The project undo, redo and repeat investigated five 20th century dance positions, mirrored by those who teach and interpret them, remember and administer them, and keep them alive by spreading the word. Christina Ciupke and Anna Till look into the question of how knowledge of former dances by Mary Wigman, Kurt Jooss, Dore Hoyer, Pina Bausch and William Forsythe has reached us.
Irene Sieben, Reinhild Hoffmann, Martin Nachbar, Thomas McManus were invited to reflect on dance history and their position within it in their own way. As contemporary witnesses and performers, they have already explored the legacy of the abovementioned choreographers, either by being dancers or assistants for them.
As points of intersection in the transfer of knowledge and experience, in undo, redo and repeat they became protagonistsin the process of reconstruction of fragments of dance heritage. Christina Ciupke and Anna Till wanted to discover how exactly they keep their knowledge of choreographic approaches so vivid that they can pass it on to others. This knowledge is personal. It is not catalogued in an archive or a library. It is fragile and based on memories that are subject to constant change. Christina Ciupke and Anna Till entered the process of passing on of choreographic material this way with each contemporary witness.
How is dance history written and disseminated by people who pass on their specific knowledge to others? What happens in the spaces between these processes of passing on information? What gaps appear, and how do they make room for new influences?
The contemporary witnesses also passed on a physical memory to Christina Ciupke and Anna Till: a movement sequence, a movement principal or parts of a dance. In the process of passing on the memory, and reflecting on it, each choreographic fragment from the past entered into a dialogue with the present.
In addition to the stage piece and an installation, a web platform was created that provides a wide range of audio, film and text material about the historical choreographers as well as those who pass on their knowledge.
Christina Ciupke
Christina lives and works as a performer and choreographer in Berlin. She develops projects and performative situations in collaborative processes with dancers and artists from all disciplines. She is involved in on-going partnerships with the choreographers Nik Haffner and Mart Kangro, the filmmaker Lucy Cash, the graphic artist Lars Ø Ramberg, the composer Boris Hauf and the dramaturge Igor Dobricic. From 2003 to 2004, she was guest artist at the Centre for Art and Media Technology Karlsruhe (ZKM). In 2013, she obtained a Master of Choreography at the Amsterdam School of the Arts.
Anna Till
Anna lives and works as a choreographer in Dresden and Berlin. She studied Applied Cultural Studies at Lüneberg University then Contemporary Dance, Context, Choreography at the Inter-university Centre for Dance Berlin (HZT). Her dance works have been shown in cities such as Berlin, Amsterdam Rennes, Leipzig und Dresden.
For music rights reasons, we are unable to play the music that was used in the performance online.
Artistic direction /concept – Christina Ciupke and Anna Till
Witnesses – Reinhild Hoffmann, Thomas McManus, Martin Nachbar, Irene Sieben and others
Video monitoring / editing – Andrea Keiz
Text support – Lina Lindheimer
Media support – Lotte Chabrowski
Production management – Barbara Greiner
Assistant – Anne Schuh
Translations – Daniel Belasco Rogers
Additional interview partners:
Bénédicte Billiet, Christoph Freyer, Jan Möllmer, Norbert Servos, Marc Wagenbach and Robert Sturm
Performance
Dance – Christina Ciupke and Anna Till
Dramaturgic support – Igor Dobričić
Light design / technical direction – Mehdi Toutain-Lopez
Sound design – Nirto Karsten Fischer
Film of Vor Ort: concept and direction – Michael Muschner
Costume reconstruction for Vor Ort – Monique van den Bulck
Exhibition
Concept – Christina Ciupke, Anna Till, Katrin Schoof and Susanne Weiß
Design – Katrin Schoof
Sound design – Nirto Karsten Fischer
Website
Concept and design – Katrin Schoof
Content – Christina Ciupke and Anna Till
Programming – Robert Siegel
Thanks to:
Susanne Weiß, Stefanie Kleinsorge and the team at the Heidelberg Art Assocation, Franziska Werner and the team at the Sophiensaele in Berlin, Alexandra Scott (The Forsythe Company), Frank-Manuel Peter (German Dance Archives Cologne), Thilo Wittenbecher (Mime Centrum Berlin), Dirk Zschocke, Daniel Larrieu and Ulrike von Soden-Köpcke
Memories of Pina Bausch:
Heike Albrecht, Silke Bake, Juliane Bauer, Lucy Cash, Nik Hafner, Cilgia Carla Gadola, Eva-Maria Hörster, Birgit Leib, Nicole Meier, Martina Morasso, Ludger Orlok, Irina Pauls, Romy Schwarzer, Kerstin Till, Riki von Falken and Britta Wirthmüller
A production by Ciupke / Till Gbr in co-production with the Heidelberg Art Association and the Sophiensaele, Berlin
Funded by Tanzfonds Erbe – An initiative by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, and by the Berlin Senate’s Cultural Affairs Department
