Felix Baumann

SEISMIC

SEISMIC (2021-2023)

Coproduction / Partners

LOFFT - DAS THEATER, Leipzig (DE)

Divadlo Pro Tanec / PONEC - dance venue, Prague (CZ)

CCNR - Rilleux-la-pape (FR) in collaboration with LES SUBS, Lyon (FR)

Picture of the work-in-progress at PONEC - Divadlo Pro Tanec Prag (28.7.2022) Credits: Vojtěch Brtnický

The year of research (2021) took place in form of residencies and laboratories at LOFFT Das Theater Leipzig (DE), Schloss Bröllin (DE) and Studio ALTA Prague (CZ), and was supported in the frame of the Carolin Neuber-Scholarship of the city of Leipzig, which Marie Gourdain received for her choreographic work. In addition, Felix Baumann's work on the project was funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media within the framework of the initiative NEUSTART KULTUR, aid programm DIS-TANZEN by the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland, both in 2021 and 2022.

In 2022 the creation was hosted and financially supported by the international coproduction houses: LOFFT - DAS THEATER Leipzig (DE), Les SUBS Lyon (FR), Centre chorégraphique National de Rillieux-la-Pape (FR), PONEC – dance venue Prag (CZ). Furthermore, the production was supported by the NATIONALES PERFORMANCE NETZ Coproduction Fund for Dance, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, as well as by the City of Leipzig - Cultural Office (DE), the DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (FR), the City of Lyon (FR) and the Institut français (FR), the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic (CZ), the City Prague (CZ), the City Brünn (CZ), the state culture fund of the Czech republic (CZ) and the czech-german future fund.

CREDITS

Concept, choreography, direction: Marie Gourdain (FR/CZ), Felix Baumann (DE)

Interpretation: Felix Baumann (DE), Till Jenewein (DE), Sean Henderson (USA/CZ),

Halka Trešňaková (CZ), in collaboration with: Johana Pocková (CZ),

Stage and visual design: Marie Gourdain (FR), Felix Baumann (DE) in collaboration with

JanTomšů (CZ)

Music design: Thibault Cohade (FR)

Light design: Zuzana Režná (CZ)

Production: Von B bis Z (DE) | Matière Mobile (FR) | Collectiv tYhle (CZ)

SEISMIC - a dance and physical theatre production that places the scenographic construction at its conceptual heart. A piece for four international performers created by choreographer Marie Gourdain (FR) and dance and theatre maker Felix Baumann (DE).

The action takes place on an unstable and discontinuous platform, which may tip, shake or break in response to the movements of the protagonists. It constitutes the extremely uncertain base whereupon the characters display themselves, alone, in pairs, or as a group - thereby risking life and limb. The figures encounter challenges in relation to each other, tirelessly navigating the instability surrounding them, altering behaviors, provoking risks, endangering balance and control, threatening to lose the ground under their feet. Situations transform from the ordinary to the absurd, from the banal to the metaphorical.

Through dance, humor and scenographic installation SEISMIC tells about a relationship of mutual dependence, in which each body is simultaneously exposed to the mechanics of the space and of the other bodies - a permanent transformation of things in a circular and interdependent sense, a power relationship whose origins are blurred in the mix of events.