January 2019 program

January 2019 at Tanzquartier Wien will be headed by two large ensemble productions from Ian Kaler / Cullbergbaletten and Doris Uhlich. Alexander Gottfarb’s mammoth project Negotiations will reach its grand finale after 365 intense days. Finally, David Wampach’s performance ENDO will open the thematic focus Material Worlds on diverse modes of using materials in dance and performance.

“In 2019, Tanzquartier Wien will especially focus on promoting and presenting large ensemble productions, because we tend to think that in previous years the vast majority of artistic works from the independent scene was characterised by small-scale productions and infrequent collaborations,” says artistic director Bettina Kogler.

Ian Kaler / Cullbergbaletten
The world premiere of ON THE CUSP is the first collaboration and large group choreography by renowned Swedish Cullbergbaletten and choreographer Ian Kaler. The piece presents a collection of portraits of the individuals as well as of the group. Every dancer has their own story, and the company connects them. Who are the people in the group and how do they construct this group? Are they characters or do they want to play a certain role? The music of electronically synthesized brass sound composed by Planningtorock will create bold, dramatic, playful and deeply moving dance scenes.

Doris Uhlich
One week later, Every Body Electric, an ensemble production featuring eight physically disabled people that actively promotes concepts of diversity, will have its first official rerun. Doris Uhlich’s choreography is a radical invitation to explore potentials through the medium of dance, to make them visible and delve deep into an archaeology of energy. What else becomes possible if machines—such as wheelchairs, prostheses, crutches—are not perceived as obstacles but as extensions of the body and are also staged as such?

Alexander Gottfarb
For one entire year—until January 26, 2019—Swedish-Austrian choreographer Alexander Gottfarb will have presented his durational performance Negotiations within the space of a former retail store on Neustiftgasse, Vienna. On a daily basis, thirteen dancers performed in turns from 10am to 6pm—in an effort to prove that dancing is proper labor. During the last two days, all participating artists will come together for one grand finale. Each dancer will have one last entrance and will perform one last dance.

David Wampach
ENDO is an exciting and invigorating take on the history of performance art. It draws inspiration from Yves Klein’s imprints of bodies as well as from the works of anti-conformist artists like the writer, photographer and filmmaker Shuji Terayama and the members of the legendary Gutai group. David Wampach places his own body in the energetic center of his performance. The body functions simultaneously as material, medium, instrument, actor and spectator. According to Wampach’s utopian approach, we can access the archaic origins of dance and the arts only through the body.

For press inquiries please contact:
Franz Jud
T +43 5813591 65 / presse [​at​] tqw.at