GERMAN FOCUS WITHIN THE 13TH BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL PLATFORM OF DANCE

April 13th till 29th, 2017, at Citerne Beirut, Armenia Street, Al Nahr, Mar Mikhael

The Goethe-Institut has the pleasure to be once again part of Bipod and especially this year as Maqamat Dance Theater announces the creation of a new venue, Citerne Beirut, that is, as Mia Habis Maqamat’s director describes it: “a reservoir for our ambitions and imagination, a space for creativity, art and experimentation. A living and breathing space that initiates, creates and changes… Let it be a window onto the ideas of this city and its people, a place for them to proclaim their dreams and their visions. Let it be a space for research and art, for meetings and creativity,…”
 
We are happy to announce that there will be a “German Focus” in this year’s edition of the festival.
 
The German Focus, is organized in collaboration with the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maqamat, NPN (National Performance Network), and Galerie Tanit.

Maqamat has managed to develop a strong relationship and long term collaborations with the dance scene in Germany. These exchanges were important for the development of the festival locally and internationally, thanks to the support of the Goethe-Institut and the NPN. The artistic proposals of the artists and dance professionals such as Sasha Waltz, Constanza Macras, Raimund Hoghe, William Forsythe, Jochen Roller, Samir Akkika, Richard Siegal, Stephanie Thiersch, Arnd Wesemann, and many others were very influential in terms of proposing new perspectives and perceptions for dance and the body. It could be said the each performance was an event in itself and had a huge impact on the Lebanese pubilc and artists, and are highly valued and considered in the progress of BIPOD.
 
From this perspective Maqamat is developing a focus on German artists and companies and highlight the new and different approaches to dance and the body. The German contemporary dance scene regroups a number of excellent artists and choreographers. We believe that their presence in the festival would enhance the diversity of artistic propositions in contemporary dance and would have an important impact on the Lebanese audience. It would also allow the festival to continue building up and proposing new propositions and perceptions of ‘the body’.
 
The selected companies, Helena Waldmann, Lutz Foster and Dance On Ensemble, highlight specific themes that are strongly related to the overall theme of BIPOD 2017.
 
In addition to the performances the festival has the honor to be organizing a talk with Lutz Foster, a workshop with Franko Schmidt, member of the Tanztheater Wuppertal – Pina Bausch and with Galerie Tanit- Beyrouth, “Ensembles, a video installation about Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch”.
 
Performances: 
Sunday 16th April 2017, at 8:30 pm - Citerne Beirut
Lutz Förster - Dance Stories by and with Lutz Förster (Lutz Förster)
 
Monday 24th April 2017, at 08:30 pm – Citerne Beirut

 
Tuesday 25th April, at 08:30 pm - Citerne Beirut
Water between Three hands (Rabih Mroue)
Performed by Dance on Ensemble
 
Friday 28th April, at 08:30 pm - Citerne Beirut
Good Passports Bad Passports – A Borderline experience (Helena Waldmann)
 
Workshop and exhibition: 
Friday 14th April, at 06:00 pm – Gallery Tanit – Mar Mikhael, Beirut
ENSEMBLES, A VIDEO INSTALLATIONA ABOUT TANZTHEATER WUPPERTAL PINA BAUSCH
 
Saturday 15th April & Sunday 16th April, from 11:00 am till 01:30 - CITERNE BEIRUT
WORKSHOP FRANKO SCHMIDT- Tanztheater Wuppertal – Pina Bausch (DE) 
 
More about the German Focus: https://www.goethe.de/ins/lb/en/ver.cfm 
Bipod 2017 Program: https://www.maqamat.org/