Arcana Swarm
November 20–23, 2019
HAU Hebbel am Ufer
HAU1, Stresemannstr. 29, 10963 Berlin
HAU2, Hallesches Ufer 32, 10963 Berlin
HAU3, Tempelhofer Ufer 10, 10963 Berlin
T +49 30 25900427
tickets [at] hebbel-am-ufer.de
What is joy when its ephemerality and fragility tend towards its own dissolution? In Kat Válastur‘s new work the performers embody the emotional complexity of joy which constantly collapses. In a visually playful set where three human-sized sculptures are placed, the performers unfold a choreographic swing of joy that turns into horror. Arcana Swarm is a new HAU production for seven performers and the third part of the work cycle “The Staggered Dances of Beauty,” which deals with scenarios and varieties of our bodies exposed in a radically changing world. For this piece, Válastur works again with the technique of “morphing” as a transformative force. The body shows the affects and effects that derive from the tensions of the current technological, environmental and political conditions of a precarious and anthropocentric world. After the premiere at HAU1, Arcana Swarm will be shown in Paris as part of “New Settings,” a program by Fondation d’entreprise Hermès in collaboration with Théâtre de la Ville, Paris. In December the piece will be performed at NEXT Festival, Kortrijk.
Artists talk on November 22 with Ana Vujanović (Berlin / Belgrade). Vujanović is a cultural worker focused on bringing together critical theory and contemporary art.
Kat Válastur is claimed as one of the most exciting choreographers in the Berlin dance scene. Through her groundbreaking creations, highly intense atmospheres are created, fiction and reality merge into speculative notions, challenging the senses and the rules of ordinary perception. After her retrospective WE WERE BETTER IN THE FUTURE at HAU Hebbel am Ufer (March / April 2017), she began working on a new cycle of works entitled “The Staggered Dances of Beauty”. The first creation of the cycle, “Rasp Your Soul” premiered in November 2017 and the second creation Stellar Fauna premiered in November 2018 at HAU. The third and last part of this cycle Arcana Swarm will premiere in November 2019 at HAU. In July 2019 she was one of nine artists selected for the LIVE WORKS Vol. 7 residency at Central Fies art work space. Her works are presented nationally and internationally at theatres and festivals. She studied dance at the Hellenic School of Dance, at the Trisha Brown Studios in New York on a Fulbright scholarship, and received a Master Degree from the (SODA) Master Program at the Inter-University for Dance in Berlin. Kat Válastur is managed and produced by HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin).
Production: Kat Válastur / HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Supported by: The Fondation d’entreprise Hermès as part of its New Settings Program.
Co-production: Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), PACT Zollverein (Essen), Theater Freiburg. Funded by: Capital Cultural Fund (Berlin), Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe. Residency support: STUK Leuven, Tanzhaus Zürich, Centrale Fies / Live Works.
Upcoming dance events
Laurent Chétouane: November 29-December 1
Faustin Linyekula / Studios Kabako: December 4-6
Meg Stuart & Jompet Kuswidananto / Damaged Goods: December 11-14
Anna Nowicka: December 17-20
Salva Sanchis & Anne Terese De Keersmaeker / Rosas: December 18-21
