20 + 21 nov 2015 PACT Zollverein, Essen
11 + 12 mar 2016 Ballhaus Ost, Berlin
5 + 6 may 2017 tanz nrw – Festhalle, Viersen
5 oct 2019 International Dance Festival AURA – National Drama Theatre Kaunas, Lithuania

Untitled: Persona focuses our view on the dialectic relationship of the body as a bearer of meaning and a projection surface, as well as a blank sheet of paper and an image of a complexly describable individuality. Through different aesthetics of body transformations or levels of supercharging of the body, from stylized to animalistic, an altering picture puzzle of bodies is created in five chapters.  In continually changing arrangements of bodies, objects, costumes and music, the equipment of the senses is sharpened, the relation between observer and observed is re-discussed over and over and the boundaries between image and dance, subject and object, performer and observer, performing- and visual arts are dissolved. The stage becomes an atmospheric resonance space as an interacting movement arrangement, a visual landscape. From static images, roles, enrolments, views and (de-)formations grows a material aesthetic mimicry, a kaleidoscope of glances, a tableau vivant of bodies, landscapes and mindsets. Thereby, a colorful examination is evoked, which operates with the surmise as a sensitive prestage of comprehension in a playful and concretely spatial manner.

Choreography: Ben J. Riepe
With: Laura Burgener, Lenah Flaig, Daniel Ernesto Müller Torres, Sudeep Kumar Puthiyaparambath, Kathrina Wilke
Technical direction: Niko Moddenborg
Light design: Dimitar Evtimov
Dramaturgy: Felizitas Stilleke Kleine
Musical assistant: Anna-Luella Zahner
Costume: Margit Koch, Ben J. Riepe
Conceptional assistant: Johanna-Yassira Kluhs
Organization: Izaskun Abrego
Project management: Sabina Stücker
PR | Berlin Büro: ehrliche Arbeit – freies Kulturbüro
Photos: Ursula Kaufmann, Roger Rossell

Untitled: Persona is a production of Ben J. Riepe, co-produced by PACT Zollverein Essen and Ballhaus Ost, Berlin. Funded by Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Kunststiftung NRW, Kulturamt der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf and  NATIONALE PERFORMANCE NETZ (NPN) Koproduktionsförderung Tanz aus Mitteln der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien aufgrund eines Beschlusses des deutschen Bundestages. Supported by Theaterhaus Berlin Mitte. With thanks to Kai Richter and Carolina Rüegg.

Trailer, Premiere PACT Zollverein, Essen

Interview by PACT Zollverein

PACT Zollverein, Essen