A HUMAN RACE – THE RITE OF KRUMP
Tue 25.04. 16:30
Wed 26.04. 11:00
About
Powerfully and expressively, the dancers protest against social inequality and discrimination. The Krump Dance Style is danced resistance, born in L.A.’s black community. Dancing to the highly emotional music of "Le Sacre du printemps" the moves express inner contradictions, abysses and ineffable conditions within every individual. It unites the group in a common struggle for freedom, participation and recognition. Dancing to survive.
Krump is a creative outlet for aggression. The anger over the wounds caused by exclusion and racism is danced away. Krump is also a refuge that provides a family-type structure for young people from around the world. At the same time, the dance style is a form of self-empowerment in the face of feeling powerlessness when experiencing racist violence.
Grichka Caruge is a frequent world champion and one of the best Krumpers in Europe. Together with five dancers from the international dance scene, he tells a story of empowerment in this production.
Follow-up conversations
After all performances, several follow-up conversations take place immediately afterwards, lasting a maximum of 90 minutes. The allocation to the talks takes place on site. There are always also spatially accessible offers. Information about the presenters can be found here.
Credits
Dance: Luka Austin Seydou, Solomon Quaynoo, Rochdi Alexander Schmitt, Mark Sheats, Émilie Ouedraogo Spencer
Choreographers: Grichka Caruge and ensemble
Music: Igor Stravinsky, “Le Sacre du Printemps“
Performance rights music: Boosey & Hawkes - Bote & Bock GmbH, Berlin für Hawkes & Son (London) Ltd.
Dramaturgy: Livia Patrizi
Production: Carola Söllner
Stage & Costume: Silvia Albarella
Lighting design: Arnaud Poumarat
Technical director / Light: Martin Pilz
Theatre Pedagogue: Amelie Mallmann, Esmir Srdanovic
A production by TANZKOMPLIZEN as part of the Offensive Tanz für junges Publikum Berlin, in cooperation with Cie Art-Track (F) and with the kind support of the Institut français, the French Ministry of Culture/DGCA and the Centre Français de Berlin.
Vote
Krump is a fast, extremely expressive dance style – it originated in the Afro-American community of Los Angeles. On German stages, however, Krump, which belongs to the wide-ranging genre of street dance, is still a new art form to be discovered. With "A HUMAN RACE - The Rite of Krump", TANZKOMPLIZEN succeeded in choreographing an entire production that not only showcases the varied expressive possibilities of Krump, but also reinforces the immanent concern of this dance style: the negotiation of issues concerning identity politics and reclaiming the stage for artistic freedom of expression that is otherwise dominated by white normativity.
In a circle marked in sand, the bodies of the five dancers explore their own existence, boundaries and belonging. Their movements convey a great deal of emotionality and expressiveness, but also a high degree of precision. They are accompanied by Igor Stravinsky's music, "Le Sacre Du Printemps". At first glance, this may be irritating, but it is precisely this irritation which - very cleverly chosen - prompts us to question our own visual habits and ideas about which artforms can be matched. However, Stravinsky's musical work - heavily criticized at the time it was written because it deviated from the norm - and the five krumping dancers come together rather quickly: music and dance support one another and culminate in a delicate yet powerful struggle for presence, negotiating exclusion and right to exist. "A HUMAN RACE - The Rite of Krump" demonstrates how discourses critical of racism can be conducted on an artistic sensual level and even grow, by reclaiming the stage, beyond discourse - towards a re-creation and visualization of marginalized art.
Antigone Akgün
Content Note
The play A Human Race - The Rite of Krump uses fog to stimulate sensory stimuli through smell.
Watch at your own risk, so decide for yourself whether you might feel triggered by the piece or not.
