How I become, who I want to be
On the occasion of Ballhaus Naunynstraße being awarded the 2023 Federal Theater Prize, we were asked what is actually special about our work, about post-migrant theater. Apart from the fact that this question is absurd in its desire for simplicity, it is provocatively good. What is special?
We make theater and ask ourselves the same questions as all theater makers: What are these roles - on stage, in drama, in life? How do these roles come about, who or what shapes them? Shouldn't they be completely different, different from what the mainstream demands?
Perhaps the special thing is that we are presumptuous to think that the role designs for the stage have an impact on everyday life. But it's not that presumptuous; we see the changes in role profiles every day. We just have to keep asking this question: How do we become who we want to be? And use the stage for constant experimentation. This time, this is happening quite explicitly: Wie ich werde, wie ich sein will is a new dance series at Ballhaus Naunynstraße, a choreographic triptych about the self-creation of Black femininity by three choreographers.
Lois Alexander kicks things off with her first dance solo at Ballhaus Naunynstraße: Eventually Causing the Shake. (World premiere: December 1 2024). At the center of her choreography is the question of the sources of one's own strength - found on a diasporic journey between the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic and Berlin.
Magda Korsinsky's fourth work celebrates its premiere at Ballhaus Naunynstraße on December 15: WERDEN. In collaboration with four FLINTA*, she set out in search of role models - real, powerful, missing, overcome, dreamed of. Because stars are needed to make maneuvering through a structurally violent society easier. And so WERDEN is a unique archive, a choreographic-performative tapestry woven from the wealth of experience of Black FLINTA*. (Performances from December 15-19 2024). The third work in the dance series Wie ich werde, wie ich sein will, the choreographic work by Fernanda Costa, Caminhos das Águas – Unstoppable Flow, premieres from February 2 - 6 2024. works together with three Black dancers* on liquefying categories, movements, reflections. And on a changed relationship between inside and outside. After all, we are water. We see ourselves in it, liquefied.
Part of the dance series