FRAGILE presents eleven captivating productions and addresses questions such as: How can the stage become a field of experimentation for the topic of sustainability? What special power do the different formats from dance to performance, workshop to debate, experiencing dance and dancing together possess in cultivating global empathy? Because we need this more than ever in view of the challenges that surround us!
As in the previous year, the pieces for the program of the international festival FRAGILE 2024 were selected by a jury, including members of Fridays for Future Wuppertal, the curators Melanie Zimmermann (Real Dance Hannover) and Tobias Staab (Dance München), Xenia Gromatzki (Junior University Wuppertal), Xenia Wachtel and Bettina Milz (Pina Bausch Centre).
ART AND SUSTAINABILITY:
The diverse program addresses the challenges of shaping international cooperation and presents new perspectives on solidarity-based action, new narratives, spaces, materials, and production methods. Not only do the productions aim to set an example against the climate crisis and the threat to biodiversity, but the entire festival organization is geared towards climate neutrality. Social, ecological, and economic aspects of sustainability are closely linked, reflecting the UN's 17 sustainability goals, from combating poverty to education, climate, and ecology.
THE PROGRAM:
The festival will open on 24 September with Kate McIntoshs performance LAKE LIFE. She invites an intergenerational audience to embark on a journey of discovery through the stage space. LAKE LIFE is a collaborative game, a puzzle and a celebration. It encourages constant self-reflection and a changed perception of oneself and others. Kate McIntosh's work spans performance, theater, video, and installation. In front of the Schauspielhaus Wuppertal, the Belgian company Reckless Sleepers will present their performance A STRING SECTION, featuring dancers from the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch and students from the Folkwang University of the Arts.
From Friday, 27 September, Colombian choreographer Martha Hincapié Charry will present the solo performance AMAZONIA 2040, developed during the pandemic lockdown in the jungle. The piece reflects on the present, past and future of the Amazon rainforest. On the same weekend, the Urban Art Complex and TANZRAUSCHEN from Wuppertal will once again present the hip-hop production EGO - a Journey of Urban Art with 13 young dancers and singers, choreographed by Miracle Laackmann and Ben Wichert. ICH KANN'S NICHT LASSEN by TANZKOMPLIZEN/Janne Gregor will focus on the dance form Krump from 1 October. In this artistic work on the theme of participation and self-empowerment, the audience determines how the piece unfolds featuring dancers Iman Gele, Baby Wave, Solomon “Big Liveness” Quaynoo, and Kofie DaVibe. From October 3, we present GRÜN by Cologne choreographer and dancer Barbara Fuchs / tanzfuchs in cooperation with Kinder- und Jugendtheater Wuppertal. In this piece Barbara Fuchs explores the parallels between humans and plants and soundscapes of the plant world.
On the final weekend of the festival, the young artists of African Loop from Senegal will share the stage with the Wuppertal dancer and choreographer Kenji Shinohe for a triple bill. Kezia Jonah Zafinoa is a choreographer and dancer in BELOVED “Oui ou Non” and choreographer of KEUR, a danced story about clay construction as an expandable climate solution. It is a co-production between African Loop, an organization dedicated to the green economy and art production, and École des Sables, the renowned Senegalese dance school founded by Germaine Acogny and Helmut Vogt. From Senegal to the artistic research in the Wadden Sea the festival will also feature the performative installation MESOKOSMOS: Performing Bodies in Transition, an artistic research in the Wadden Sea with a performative installation by Anja Plonka and Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling, working with mud, stars, oysters, and wind since 2022. In addition, the artist duo deufert&plischke will provide an insight into their project Just in time/ anarchivTANZ, which has been collecting and archiving personal letters to dance from various people for eight years. Their small Flying Archive invites the audience to read these letters or write their own.
Once again, the Young Change Watchers from the Pina Bausch Gesamtschule will accompany the festival. There will be morning performances for schools, for children, young people and all interested parties as well as late afternoon and evening performances. Teachers, educators and professors are warmly invited to get in touch with the festival team. There will be pre- and post-performance talks, an extensive HUMUS accompanying program, workshops and teacher training on art and sustainability (contact: xenia.wachtel@pinabauschzentrum.de).
The festival is funded by the Zero program of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation). Funded by the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media). Additional sponsors: the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the City of Wuppertal and the Sparkasse Wuppertal. The Pina Bausch Centre will be an inviting and highly sustainable contemporary arts centre that is open all day to welcome a broad range of people. Its sustainability strategy is being developed in collaboration with the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy and the Szenografie-Bund.
Programme