Moving Mountains

Moving Mountains

Three Dance Essays on the Theme of Transformation

A new production by Of Curious Nature/TanzRAUM Nord featuring choreographies by Kossi Sébastien Aholou-Wokawui, Antonin Comestaz, and Helge Letonja

The dance evening Moving Mountains brings together three independent choreographies, exploring the central motif of moving substantial mass as a creative force. Tectonic processes operating beneath the surface serve as a choreographic image and societal metaphor for transformation.

Ah Oui? Pas.

Choreography: Antonin Comestaz (France/Netherlands)

“Chance is the pseudonym God uses when He wants to remain anonymous.” (Albert Schweitzer)
Can we ever truly know all the causes and forces that ultimately led to the mountain being moved? Antonin Comestaz’s choreography Ah Oui? Pas. is a playground of constellations and countless unknown micro-processes that underlie events, making their progression unpredictable to us. It is a dance piece whose principles also remain hidden: Are they coincidences, invisible details, or secret individual decisions? A small, unnoticed catalyst sets off a chain of dance (re)actions that ripple through and affect everyone.

Ezan-Kélé

Choreography: Kossi S. Aholou-Wokawui (Togo/Germany)

In his choreography, Kossi S. Aholou-Wokawui explores dawn as a state in which the unconscious remnants of the night still linger, bubbling beneath the surface and pushing the unexpected upward with an unforeseen, lava-like force.

“Ezan-Kélé” (meaning “dawn” in the Ewe language) has its creative roots in my memories of the nocturnal and early morning movements of people in rural Togo: a liminal state between dreaming and waking, half-asleep, where one encounters others—and oneself—in the darkness.” (Kossi S. Aholou-Wokawui)

The piece is brought to life by four dancers from Of Curious Nature and marks Aholou-Wokawui’s first choreography for the company. His dance language, shaped in his native Togo, merges with contemporary European dance, which he has practiced for years, resulting in fresh and dynamic interconnections.

Memory of a Future Eruption

Choreography: Helge Letonja (Austria/Germany)

In Memory of a Future Eruption, Helge Letonja, together with the ensemble Of Curious Nature, creates shifting social images that constantly reform. From the cracks in the rock, from the spaces in between, fragments of memories emerge—figurative and collective images of human existence are unearthed, speaking of transitions like birth, migration, and new beginnings, before fading away once more.

With his distinctive dance language, Letonja crafts a poetic in-between world: blurred images meet biographical upheavals; the past influences the present and reshapes the future.

“His (Helge Letonja’s) eleven dancers leaped and whirled as if in a state of constant metamorphosis. Above all, they evoked timeless images of human existence.” (Remscheider Generalanzeiger, Daniel Diekhans)

_{Ah Oui? Pas:
Concept, Choreography: Antonin Comestaz | Choreographic assistance, training management: Keith Chin | Dance: Dori Yen Chu Ku, Noémie Larcheveque, Daiana Mankovska, Virginia Michailidou, Andrea Scarfi, Alice Zucconi | Music: Collage, Sonic Junkie | Costume: Antonin Comesat | Light design: Carlos Heydt
Dauer: ca. 30 Min}

_{Ezan-Kéle:
Concept, Choreography: Kossi Sébastien Aholou-Wokawui | Choreographic assistance, training management: Keith Chin | Dance: Casey Hess, Daria Hordiichuk, Myles Langston Hunter, Xavier Lott | Costume: Koami Vignon | Music: Collage | Light design: Carlos Heydt
Dauer: ca. 25 Min}

_{Memory of a Future Eruption:
Concept, Choreography: Helge Letonja | Choreographic assistance, training management: Keith Chin | Dance: Kossi Sébastien Aholou-Wokawui, Casey Hess, Daria Hordiichuk, Myles Langston Hunter, Dori Yen Chu Ku, Noémie Larcheveque, Xavier Lott, Daiana Mankovska, Virginia Michailidou, Andrea Scarfi, Alice Zucconi | Dramaturgy: Anke Euler | Music: Collage, Matthew McFarlane | Music editing: Florian Tippe | Costume: Anna Thåqvist | Light design: Carlos Heydt
Dauer: ca. 40 Min}

_{Anfertigung Kostüme: Dominice Steffen, Anna Thåqvist, Koami Vignon | Licht: Carlos Heydt, Nathaniel Johnson | Techn. Leitung: Nathaniel Johnson | Produktionsleitung: Anne Storm | Techn. Produktions-Assistenz: Médoune Seck | Foto: Ursula Kaufmann, Marianne Menke | Gestaltung: Andrea Dilzer | Video: Médoune Seck | Produktion: steptext dance project und Teo Otto Theater Remscheid}

<sub>The production Moving Mountains is supported by the Senator for Culture Bremen and the Waldemar Koch Foundation.
Of Curious Nature/TanzRAUM Nord is supported by Bureau Ritter/TANZPAKT RECONNECT, funded by the Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien in the framework of Initiative NEUSTART KULTUR Hilfsprogramm Tanz; and from the Senator für Kultur Bremen.

Yen Chu Ku, Xavier Lott, Virginia Michailidou and Andrea Scarfi are supported by the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien im Programm NEUSTART KULTUR, Absolvent:innen-Förderung DIS-TANZ-START des Dachverband Tanz Deutschland</sub>

Fr 01 December 2023 | 8:00 pm (Ah Oui? Pas)
Korzo Theatre (Den Haag)

Th 11 May 2023 | 8:00 pm
Fr 12 May 2023 | 8:00 pm
Sa 13  May 2023 | 8:00 pm
Schwankhalle Bremen

Premiere: 25 February 2023 | 7:30 pm
Teo Otto Theater Remscheid

3 March 2023
TanzTage Iserlohn

16 March 2023 | 11:00 am (rehearsal for school classes)
16 March 2023 | 8:00 pm
18 March 2023 | 8:00 pm
19 March 2023 | 4:00 pm ( Family-friendly performance
Parents to the theatre, children in motion: On 19 March at 4pm, Augusto Jaramillo Pineda, director of the young artists as well as numerous dance projects for children and young people, offers a dance taster class during the time parents attend the performance of MOVING MOUNTAINS. For children aged 7 and over.)
Schwankhalle Bremen

Tickets

Registration for dance taster course (19.03., 4 p.m.) at: office@steptext.de