KLANG KÖRPER IMPROVISATION – Schwindelfrei Festival

SOUND, BODY, IMPROVISATION
5elefants Dance Collective (Heidelberg/Mannheim)

About the Residency

Where do the worlds of children and adults converge in a single moment? 

“As part of a 7-day residency, we’d like to reexamine and rethink our existing practice of developing and presenting pieces for young audiences. Tobias Schmitt and Sarah Herr have been collaborating for several years. Both during the development phase and during performances, a question has increasingly arisen: What other forms of interaction with the audience are possible beyond rehearsal visits, post-performance participatory activities, or post-show discussions? What performance formats are conceivable in which the boundaries between performers and audience members disappear, allowing interaction on equal footing to take place without the artistic expression “suffering” as a result? Specifically, this involves a new artistic practice of collaboration between dance artists/musicians and children (ages 3–6) along with their caregivers. 

Improvisation with body and sound is a “language” that young children understand exceptionally well. Together with the artists, they can explore, discover, move, and listen. Spoken language plays hardly any role in this process, ensuring that a diverse audience feels welcome. 

Thematically, we see a strong connection between our research question and the theme of the Schwindelfrei Festival, as our goal is to develop a new practice in which children and their caregivers become equal co-creators through dance and music within the context of a performance format.” /5elefants dance collective 

About the Artists

“We are a collective of freelance artists (dance, physical theater, music) with a special focus on young audiences. Under the label 5elefants tanzkollektiv (DE/CH), we have been developing dance theater and performances since 2016 with varying artistic lineups for theater spaces, non-theater venues, and public spaces/site-specific settings. Through our art, we aim to appeal to children, teenagers, and adults alike. The themes we explore in our pieces are chosen so that they can resonate with both the world of children and the realities of adult life. In this way, we facilitate shifts in perspective and shared moments of laughter at the quirkiness of everyday life. Our resident team consists of locally based dancers/performers Elisabeth Kaul, Andrea Kreisel, Sarah Herr, and musician and composer Tobias Schmitt.” /5elefants dance collective 

What can you expect? 

A playful and humorous presentation of our research, with almost no spoken language.  

Cast & Credits

Sarah Herr / Dancer, Performer / Mannheim 
Elisabeth Kaul / Dancer, Performer / Heidelberg 
Tobias Schmitt / Musician / Mannheim 
Andrea Kreisel / Dancer, Performer / Heidelberg

www.5elefants.com