Performance
GOOD PASSPORTS BAD PASSPORTS – A BORDERLINE EXPERIENCE - Helena Waldmann
Performance in Beirut is supported by the Goethe-Institut in Beirut and the German Foreign Ministry
About the performance:
“Good Passports Bad Passports” is a deliberate cross-border project for two companies – one contemporary dance company, one from the world of nouveau cirque. They are separated by a wall made of human beings. These people who are cast locally represent the border. The border defines the company, it limits the freedom of movement. In contrast to information, goods and money, people without good passports are not allowed to cross the border. Instead, information, goods and currencies cement the attributions of others – in a world divided by nations.
The choreography uses the means of theatre to visualize the mechanisms of this seclusion. Helena Waldmann chose the title «Good Passports Bad Passports» because you can associate the one or the other company with countries like Afghanistan or Syria where territorial conflicts have made the value of their passports plummet, whereas the other company could be Europe, Canada or the USA whose passports enjoy the highest reputation and guarantee practically complete freedom of movement to their holders.
About The Company:
Since 1989 Helena Waldmann is working as a free-lanced dance director. She studied Applied Theatre Studies in Gießen from 1982-1986 and developed her first works playing with perception at Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfort. Since 2000 she is living in Berlin. Her political choreographies are touring world-wide. These journeys have also continually inspired her to make new works: works such as “Letters from Tentland” in Iran dealing with censorship. About oppression in “BurkaBondage”, Kabul/Tokio. “get a revolver”, a solo about the socially outlawed role of the forgetting. Precarious working conditions in “Made in Bangladesh“, Dhaka, a piece about exploitation in garment factories and in Western cultural industries. The production was nominated for the German Theatre Prize THE FAUST 2015.
Cast & Credits:
Dance direction, stage and concept: Helena Waldmann
With Sara Enrich Bertran, Chris Jäger, Antonia Modersohn, Tjorm Palmer, Lysandre Coutu-Sauvé, Declan Whitaker, Carlos Zaspel and 20 volunteers building a human wall.
Dramaturgy: Tobias Staab
Music: Richard Wagner, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Mika Vainio and others
Costume design: Judith Adam
Lighting design: Herbert Cybulska
Rehearsal director and ballet mistress: Johanna Hwang
Technical director: Carsten Wank
Sound: Matthias Kuhlmey
World premiere: 4 March 2017, Theater im Pfalzbau Ludwigshafen (D)
A production by Helena Waldmann and ecotopia dance productions
In coproduction with Theater im Pfalzbau Ludwigshafen (D), Hessisches Staatsballett im Rahmen von Tanzplattform Rhein-Main, ein Projekt des Hessischen Staatsballetts im Staatstheater Darmstadt und Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden und Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt (D), Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg (L), Colours International Dance Festival Stuttgart (D), Kaserne Basel (CH), Kurtheater Baden (CH), Forum Freies Theater Düsseldorf (D), Tafelhalle Nürnberg (D), Tollhaus Karlsruhe (D)el (CH), Kurtheater Baden (CH), Forum Freies Theater Düsseldorf (D), Tafelhalle Nürnberg (D)
Supported by the Committee for Dance and Theatre of the cantons Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft
Details
Citerne Beirut, Armenia Street, Al Nahr, Mar Mikhael
Part of series GERMAN FOCUS WITHIN THE 13TH BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL PLATFORM OF DANCE
Duration: 60 minutes