, Oliver Zahn
Voice: Tinka Kleffner
Dance Coaching: Quindell Orton
Sound: Udo Terlisten, Matthias Schaaf
Light: Fabian Eichner
Technical Design: Jonaid Khodabakhshi / Dennis Kopp
Producer: Hannah Saar
Assistance: Sara Tamburini
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