Götterdialoge (alles nochmal gründlich durchdenken)

In the organizer's words:

About the piece:

There have always been these gatherings, not always known about, sometimes they took place in timelessness, or without a place, but also in the lunch break, on stars, or even standing at the drinking hall.

Nonsense, nothing, everything, art, love, work, thought, find their forms in dance and linguistic dialogs with absentees. Between action and representation, the present remains in transitional zones in which it is particularly worthwhile to dance when the familiar methods no longer work.

About Thomas Lehmen:

Born in Oberhausen, Thomas Lehmen is a freelance choreographer, dancer and teacher.From 1986 to 1990 he studied at the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam, where he studied with Pauline de Groot, Steve Paxton, Ishmael Houston Jones, Mark Tompkins, Z 'ev and others.

From 1990 to July 2010 he lived in Berlin. Here he developed numerous solos, group pieces and projects, including "distanzlos", "mono subjects", "Schreibstück", "Funktionen", "It's better to...", "Lehmen lernt", which have been performed worldwide.He teaches workshops in various formats at universities and independent studios on a national and international level.

In addition to guest professorships in Giessen, Hamburg and Berlin, he held a professorship at Arizona State University in 2010 and 2011 and subsequently produced further works, including "Schrottplatz" and "Bitte...". From 2013 to 2017, he toured three continents on his motorcycle with the project "A Piece for You". He has been working in Oberhausen again since 2017 and has been the director of Kunsthaus Mitte in Oberhausen and Tanz-Arbeit Oberhausen since 2019.

The publications "Schreibstück" (book and score for 3 groups each in canon form) and "Funktionen-Toolbox" (communicative choreographies aimed at emergent results) attracted sustained international attention and evoked numerous variations.

Recurring interests include the development of artistic formats and structures, communications and people reflecting on their environment and shaping it through creative relationships. The approaches feature conceptual methods and forms of representation that include linguistic elements. Stylistically, the intellectual level and insistent consistency are often paired with accessibility and humor. In the physical dance component, he works with individual articulations, relationships between the dancers and dance dialogs, among other things. His technical dance work takes into account European, North American and Asian principles. He has studied classical ballet, contact improvisation, expressive dance, post-modern styles, kung fu, iaido, sport and crafts.

Cast:

Dance, text, choreography, stage, sounds: Thomas Lehmen
Collaboration visual design: Naoko Tanaka
Artistic assistance: Anna Luise Binder
Consulting: Dr. Franz Anton Cramer
Editing: Dr. Christina Irrgang
Dance technical advice: Pauline de Groot

Götterdialoge" by Thomas Lehmen is a co-production of Thomas Lehmen and Theater im Depot Dortmund and is funded by Kunststiftung NRW, City of Dortmund, City of Oberhausen, Kunsthaus Mitte in Oberhausen e.V., Tanz-Arbeit Oberhausen. With the kind support of the Herz-Jesu-Gemeinde Oberhausen.