Artists Speak

A collection of texts, interviews, designs, sketches, photos etc. made by different artistic profiles involved in the performance, which documents the experience of the artists during the work in progress creation of the performance and performing.

Theaterlabor Bielefeld

Indira Heidemann

What is the Alexander technique? It is the study of the connection between thinking and moving. Every movement, even sitting, is what I consider movement, because it is an activity. Most of the thoughts regarding our movements, we put into a box that we do not open. I don’t have to think about my sitting right now. To be honest with you, I’m thinking about my sitting all the time. I want to know what is going on. If we say studying the connection between thinking and moving, thinking always goes first. The Alexander technique is a lot about not doing.

Grotowski institute

Mertcan Semerci

We create images through the songs. We enter the space and we are doing improvisations. In that moment everybody is using their own lines of how to approach the material, how to create the material, and then we gather altogether, we sing again and we show the images. We try to understand how to create expression and image through singing. We work with images.

plavo Theatre

Dejan Stojkovic

How to be lucid, ecstatic, extra-ordinary – we consider this a know-how. I can have sequences of actions on the stage which are not ordinary. But if my mind is ordinary, this doesn’t count. Because if my body is not ordinary, but my mind is ordinary, it’s boring. So, first of all my mind has to be not ordinary and the body will follow.

Theaterlabor Bielefeld

Alina Tinefeld

NOTES
Wearing a naked suit. Head-neck relationship from head to head. Relaxation, tension. Feelings in the room. Two cats in one bag: precision and the perceived flow. Search, find, repeat, discard, search, renew, discard, uproot, clean, get to the point, reconnect. Layers. Understanding, misunderstanding. Thinking English, guessing. A piece of the puzzle that points beyond itself, creates a picture. Not being able to be common. Together. Raise your voice. Make related. Connect. Say goodbye. Make it your own. Wanting to limit your own limitations. Listen. Carry on. Underdoing or overdoing it with energy. Hit the spot. Hit the note. Be in the room. Or beside it. To have been in the now. Wearing a naked suit.

overlap buttocks over edge
Slowly slide down with breathing, eyes/head first
on moss slabs in the water – on tree trunks in the forest – in the factory
musical moving
Connections – tongue – joints – edge (listen to Thomas)
Steps to 13
Pom-pom kicking “gravity” head pom-pom controlled rotation – lower parts with hands controlled rotation
1st picture: Fantastic cave painting – hands
2nd motivational trainer: YOU! Enthusiasm – Civilisation

Read notes

plavo Theatre

Svetlana Ivanov

I am very grateful and happy that I was a part of this project, which was a great opportunity to meet and work with the artists from the other two groups. In my process I followed my personal impulse, which was in relation to the sensation of some kind of Universal injustice, since I lost a very close and dear friend recently, and this was one way to deal with that. I found my unique expression using body and voice in a very simple but strong way, and I dedicated the material to my friend. The other part was to integrate the material with the initial idea of the project, through joint work with my colleagues from Plavo Theatre. We worked steadily until we made one integral peace of material, that was later deconstructed (in Wroclaw) and became a part of the final performance.

Before we started to work on our own materials and ideas, we had an opportunity to discover the way of work and the visions of other two groups, Theaterlabor and Teatr Zar. For me that was the most important part of this project, in which I learned a lot, specially about Alexander technic from Indira Heidemann, which gave me a new insight about the importance of the posture of our body (spine).

Main obstacle for all of us was to overcome attachment in relation to the materials that we made, and to adjust them in the process of editing the performance. And in that moment, like we sacrificed our own small ideas of „justice“, we were building something bigger than our own individuality in order to make something together. And that effort was very precious in making the final product of the project, which was at the end very rewarding.

Through work and traveling together we connected also on a human level, which is a very significant part of every artistic project and which opened new perspective for the future work. I feel that we all went through one big and important Passage in our lives. I know that I did.

Theaterlabor Bielefeld

Ninke Overbeek

From the introduction to Staying with the trouble, part I
Trouble is an interesting word. It derives from a thirteenth-century French verb meaning “to stir up,” “to make cloudy,” “to disturb.” We—all of us on Terra—live in disturbing times, mixed-up times, troubling and turbid times. The task is to become capable, with each other in all of our bumptious kinds, of response.

Read notes Read Story

Theaterlabor Bielefeld

Stefanie Taubert

NOTES
Kin is a wild category. Who lives and who dies, in what way in this kinship and not in that?
What must be intersected and what must be connected to get the human and the other-than-human in kinship?

9.8 Donna J. Haraway “Staying with the Trouble. Making Kin in the Chthulucene” – Watch Bib

Raise the arm

Abduction – lift 90° angle
Adduction – pull up
Elevation – lift 180°

Muscle Latin

Notes Stefanie 2

1.6.23
Morning workshop with Ola (Alexandra) and Mertcan from Teatr Zar

Voice: Christian chants
Singing from Corsica
they sing in everyday life (while fishing)
Men and women
1. 2 voices baseline and second voice
2. 3 voices in addition, flies over it
(terza – high)

Improv: all have eyes closed
form a carpet
listen to each other
Let the voice come
Give space when individual voices create something of their own

Young people to start in a circle
A sings tone
Neighbour B takes over tone, varies high or low
then B takes tone, turns

Notes Stefanie 3

to C and makes a tone
C varies it etc.

Going on with 3 participants together one tone
me as leader / choir
Participants same in the whole room
Voice to tone with leading voice

7.8.23
The thumbs pick up the index finger thread
grasp from below, pull backwards
the two free little fingers
pick up the back thumb thread

Now both thumbs let go of the strings they were tightening

Notes Stefanie 4

send info for website to Ralph

11.9.23
Alina’s attempt to unite humans and animals
Thomas text: which is worse – aunt dies / rhino dies
move with rhythm
Movement sequences plus AT

Develop one’s own scene
own idea on the topic

Create 1 to 1 scene
as with “contact surface” choice for audience

tasks:
choral work with text
Work on a platform – only hands lead
feet
lying down
Researching material

Notes Stefanie 5

Connection in working methods
the same in training

have known each other for 20 years

phase in autumn each group for itself

in February 24 all together
together 2 weeks of work in a row

Plavo in the afternoon
get into trance, flow, “zone”

Exercise: follow music / don’t follow directly – not too catchy
Do not create movement
Follow the movement, stay with it, don’t interrupt the flow,
not be mechanical

Grotowski institute

Katya Egorova

Overview
Our participation in the project, as members of the Grotowski Institute and Teatr ZAR, was pivotal in creating a bridge between diverse artistic groups through the medium of music. We contributed by integrating music as a unifying element.The primary objective was to foster a collaborative environment where different artistic groups could express their creative processes. We focused on how music could connect and enhance these varied contributions.

Challenges
Working with such diverse artistic groups was both a challenging and fascinating experience. Each group had its own distinct style and approach, which often differed significantly from our own. This diversity made it difficult to find a common ground initially, as reconciling the various artistic visions and methods required a lot of effort and open-mindedness.One of the most profound challenges was learning to step back and observe, allowing the creative process to unfold naturally.

Learnings
Balancing the desire to guide and shape the project with the need to respect and integrate the diverse contributions of others was a delicate and ongoing challenge. However, this experience ultimately enriched my understanding of collaboration, emphasizing the importance of openness, adaptability, and the willingness to learn from others.

Theaterlabor Bielefeld

Thomas Behrend

NOTES
5.12. Justlab

Sequences while lying
supine position, tighten knees
turn to the right-on the knees-doggystyle-quadruped
move back, to the left repetition
supine position-make legs long-bend right leg-external rotation, place over Alina´s thigh
supine position-breastbone high-head is hanging
supine position- only breastbone-back of the head on the ground
supine position-hands clasped over head-variations in front of Alina´s hands and behind-Steffi and I move synchronized
Quadruped
left foot between A’s feet from the front
move right hand from behind
move left hand from above
right foot out to starting step
Repeat

Notes Thomas 2
Stage: inclined plane with doors
20 minutes material plus possibility to change
prepare your rehearsal plan well
Poland: variations from Virginia Woolf from the Plavos
Vera is translator for the Plavos
group of three familiarize themselves with doors
I have 2 scenes. Alina with bulge costume
texts from Alexander
Idea: clownish group of three, I have a buoy
main topic: evolution

Notes Thomas 3
(is in English, it is the actual text from the performance)

Notes Thomas 4
cont. From 3
————–
viruses: Robert Preston on Tom Geisbert

He saw virus particles shaped like snakes in negative images. They were white cobras intertwined like the hair of Medusa. It was the face of nature itself, the obscene goddess, revealed naked. This something, this life form, was breathtakingly beautiful. As he stared at it, he found himself drawn away from the human world into a world where moral boundaries are blurred and finally extinguish it completely. He was lost in amazement and admiration, even though he knew he was the prey.

Notes Thomas 5
5.9.
Recently the last northern white rhino died. My mother died in 1985. Southern white rhinos may also already be extinct. Is auntie Bärbel still alive? My 94 years old father is the last survivor of his family. He had 10 siblings. 3 full siblings and 7 half siblings. My sea grass in a flowerpot is the seventh offshoot of the original plant that I put on the windowsill 27 years ago.

Pet, House plant, balcony plant, Farm animal
Animal welfare, Plant protection
Help with dying, help with giving birth
bonsai, sumo, terracotta mummies, hidden life
Ant lion, frog fish, crocodile, shrub thief, life lies in wait.

Notes Thomas 6
how we live
how we love
how we die

secret of our success

One in 1000 young turtles survives on its way to the sea

Eradication of animal species

Dodo: 23 million ago
Megalodon: 62,6 million ago
Platybelodon: 23 – 4 million
Titanoboa: 58-60 million, 13m
silver-toothed tiger: 2,5 mio until 12.000, group hunter, fragile teeth
Livyatan: largest whale, 17 m, 15 t
Spinosaurus: 112 – 93,5 mio years, largest carnivore
Tyrannosaurus: Fethers?

Notes Thomas 7
Impro:
Rhino: snort while standing
two short sneezes
northern white rhino 2 steps to the side
southern white rhino squatting, right hand stroking
aunty Bärbel?
lay on left side, snort
my father
I wasn´t planned either
help with giving birth, help with dying beetle
seagras offshoot stand up 10 fingers
Pet, House plant
balcony plant, Farm animal
Animal, animal welfare, Plant protection
bonsai, sumo, terracotta mummies
hidden life
life lies in wait huhuhu

AT text, waltz dance

14 wolves have brought life back to normal in yellowstone park. Hunt deer, Population declined – deer avoided places where wolves were present, these places regenerated, Aspen and willow trees began to bloom again, restart, with trees and bushes came berries and beetles, several bird species followed, which became native to the forest, increasing number of trees, the beaver came back, dam building, the beavers helped otters, muskrats and reptiles

Notes Thomas 8
wolves killed coyotes – rabbits and mice came back – falcons foxes badgers weasels sea eagles crows –
The wolves changed the rivers.
Better balance between predator and prey
gave other species the possibility to thrive
less erosion due to increased vegetation
river banks stabilised, channels became narrower
several pools were formed
the rivers were more fixed in their course
ecology – physical geography

the secret of our success lies in
how we live
how we love
how we die

one in 1000
who may live who must die?
panda bear or giant salamander?

Panda – Species protection is unjust
Wuuuhuuu