Der Reigen. Ein überaus schönes Lied vom Tod

Christoph Bochdansky [Vienna], Dance Cie. Of(f) Verticality [Linz], Wilde & Vogel [Leipzig]

Little dialogue, suitable for international guests

Inviting, brash, grinning, making music and dancing grotesquely - this is how Death is portrayed as a bone man in the medieval Danse Macabre. Opposite him - man: questioning, hesitating, pausing in a gesture. Since then, numerous variations of the dance of death have shaped man's artistic confrontation with death, but all designs ultimately reflect the incomprehensibility of this moment: one's own encounter with death.

Artists from different genres, cultures and generations share their ideas, fears and strategies for living with the certainty of death. In a round dance of images, movement, words and sound, the same moment is played out in different modes: "mysterious", "majestically carried", "in delicate tones, barely touched", "melancholic", "excited, frivolous, dance-like" are the instructions.

And ... in the end we can witness an immortality: The crude Punch and the death-addicted Pierrot demonstrate how death can be outwitted.

• Choreography Rose Breuss
• Play, set design Christoph Bochdansky, Michael Vogel
• Dance Kai Chun Chuang [Taiwan], Damian Cortes Alberti [Argentina], Marcela Lopez Morales [Argentina]
• Live music Protect Laika [Stefan Wenzel, Charlotte Wilde]
• Consulting mask scenes Björn Leese, Michael Vogel