The title “Story, story, die” is an allusion to the game in which one person begins telling a story that then has to be spun out by the other participants – and whoever is not quick enough loses. The acclaimed production was devised by Alan Lucien Øyen and his company winter guests. The Norwegian choreographer and director’s unique blend of text and movement creates a new and unmistakable narrative language that will be seen on Swiss stages for the first time as part of Steps.
How can events and experiences be transported from a therapy context to the stage? In her latest creation “Kantik,” Genevan choreographer and sexologist Perrine Valli provides a choreographic translation of the stories of her patients and explores different aspects of human sexuality with the help of eleven dancers. “Kantik” is a sensual encounter with an invisible and deeply human experience: energy. The piece will premiere at Steps 2024.
The story of “The Dancing Public” reaches far back into history: its subject is dance mania. The Danish dancer and choreographer Mette Ingvartsen has devised an impressive solo that looks into the origins of this historical phenomenon. Why did entire villages break out into ecstatic dancing for days, weeks, and even months on end? Ingvartsen performs in a club setting without chairs and invites the audience to experience the trance-like state for themselves: Might movement be infectious after all?
An empty space surrounded by impenetrable, invisible walls; four dancers living in this strangely isolated world: “The Others” tells the story of a plastic hell on earth. In this modern fairy tale Anton Lachky uses movement, music, and text to consider the ecological crisis and its dire consequences and cleverly raises questions about how to act in the present.
Yasmine Hugonnet presents her impressive dance cabaret “Les Porte-Voix – Cabaret Ventriloque.” The piece provides insight into the history of the mysterious art of ventriloquism, wittily combined with elements of an extensive research project into the question: To whom do voices belong? In “Les Porte-Voix” language not only meets movement but also female voices that have been silenced for centuries.
For Steps 2024 Yasmine Hugonnet was commissioned to adapt “Les Porte-Voix” for younger audiences. “Les Porte-Voix Junior” will be performed for the first time in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. In the revised piece Hugonnet provides insight into the mysterious art of ventriloquism, wittily combined with elements of an extensive research project into the question: To whom do voices belong?
This is what we have been waiting for: Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young – the team behind the award-winning productions “Betroffenheit” and “Revisor” – are back. Their new piece, “Assembly Hall,” is a fusion of dance and drama that is fascinated with storytelling and language as invigorating forces.
Far From The Norm’s “BLKDOG” tells tales of anger and depression. The powerful imagery of British artist Botis Seva visually stages the discrepancy between childhood and adulthood: What happens when carefreeness is abruptly ended by violence? With his company Far From The Norm the choreographer sheds light on human depravity and creates a high-energy physical response to the challenges of our time.
It is difficult to hear Marc Brew’s story and not be moved: a car accident – and suddenly everything is changed. With Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, the dancer and choreographer revisit the period in his life when everything was turned upside-down: How do people deal with a twist of fate? “an Accident / a Life” does not only tell Brew’s personal story, but also is a call to hope: a touching solo that considers what makes us human and how life with all its highs and lows develops into an individual and personal landscape.
In its essence “Tristan and Isolde” is the story of their impossible love. The Japanese artists Saburo Teshigawara and Rihoko Sato transform Richard Wagner’s opera into an hour-long dance experience, a poetic duet that wordlessly tells the story of the two lovers. The artists assume the title roles themselves: a unique experience featuring two dancers above the ages of seventy and fifty, respectively.
