IN THE HEART OF THE HEART OF THE MOMENT

EMBODIED BY 9 / An ode to our times / New piece

New piece

An open invitation to contemplate, process and most of all feel through our times.

This new offering from choreographer Alexandra Waierstall, is deeply connected with the experience of the extraordinary times we are living during this ongoing post-pandemic moment and world wide turbulence with wars and resessions. As a choreographer, she has fined tuned a poetic and affecting way to engage us with seemingly contradictory and hard to name emotions, through exquisite collaborations which create a world both deeply experiential and thought provoking.

This is indeed the case for this ambitious group work: “IN THE HEART OF THE HEART OF THE MOMENT” started with a previous work “Bodies and Structure” (2019): this work was a live interaction between dancers and the “Arena”, a monumental sculpture created by the acclaimed American artist Rita McBride.

For this new group piece, the choreographer develops a method in which she uploads the material, the experience and knowledge gained in the encounter with the sculpture in an imaginary cloud and then downloads it again, this time not as a sculptural work, but as a dance piece.

At the core of this work is a transformation process calling to our hearts, real and symbolic. Here Alexandra Waierstall refers directly to two inspirations: the exiled Lebanese-American poet and visual artist Etel Adnan, author of “In the Heart of the Heart of another Country”, who herself revisited the title by writer William Gass with his landmark work “In the Heart of the Heart of the Country” (1968). A spiral of works connected by the desire to make us attend to ourselves.

Indeed, Waierstall here approaches the choreography as a navigation system for feeling, perception and connection, as a tool for renewal. Every movement reflects how our bodies are adjusting to the changing social structures. Something we have all experienced recently. Moreover, “IN THE HEART OF THE HEART OF THE MOMENT” is weaving together stunning performances, and an unravelling music score.

IN THE HEART OF THE HEART OF THE MOMENT – embodied by 9
An ode to our times


Preview: 26 March 2022, Factory Finale, tanzhaus nrw, Düsseldorf, Germany
Duration: 55 min.
People on tour: 12

Production: Noema Dance Works e.V.; Coproduction: tanzhaus nrw; Supported by: the Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Kulturamt der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf.

Choreography, concept: Alexandra Waierstall; Dramaturgical support: Eva Martinez; Artistic collaboration: Volker Hermes, Maria Iole Karolidou; Composition: Stavros Gasparatos; Light design: Caty Olive; Dance, collaboration: Olivia Ancona, Robert Bridger, Ying Yun Chen, Scott Jennings, Amy Josh, Georgios Kotsifakis, Ioanna Paraskevopoulou, Eftychia Stefanou, Karolina Szymura; Text: Maria Iole Karolidou, Alexandra Waierstall; Stage, lights: Alexandra Waierstall; Costumes: Alexandra Waierstall, Horst Weierstall; Management Alexandra Waierstall: Judith Jaeger; Production assistance: Maria Sauerland

This is the text heard as voiceover in the live performance.


Written by Maria Iole Karolidou and Alexandra Waierstall. Spoken by Alexandra Waierstall.

Welcome. Today we will be moving into invisible structures with bodies present, with light, in darkness, experiencing liminal spaces, expanding the weight of the mind. We don’t know much about you but we are feeling a sense of unreality these days. The breath slightly bends the knee, I move forward and backwards. I remind myself, oneself, yourself, ourself. Again. Pause. Repeat. Wait. What are these times?

54 minutes

Pause. Repeat

Pause. Repeat

Pause Repeat

52
51 55 seconds
51.45
51.40
51.20 seconds

34 minutes

20 minutes

This is where they started
Activated bodies, on the floor
Moving through space
Measuring distance
Unfolding a practice

4 minutes

Minute after minute after minute I am caught in this practice.
I move backwards and forwards.
The roof orbits the stage.
I try to keep my balance.
I lean on the periphery.
Silence. Pause. Repeat.
Your heart. Diaphanous. Heart.
Repeat.
Your heart. Diaphanous. Heart.
The lights.
Tiny asteroids.
Your eyes.
Mind your step.
Switch off the lights.

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