Are you balancing, or are you falling already?

KULTUR-EXTRA online, 22.12.2018 // Author Petra Hermann

(…) One could be excited about her newest piece – and is fascinated from the very beginning: On the barren, dark stage with minimalist music, three female dancers and two dancers, a microphone and an iPhone. The five stand on the balls of their feet, one points to the other, for minutes. Even watching it is exhausting. A slight swaying. When will the first stop standing upright? When will he or she lose balance, stagger? When will one feel ill? Questions that the moderator also poses and with which he opens the dance/game. In its course, everyone experiments, dances for themselves and against each other, goes to their limits, films each other – and thus reflects on basic human needs. “Standing tall”, for example. One of the dancers holds her position endlessly. But her hold, precisely her upright position, also conceals her fear. Fear of getting a cramp, of a tendon tearing, farting, even that she might swallow the microphone – which would end her career. She would then be condemned to watch Netflix series for the rest of her life. This is not without its own humor and deep meaning.

(…) The measure of all things: the vertical. It also means standstill, a painful stance on the balls of your feet, the point of departure for this remarkable installation. In the process: no broad perspective, no horizon – no horizontal! Is falling truly the same as failing, falling the same as weakness? Isn’t there strength in fragility as well? Is there life without movement, but in perfection? Questions of humanity, cleverly posed to us with humor – and to the physical abilities of five magnificent dancers. Thank you, Anna Konjetzky!

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