a dance performance by Lisa Bless in collab. with Anand Dhanakoti

Premiere:

01.06.2024 & 02.06.2024 at 8 pm at TiK – Theater im Karlstorbahnhof, Heidelberg

EMBERS | today is yesterday and tomorrow in another place is a sci-fi dance performance that takes a theatrical look at the not-too-distant future of our planet, ourselves as a species, and our relationship with nature.

Through the fusion of contemporary dance, dance theater, and elements from Kalari Payattu and traditional Tamil dances, Lisa Bless and Anand Dhanakoti explore how two different climate scenarios affect their physicality, behavior, and emotional states.

With EMBERS | today is yesterday and tomorrow in another place as a development of the shorter version EMBERS, Lisa and Anand delve even deeper into, on one hand, climate justice and dystopia, but also utopias, by approaching topics such as empathy, diversity, and collaboration through dance. How might we as humans change? What would be the next step in evolution to be more connected to nature? What are future bodies like? Hybrids of human, animal, plants?

In the process of creation, they draw inspiration from other species. Moving from separation to connection they learn to embrace their similarities and differences. On their journey, they tap into memories of places that no longer exist and their subconscious fears and dreams. They explore the connection to nature, their voices, and themselves as sentient beings while synthetic and organic realities blend together.

EMBERS | today is yesterday and tomorrow in another place is the full-evening development of the shorter version EMBERS in collaboration with the Hamburg-based Indian artist Anand Dhanakoti, which premiered in Mannheim (DE) in 2023, after residencies in Prague (CZ) at KDmlejn Theater and at Theaterfestival Schwindelfrei in Mannheim (DE).

EMBERS is a continuation of the OXYGEN universe. Oxy-Gen is a dance project that consists of several sci-fi inspired dance works that engage with climate situations. It began with the film Oxy-Gen, a remote collaboration between Lisa Bless and the Indian dancer Pankaj Shag, and the hybrid solo performance Oxy-Gen I Z(8).

CREDITS

Artistic direction, Choreography, Dance: Lisa Bless
Co-choreography, Dance: Anand Dhanakoti
Music: Peter Hinz
Costume: Sabryna Nitihardjo
Production & Outside-Eye Dramaturgy: Maíra Wiener

The project is funded by the City of Heidelberg and the cultural fund „KulturLabHD“.
Supported by Choreografisches Centrum HD; Inter-Actions Studio Actions; ProfitArt CZ and Lamy Kulturstiftung.
This project is made possible by the project funding of the Landesverband Freie Tanz- und Theaterschaffende Baden-Württemberg (LaFT BW) e.V.. LaFT BW e.V. is funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts.

Only when we dance? We’re in!