sungrazers
now also playing at b12 / dock 11
»Hey! It’s fun to play with you! You are… I know who you are! You are the amazing stranger. You are always traveling from planet to planet, you are surfing the universe. You are … are beyond good and bad. You are the amazing silver surfer. Is this …. is this how you do it? Do you think I can do it like you?«
the drug of the modern age is movement. its intoxication is speed. reality gets so fast that places and events begin to flicker, as if simultaneously. stories disintegrate into data streams. cities become transit stations, people, and terminals. transcendence becomes transfer. transfer, terror.
the centrifugal force of "globalitarianism" sucks at the ground beneath our feet. china deports. abu dhabi builds high. musk wants to go to mars. europe is shutting down. expansions come to zero. and betwixt: glassy shadows of millions. chased from record to record, through airports, fitness centres, refugee camps. passers-by above, sprinters at the pulse of gps trackers below, migrants all around. exit, exile, exodus.
johannes wieland and his ensemble conjure up six sorcerer's apprentices of movement: god, who is as lonely at the end as he was at the beginning. silversurfers on the radio waves of the cosmos, an identitarian alice who buys a gun in wonderland. atomic tennis. mutagenic cats. and the feeling that it’s the asteroid that will hit us, but we are hurtling into it in a mad rave....
"the beat gets louder as i flow in the darkness of my veins. blood streams leading me into the blue sky where the beat gets louder...."
»we will be removed«
a mind eraser | johannes wieland production
performers:
chris-pascal englund braun | meimouna coffi | jordan gigout | hendrik hebben | gotaute kalmatavičiūtė | fabian riess
director and choreographer
johannes wieland
spoken texts
johannes wieland | performers
scenography
momme röhrbein
sound:
Mattef Kuhlmey
videography
keren chernizon
costumes
stefanie krimmel
dramaturgy
thomaspeter goergen
production management
inga scheuvens und anna friedrich
graphic design
bastian arndt
social media
aliyah rachel rainer
Photography Berlin
jenswazelphotography.com
Photography Kassel
bastian arndt
portable lights:
zoe gysller | evangelos poulinas
Die Kostüme von meimouna coffi und hendrik hebben sind Probenkostüme und nicht das originale Design.
Staatsministerin für Kultur und Medien
NEUSTART KULTUR
NATIONALES PERFORMANCE NETZ
supported by the national performance network - stepping out, funded by the commissioner of the federal german government for culture and media, within the initiative neustart kultur / hilfsprogramm tanz, and with funds from the state of hessen and the city of kassel, as well as raumstation 12 gbr, in partnership with zukunftsgeraeusche gbr / bhrox bauhaus reuse, the district of charlottenburg- wilmersdorf of berlin and kulturhaus dock 4 kassel, and with kind support of schöneberg hilft e.v.
I’m boycotting everything that’s not made by my hands. My hands. My capable hands.
My building hands, my creating hands, my destructive hands...
I have … big hands…like…really big…I mean, look at them... they’re huge… humongous, monstrous hands, the hands of a giant…. [ginormous, gigantic]. Hands that replace mountains, hands that squeeze stone until milk comes pouring out.
I can shovel holes for oceans with these bad boys, I plant forests, I raise crops, I grow the most luscious, delicious fruits.
My Left-hand switches on the light - [make it darker] just so the right one can push itself in front of the sun, sabotaging the light and let darkness wash over the land.
I set the bush on fire, I split the oceans and let walls of water come crushing down, I cut the Achilles, I wash the blond of off your beloved neighbors' doors, I take your virgin girlfriend for a night and then Poof - I'm gone.
I decide, what it means to sin, I cast the first stone and then I wash my hands in innocence. – Nice and clean.
it all began in a deserted swimming pool. in 2016, johannes wieland created you will be removed, a vision of a bathing hall without water, where his ensemble roamed, among the props of fun and play-like flotsam in the void. momme röhrbein's stage concept froze the idea steaming warmth, of children's laughter into an anti-place, hard and slippery as tiles. a detailed dystopia, in which no one found a viable point of reference any more.
like in the deserts of shopping areas full of arbitrary things, of airport hotels with hurried suitcases and even more hurried people, of the catalogue of interchangeable intimacy of dating profiles - the dancers were driven by competition, trying to fill and animate the void. but ultimately the placelessness absorbed the humanity. no new life emerged in the diaspora of the dead swimming pool. you will be removed.
some called you will be removed as a choreographic response to another life-absorbing a body of water- the mediterranean and the refugee drama. where people washed up on islands and beaches, flotsam of crises, until the blue of the ocean that invited holidaying and cruising was turned into something disturbing, or evil. the world suddenly seemed too big, as well as too small, overwhelming and narrow. social media amplified this effect through the omnipresence of information, accusations and fears; if you didn't shout, you feared being silenced: you will be removed.
today, the feeling losing our grounds has only intensified. a pandemic robbed us of proximity, banished us to ghost worlds, to the exile of zoom, porntube and netflix. and in the moment that the forced virtualization seems over, the physical world hits us in mockery with its most brutal formation: war. our relationship to the world at large is in danger, we don't know exactly what our survival depends on.
as in the nightmares of science fiction, the idea of an empty planet, an un-place in the vacuum, is no longer unimaginable - notwithstanding the extraterrestrial hallucinations of figures like trump and musk, who are either converting a nation into a gated community, or migrating to mars, leaving us behind: solidarity, according to this logic, cannot exist in a world too small for the dreams of all human beings, and the moment of resource consumption of all earthly goods is shifted forward every year. what if, on some not too distant january morning, the year already begins with the emptiness of our mother world?
it is no longer you will be removed. it's all of us now. the strange us. we will be removed.
what gnostic fever dreams keep us awake when we imagine to be like to suddenly the last man on earth; like god at the beginning of creation, now a spent tyrant who put his creator power into a great litter, so as to no longer be alone in the world and must now remain lonely for all time, in a waiting room of the world, full of clocks with no hands staring at him. like a white-supremancy alice-gets-a-gun to roam a bizarre wonderland, more and more radically to the dogs and cats she herself conjured? the dream of a silverurfer surfing through a cold cosmos on his magical board after the destruction of his planet?
a confused world full of little princes and princesses in the spirit of saint-exupery, in search of the one who draws us a sheep?
Hei hei hei hou Sally here again.
You know Sally is feeling great, ha ha ha ha she feels really great.
Sally feels and does many things.
Like, buying a gun in Missouri.
Or watching her neighbors, the ones whose names she cannot pronounce, sleeping at night and wondering if what she sees is real.
Sally is very busy.
Sally is very busy. She buys a gun.
Sally stays in here for the most part.
She has many friends, who look like Sally.
I mean, Sally has an opinion about certain things, she often thinks about the way things are supposed to be, or even better the way things should be.
Sally craves order. Sally only goes up, she never goes down.
Sally paints the walls in blue, red, white stars and stripes.
And yes, Sally buys a gun …. every second Wednesday.
It makes her feel good, like really good.
Sally takes care of everyone around. and she really thinks that some of you would enjoy it very much.
as long as there has been theatre (no: as long as there have been people), there have been performances in places other than a purpose-built theatre. from curmudgeonly medieval merchants re-enacting the death of jesus on a muddy cart, rolling through the streets of york, to bespectacled avant-garde artists of the 1960s, huddled in the backrooms of sweaty bookshops, there has never been a time when theatre only took place in theatres. you could say that the idea of sitting in a purpose-built auditorium with plush red velvet seats arranged in several tiers is relatively new.
the classical greek theatre was an open amphitheater, and the city part of the backdrop and setting for the performances, the theatre part of the urban environment. it was only later that the theatre became a building and was closed off from the city by walls. however, urban development was often present in the scenery as a representation of the city- the place of the main action, the place where life takes place. cities are places, organisations, processes, they stage themselves, their social life, their aesthetics - but also their spectacle. cities are dramatic spaces.
theatre transgressing the stage space, urban spaces in all their theatricality- we will be removed is a site-specific theatre that allows the audience to experience the performativity of the city itself and also the urbanity of the performance, its movements, its reaching out into space, the appropriation and transformation of architecture and panorama.
surrounded by endless and uninterrupted traffic, on the immense axis of the television towers, in front of the "skene" of the bauhaus reuse, ernst-reuter-platz almost takes on the shape of the oldest of all theatres: the greek amphitheatre, with skyline at night as spectators. and against the mechanical circulation of the car-oriented city, the jewel of which ernst-reuter-platz was dreamed, the performers break out into their play, allowing us to immerse ourselves in a completely new space.
From the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians to the lawn decos of the U.S. plastics industry, from Pompeian frescoes to Bruce Springsteen - flamingos have always Flamingos have always been a source of fascination. Symbols, delicacies,kitsch objects, esoterica, art deco. To their compact swarms, the ancient pink clouds, armies or letters in the sky, are preceded by an expressive dance on the water before the formation sets off on its journey.
But where does this particular journey lead? Which began on a traffic island in the metropolis, into two water basins designed by Werner Düttmann, shallow, longitudinal basins in which the flamingos swing between
between the 41 fountains. True, the journey was developed in rehearsal centers, classical dance halls, with sprung floors and mirrored walls: before Johannes Wieland's choreography We will be removed set off for Ernst-Reuter-Platz.
But the flight continues, the ensemble and it's crimson heraldic birds arrive in Kassel, in the hall of the Dock 4
Kulturhaus: where the space, by the power of an eyeblink from Momme Röhrbein on the one hand something completely different than an open space, just interior, hall, gymnasium: but then again what it was - namely open space on all sides, visible all around, alluding to one of the water basins full of fountains, where flamingos are now fountains, where flamingos now drift silently in the void.
The journey was never about classical spatial formations, between grandstand and stage: in Dock 4, a hybrid of dance rehearsal hall and fountain dance rehearsal hall and fountain installation, thespectators at the positions of the mirrored walls that reflect the performers - so that the energy of the choreography can unfold in all directions,
without the fixed perspective of the bourgeois theater: that, depending on where you sit your perspective and experience becomes completely different from that of the person across from you.
Individuals, swarms, subjects, formations, or as Jean Luc-Nancy calls it, the philosopher who is so fond of speaking about dance in metaphors of air and
flying about dance - "Être singulier pluriel". Mitsein comes before Dasein. Let's flamingo.
Sally gets very upset sometimes.
She stands still inside a moving crowd.
She receives a hug.
Sally always asks the same question two times, just to be sure.
Sally walks on the other side when she sees someone with a particular look.
Sally dreams to see the last living thing.
She used to be a Disney Channel star.
It's silly but sometimes Sally has those silly Sally nervous breakdowns. but don't worry it’s fine because she forgets about it and moves on.
Sally does not give money to others; she gives an opportunity to earn money.
Sally is crossing the river while others are left behind.
Sally is never afraid.
Sally remembers the future but has never seen the past. But in any case, She misses the good old days.
Sally arranges her things from left to right. Nice, no?
Sally hears sounds.
Sally stops the waves.
»Hey! What? It’s fun to play with you! I know who you are! You are the amazing stranger. You are always looking for your favorite songs. (Break) You are surfing the universe. (break) You are beyond good and bad. You are the amazing silver surfer. Is this how you do it? Do you think I can do it like you?«
I bring the rain; I bring cataclysmic waves that will swallow the boat you thought would bring your barking dogs and screaming kids to safety.
Look at me.
Look at where I’m standing.
There's no space for anyone else here. Maybe Sally. Maybe not.
No, no one above me, no one next to me.
I mean, I have created all of this out of nothing!
I have built man out of ... trash.
I took all your tiny hands into mine and dragged you out of the mud.
I have brought you paradise!
Look at my hands.
The lifeline in my palms is an abyss, running deeper than your mind ever will be able to comprehend and I flood the whole thing with just a couple of drops of my own sweat.
Yeah. I brought you paradise.
I brought you entire civilizations, planets, universes, all handmade. [Clap]
Yeah, I brought you paradise.
»Hey! It’s fun to play with you! I know who you are! You are beyond good and bad. Is this how you do it?«
conceived in lisbon and born in berlin, johannes wieland completed his bfa at the Amsterdam university of the arts, and worked, thereupon, with an extensive array of choreographers. after performing with the béjart ballet lausanne, he received his mfa in contemporary dance and choreography in New York at nyu / tisch school of the arts. while running the company 'johannes wieland' he built for 15 years the contemporary dance company at the state theater of kassel, germany, as a resident choreographer, artistic director of the dance department. his continued cinematic interest led him to making short movies. creating multi-disciplinary work through his berlin company mind eraser/johannes wieland is his newest playground and aside from being commissioned from companies and teaching for universities, his critically acclaimed pieces have been invited to tour internationally to festivals and events. johannes is also directing and curating b12 - the festival for contemporary dance and performance art (www.b12.space), which runs annually in berlin. he is a 1st prize winner of the kurt jooss prize, and has been awarded numerous other prizes, recognitions, scholarships, and grants. johannes was a nominee for the german theater prize der faust in 2016 for his creation you will be removed. he works on non-categorising art.
»What? what is it? Show me (break) I know who you are! (Break) You are beyond good and bad. Do you think we can do it together? (I am) Maybe we’ll try!«
graduated from Iwanson International School of Contemporary Dance in the summer of 2017. After finishing his dance studies in Munich, Chris has been working as a freelance performer and teacher from there, teaching Contemporary, Partnering and Improv at Iwanson International and Otto- Falckenberg-Schule whilst continuously working on his own projects or together with the STAMMBAUM-collective. From 2020 until the Summer of 2021, Chris has been a part of the Johannes Wieland company at Staatstheater Kassel. After leaving the State Theater employment, he has been working and touring with the House of Pain Company and is now back to working as a freelance dance artist and teacher.
is a German-Beninese dancer and singer. She completed her training as a stage dancer at Codarts in Rotterdam. In the years that followed she appeared with a wide variety of contemporary dance groups, including the Rotterdamse Dansgroep under the direction of Ton Simmons, the Compagnie Georges Momboyes in Paris, as well as in musical productions by Luc Plamandon and Jérôme Savary. Back in Germany, she devoted herself to the contemporary dance scene and appeared several times as a guest in various theaters such as e.g. B. the Staatstheater Kassel under the direction of Johannes Wieland. Singing is becoming her second mainstay, so that after two engagements as a singer at the Theater Basel, she increasingly devotes herself to the musical genre. This is followed by "West Side Story" at the Leipzig Opera, "Hairspray" at the Landestheater Linz and currently at the Staatstheater Nürnberg, the touring production "Motown-Die Legende", Bernstein's "Mass" in the Mozarteum Salzburg or "Vincent Van Gogh" at the Musical Spring Gmunden. In Benin she presented her play "Shameless" on the stage of the École Internationale de Théâtre du Bénin in Cotonou.
born in France, began studying dance at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany. After his Bachelor, he took up the master’s degree course in dance composition (movement notation and analysis). Since then, he has worked with choreographers such as Malou Airaudo and Evangelos Poulinas and danced for the Folkwang Tanzstudio under the direction of Rodolpho Leoni and the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. After a short passage with Samir Akika and Unusual Symptoms at the Theater Bremen, Jordan started working with Johannes Wieland in 2018. Since August 2019 he has been a permanent member of the ensemble of the Tanztheater at Staatstheater Kassel. In August 2021, Jordan moved to Cologne to start working as a freelancer with choreographers such as Céline Bellut, Marie-Lena Kaiser, Carla Jordão, Stephanie Miracle and Sebastian Zuber.
is a Berlin-based performer, choreographer and teacher. He completed his bachelor's degree in "Contemporary and Classical Dance" at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt am Main with distinction in 2020. In his own productions he focuses on a socio-political work. For this he founded the "Backstein Collective" in Frankfurt. He worked on the performance "KITCHEN" by director Marlin de Haan, which deals with themes such as WG cohabitation, private space vs. public space, departure and the like. Since 2018, Hendrik has been taking vocal lessons in order to incorporate his voice more into his pieces. Hendrik is a frequent guest of choreographer Ulla Benninghoven, who works under the name TanzOrtNord in Lübeck, and dances at theaters such as Oper Dortmund, Aalto Theater and others.
was born and raised in Kaunas, Lithuania. At the age of fourteen, she started taking contemporary dance classes at Kaunas Dance Theatre Aura studio under Birute Letukaite directorship and later joined the company as a full-time dancer (2011-2014). In 2014, she was honored to receive the Lithuanian national Theatre Award “Auksinis Scenos Kryžius”. Gotaute joined the Johannes Wieland company at the Staatstheater Kassel in 2014-2018 and 2020-2021. During that time, she had a chance to perform in pieces by Hofesh Shechter, Maxine Doyle, Tom Weinberger, Helder Seabra, Sebastian Zuber, Zoe Gyssler, among others. In 2016 she won the Young Talent Award “Förderpreise der Fördergesellschaft Staatstheater Kassel.” Currently Gotaute resides in Berlin and pursues her BA degree in North American Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin.
is originally from Vienna. He received his education in classical and contemporary dance at HfMDK in Frankfurt, Germany. Since 2020 Fabian is working as freelance dancer and choreographer in Berlin. He performed works by Johannes Wieland, Iván Pérez, Laura Hicks and Emanuel Gat and is one of the founding members of the collective ‘Maria Neustadt’ which is going to present their debut work at Schwere Reiter Munich in Autumn 2023. As a state funded artist (Dachverband Tanz, Fonds Darstellende Künste, City of Munich), Fabian is currently working on personal research about HIV. Aside from dancing and choreographing, Fabian is a RYT-200 certified Yoga instructor and leading member of a socio-political reading group, educating and discussing about contemporary mechanisms of oppression and exploitation.
»Hey! What? What is it? I know who you are! (break) You are always looking for your favorite songs. (break) You are beyond good and bad. (I am) You are the silver surfer. (break) Do you think I can do it like you? okay, okay.«
Born in Berlin, raised there and in New York and Havanna. Production Designer since 1990 for more than 200 Productions. Among others at Residenztheater München, Deutschen SchauSpiel- Haus Hamburg, Thalia Theater Hamburg, Staatsschauspiel Dresden, Akademietheater Wien, Volkstheater Wien, Landestheater Linz, Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin, Berliner Ensemble, Renaissance Theater Berlin, Saarländischen Staatstheater, Staatstheater Kassel, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lissabon, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Ruhrtriennale, Theater Augsburg, Theater Lübeck, Landestheater Linz, an der Oper Basel, Oper Köln, Deutschen Oper Berlin, Oper Leipzig. Collaboration with directors as Matthias Hartmann, Leander Haußmann, Wolfgang Hofmann, Anthony Pilavachi, Stephan Suschke, Katharina Thalbach, Antoine Uitdehaag, Markus Völlenklee, Monique Wagemakers, Guntbert Warns und Arie Zinger. For Johannes Wieland „Aurora“, "you'll be removed“, "eternal prisoner“, "the rite of spring“, „Ares“ and „neuzeit“.
born 1968 in Berlin (east), studied political science at the FU Berlin, has been working as a musician since 1999. working as Musician with his band ALP; several silentmoviesoundtracks i.a. „Berlin - symphony of a great city“ „Battleship Potemkin“, „The cabinet of Dr.Caligari“, se- veral tours through Germany, Switzerland, Poland, USA Composition/ Music for Performances with Gabriele Reuter, Deborah Hay, Jan Martens, Rabih Mroue, Hyoung Min Kim, DanceOn Ensemble, Mathilde Monnier, Jo Parkes, Nico and the Navigators, Owner of the record label „Fortschritt Musik“ Sounddesigner (Thalia Theater/ Hamburg; Salzburger Festspielen, Dorky Park/ Constanza Macras, Two Fish, Gisèle Vienne)
is a Brazilian filmmaker and video artist working with dance films, video installations and video projection for live performances. She is the creator of Projeto SOLO, an audiovisual platform dedicated to dance, performance, and theater productions. Living in Berlin for the past 8 years, she had been collaborating with choreographers, theater directors, dancers and performers creating video projections for their live staged pieces as well as video installations, dance films, Livestream productions, and site-specific works. Some of the choreographers and dance/theater companies she collaborates with are Costa Cie, Johannes Wieland, Judith Sanchez Ruiz, Frantics Dance Company, Marion Sparber, Zoe Gyssler, Thar Be Dragons, and more. For the past five years, she is the official filmmaker at b12 festival, a dance workshop festival in Berlin founded by choreographer Johannes Wieland where she is the head of the video department. Her tasks include filming and editing all the video material as well as coordinating and producing the festival’s Livestream events.
is an author and dramaturge for drama and dance. After studying art history and law, he worked for many years at the Theater an der Ruhr with Roberto Ciulli and at the Staatstheater Kassel, and has since established long-standing working relationships with colleagues such as Ersan Mondtag, Wilke Wermann, Lilly Sykes and Thomas Jonigk. As dramaturge for TYRANNIS, he was invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen in 2015. His plays and texts have been performed at the Maxim Gorki in Berlin, the Staatstheater Kassel, the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt and the Staatsschauspiel Dresden. Most recently, as a freelance dramaturge, he has worked on many play developments and interdisciplinary projects as well as interactive formats such as virtual games performance installations. As a dance dramaturge, he has a long-standing working relationship with Johannes Wieland. He works both in Germany (Berlin, Cologne, Company Guido Markowitz) and abroad (Krakow, Istanbul, Vienna).
After a high school with integrated Ballet education she began the Bachelor program Modern Dance of Folkwang University of the Arts, in Essen, Germany. She successfully graduated at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance. Since then Anna has been working as a freelance dancer and teacher, is a member of the international Yugsamas Movement Collective and has been working with the dancer and choreographer Sebastian Zuber on his interdisciplinary theater and dance productions since 2013. Impaortant projects were “Where is Down?”, a collaboration with the spanish company Danza Mobile in 2017, and “Collage me”, a Yugsamas Movement Collective production in 2016.
*1987 in cologne, studied public management and dance & theatre studies. After professional stations at GIZ Kosovo and the DW Akademie, among others, she assisted in various dance theatre productions from 2017, including Constanza Macras| DorkyPark at the Volksbühne Berlin and Wies Merkx at the Theater Konstanz. In 2019 she took over the company management & dramaturgy assistance in the dance ensemble of Johannes Wieland at the Staatstheater Kassel. She was responsible for touring and cooperations at the cie. toula limnaios.
born in South Africa, Aliyah Rachel Rainer grew up as a ballet dancer. She moved to Berlin after school, where she began to pursue photography, writing and design, which she has worked with around the world. She started working in the line of social media & marketing in 2018 and has been working with the b12 festival since 2020, alongside her work as a freelance photographer.
is a photographer and videographer from Berlin. After growing up in East Germany, he lived for 25 years on the West Coast of the US, and besides his job as an IT expert he worked in theater, performance and dance: as a performer among others with "Lucia Neare's Theatrical Wonders" and "Salt Horse", and since 2005 as a dance teacher for "Soul Motion", a form of Conscious Dance. Jens has been based in Berlin since 2016 and is dedicating himself to photography/videography. He is an editorial member of Berlin city magazine "Mein/4" with a regular interview series, publishes photos in "DAS MAGAZIN" and other publications, and has a growing series of over 70 video portraits of artists and other personalities, in the dance field including Anna Halprin, Cristina Caprioli, Benoit Lachambre. He is currently working on films about Janet Adler and about the history of Conscious Dance. Jens regularly photographs for Tanz im August, cie. toula limnaios and other companies in Germany and in the US.
»What? What is it? Show me! (I am) I know who you are! (break) okay, okay, I’ll try.«