Hocus Pocus is mainly based on the power of images, their magic and the sensations they provoke. The very unique set design allows for a playful and magical exploration into a game of appearances and disappearances of both bodies and accessories. The brotherly relationship that develops between the two dancers constitutes the show’s guiding thread, both through the hardships they create for themselves to toughen themselves up, as well as through the fantastic voyage that subsequently awaits them. Hocus Pocus is one of the few contemporary dance works intended for a young audience. It seeks to challenge the imagination of its audience, while weaving a narrative that is open enough for each child to build his or her own story.

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Philippe Saire was born in Algeria and spent the first five years of his life there. He later moved to Lausanne where he studied and trained in contemporary dance before going abroad to further pursue his training. In 1986 he created his own dance company in the Lausanne area, which went on to develop its own creative repertoire and actively contributed to the emergence of contemporary dance across Switzerland. In 1995, Philippe Saire inaugurated his own creative workspace, Théâtre Sévelin 36. Located in Lausanne, the theatre is dedicated to contemporary dance and hosts performances of international stature, as well as local dance acts. Throughout his career, Saire was awarded with multiple prizes and distinctions (Grand Prix - Fondation Vaudoise, Prix dauteur du Conseil Général de Seine- Saint-Denis, Swiss Dance & Choreography Prize). Since 2003 Philippe Saire has been teaching movement at the Manufacture, a theatre school in French-speaking Switzerland.

 

Concept and choreography: Philippe Saire
Choreography in collaboration with the dancers: Philippe Chosson, Mickaël Henrotay-Delaunay
Dancers on tour: Philippe Chosson, Pep Garrigues
Stage device: Léo Piccirelli
Props and accessories: Julie Chapallaz, Hervé Jabveneau
Sound design: Stéphane Vecchione
Technical direction: Vincent Scalbert
Construction: Cédric Berthoud
Music: Peer Gynt by Edvard Grieg

Vacuum generates impossible images and fantastic paintings, an interplay of bodies appearing and disappearing between black holes and dazzling lights. This duo is the third part in a series of performances called Dispositifs, in convergence with visual arts. After Black Out (2011) and NEONS Never Ever, Oh! Noisy Shadows (2014), Vacuum explores a new aspect of our sensory perception through an optical illusion created with two neon tubes. In Black Out, the movements of the dancers drew shapes in some black substance on stage while the audience watched from above. NEONS then staged a couple dancing in a world of lights and shadows. Now, with this third piece, Philippe Saire further explores the visual perception of movement. The result is lyrical and inspiring, as it moves forward through the history of art, from Renaissance paintings to photographic development. Vacuum is a coproduction with Paris Théâtre National de Chaillot and La Bâtie Festival de Genève.

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Cie Philippe Saire has produced 31 shows to this date, with more than 1,000 performances in 180 towns and cities across Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and America. The dance company also performs regularly at exhibitions and art galleries, gardens, urban spaces and other outdoor venues. From 2002 to 2012, the Cartographies Project, which combined performances in the city of Lausanne and video production, bore witness to Saire’s constant desire to get dance out of the interior performing space. This taste for experimentation also led to the creation of 2011’s Black Out, which reached 100 performances in 2014, a dance piece taking place in a cube, with a limited audience standing atop the stage.

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Concept, choreography: Philippe Saire
Choreography in collaboration with the dancers: Philippe Chosson, Pep Garrigues
Stage device: Léo Piccirelli
Sound design: Stéphane Vecchione
Technical director: Vincent Scalbert
Construction coordinator: Antoine Friderici
Construction: Cédric Berthoud
Stage management: Mickaël Henrotay Delaunay

Production assistant: Constance von Braun
Video recording & teaser: Pierre-Yves Borgeaud
Photography & graphic design: Philippe Weissbrodt
Music: What Power Art Thou, drawn from Henry Purcell’s King Arthur, performed by Fink and the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Ninja Tune, 2013

The choreographer investigates in form and content the recent experience we had of creating dance under social distancing. However, she extends her discourse to questions concerning art itself today, to the dialogue that is created between the living and the mediated art, the art that reaches the viewer through the mediation of the screen. How does the present body exist on stage and how does it function when it is projected on the screen?

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Alexandra Waierstall is an artist and choreographer from Cyprus based in Düsseldorf. She has an MA in Choreography from Artez, The Netherlands. She has presented works at Musée du Louvre - FIAC (Paris), Sadler’s Wells (London), Dansenshus Oslo (Oslo), Julidans (Amsterdam), Mousonturm (Frankfurt), Crossing Festival (Beijing), Fringe Festival (Shanghai), International Festival (Seoul), Senselab (Montreal), Dansenshus Stockholm, Forum Mundial (Sao Paolo), Kunsthalle Mannheim (Mannheim), Bauhaus Museum (Dessau) and others. She received the Upcoming Artist Award 2013 from the city of Düsseldorf, was finalist at the Rolex Mentor Protége (2012), Factory Artist (2014-2016, tanzhaus nrw) and Discovery Artist (2017-2019, UK). She has choreographed the companies National Dance Company of Wales and Tanzmainz.

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Concept, choreography, text, voice: Alexandra Waierstall

Dancers, videographers: Rania Glymitsa, Arianna Marcoulides, Savvas Baltzis, Ying Yun Chen,

Music: HAUSCHKA, Stavros Gasparatos

Technical support: Yiangos Hadjiyiannis

Αn imaginative and surreal duet exploring the unpredictable nature of our everyday reality. Isolated in a sparsely furnished room, a lone dancer questions her body and surroundings. Living Room is Inbal Pinto’s most recent work, an original production of Suzanne Dellal Centre. The identity of objects, situations and people become fluid and the unpredictable reality we have tried to write, rewrites itself. The work had its premiere in 2021 in Tel Aviv.

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Inbal Pinto is an Israeli choreographer, director, set and costume designer. In 1992, she established the Inbal Pinto Dance Company and was its artistic director until 2018. During these years, she created a number of unique and award-winning dance performances. Her creations have expanded the boundaries of the field and invented the world of dance-theatre, which has become her signature. Several works by Pinto, such as Dio-Can, Wrapped, Oyster, Fugue and many more have become, over the years, a milestone in the history of Israeli dance, and have received critical acclaim worldwide. In 2002, Pinto began collaborating with Avshalom Pollak, and in addition to creating together numerous dance works, they have choreographed, directed and designed operas and musicals around the world. Since 2018, Pinto has been working as an independent artist. She recently directed, together with Amir Kliger, and designed the musical play based on Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle in Tokyo.

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Choreography, costume, set design, wall drawing: Inbal Pinto

Dancers: Moran Muller Itamar Serussi

Original music: Maya Belsizman

Additional music: Umitaro Abe - Havanera de la Montagne (Piano Solo) | Franz Schubert - Trio op. 100 - Andante con moto | Mister Bean - The Really Useful Guide to Alcohol, Rowan Atkinson | Bistro Fada composed by Stephane Wrembel and arranged by Maya Belsitzman

Lighting Design: Tamar Orr

Lamenta has at its core the miroloi of Epirus, Greek lament songs traditionally sung at funerals, farewells, and when somebody left the family to marry or to migrate. Choreographers Koen Augustijnen and Rosalba Torres Guerrero (Siamese Cie) bring together nine contemporary Greek dancers and, together, they explore how the energetic qualities of the Greek music and dances unfold and nourish a contemporary creation. In their new creation, the choreographers continue their shared artistic journey, exploring how our basic, emotional experiences as humans are always embodied and how they can be articulated in physical theatre and dance. Lamenta focuses on the different emotional states that we experience when we grief our losses. In all cultures, rituals of mourning existed in which song and dance were used to express these emotions. We need to perform these emotions and share them collectively in order to let them go. In our contemporary society, a lot of these rituals have been lost, but they still survive in speci fic regions and cultures, such as Epirus in the North of Greece. To what extent is traditional dance permeable to other influences? How do we relate to the past and tradition? How can traditional dance be represented on stage today in a way accessible to contemporary audiences and through an intercultural perspective? As in the case of miroloi, transcribing tradition on contemporary dance means letting go: something must be lost or change form in order for a new dance vocabulary to emerge.

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Koen Augustijnen has worked closely with les ballets C de la B since 1991, initially as a dancer in performances staged by Alain Platel. From 1997 to 2013, he was one of the company’s choreographers in residence, creating amongst other productions, Bâche (2004), which led to an international breakthrough, followed by IMPORT/ EXPORT (2006), Ashes (2009) and Au- delà (2012). Since 2013, he has been working as a freelancer. He directed in Australia the dance solo Gudirr Gudirr for Dalisia Pigram of the Marrugeku Company. In Palestine, he co-directed Badke (2013) together with Rosalba Torres Guerrero and Hildegard De Vuyst, a work for ten Palestinian dancers produced by KVS, les ballets C de la B and The Qattan Foundation. He made Sehnsucht, limited edition (2014) in the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater, and Dancing Bach (2015) in Konzert Theater Bern. Together with Rosalba Torres Guerrero, he created Hochzeit (2017) in the Staatstheater Mainz with twenty dancers of TanzMainz, five actors, five musicians and special guests, and in the same house Le Sacre du Printemps in 2022.

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Rosalba Torres Guerrero studied at the Geneva Conservatory and at the CNDC in Angers. She started her career with Philippe Decouflé in Decodex and worked with Ismael Ivo in Weimar on Medeamaterial. From 1997 to 2005, she was a member of Rosas, the dance company of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker with whom she created Drumming, I said I, In real time, Rain, April me, Bitches Brew/ Tacoma Narrows, Kassandra and Raga for a rainy season/Love Supreme, as well as the repertoire pieces Woud, Achterland and Mozart/Concert Arias-un moto di gioia. From 2005 to 2015, she joined les ballets C de la B of Alain Platel for VSPRS, Pitié!, Out of Context and C(h)oeurs. She has performed in the films Je sens le beat qui monte en moi and Cornelius le meunier hurlant by Yann Le Quellec; the role of Kassandra in Die Troerinnen and Die Rasenden by Karin Beier at Schauspielhaus Hamburg; and with the Polish director Krysztof Warlikowksi in the operas, Lulu, Don Giovanni, The Bassarids and the play Phèdres(s) with Isabelle Huppert at the Théâtre de l’Odéon in Paris. In 2011, she created Pénombre, a dance solo in collaboration with French video artist Lucas Racasse, which was produced by les ballets C de la B. Together with Koen Augustijnen and Hildegard Devuyst, she directed Badke. In 2017, Koen and Rosalba created in the Staatstheater Mainz, Hochzeit (2017) with twenty dancers of TanzMainz, five actors, five musicians and special guests, and in the same house Le Sacre du Printemps in 2022. She directed Long past for six dancers commissioned by Bodhi Project.

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Choreography: Koen Augustijnen & Rosalba Torres Guerrero

Dance company: Siamese Cie

Music direction: Xanthoula Dakovanou

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​The tour in Cyprus is supported by the Flemish Government

Can an isolated, confined body transcend, and travel beyond space and time? Can the subconscious become a vessel for these journeys? migrena2X2 is a hybrid solo performance, which exists in a surreal space made of fragments of memory, introducing suspension and object manipulation into movement. It is an abstract, contemporary interpretation of the story of biblical Jonah, aiming to embody the notion of prophecy by exploring the subconscious, confronting traumas and fantasies. The burden of the performer is embodied by kettlebells, and its shedding unfolds through a ritual - between a prayer and a rave. An intensification of wild movement patterns causes the body to slowly deconstruct, decompose, melt and surrender to awaken an abstract material, a collective of limbs and organs devouring the space, with no clear objective besides obeying the sensations that pass through it. This unleashing of instinctive, queer and primitive totality, which cannot exist outside the ecstatic state, is a call to become an entity, which functions beyond the intellectual restrictions of society. The body of the performer, being pushed to extreme intensity and disintegration, travels the space with dexterity and detail, emancipating hidden spaces and surfaces, reaching catharsis and eventually self-recognition.

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Yotam Peled (he/they) is a queer choreographer and performance artist born in 1989 in Israel. He has been practicing fine arts, athletics, and Capoeira since his childhood. At the age of 21, following his military service, he began dancing and later on pursued higher education in contemporary circus. In 2015, he relocated to Berlin, and collaborated with several European choreographers as a freelance dancer. He has been creating his own choreographic work, which toured across festivals and venues in Israel, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain, France, Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway, North Macedonia, Luxembourg, Canada, Panama, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam, and received several awards. In 2018, he formed the ensemble ‘Yotam Peled & the Free Radicals’, dedicated to the creation and distribution of contemporary interdisciplinary performance internationally, thematically focusing on power structures, questioning gender, and development of contemporary community rituals. The creations of the ensemble are: Entropia (2018), Alpha (2019), migrena2x2, HEIMAT, fauna futura, Get A Grip (2021). As resident choreographer he worked in: ‘THINK BIG’ (Hanover), TalentLAB#19 / Grand Theater Luxembourg, CC Heidelberg, TanzLabor / ROXY Ulm, Skopje Dancer Theater, Tanzhaus Zürich, PimOff Milan and Altofest Naples. Yotam has been a guest teacher in Fontys Academy of Arts, Folkwang University of Arts, Dock11, Munstrum Theater, Cie. Hors Surface, Cia. Maura Morales, Overhead Project, PRISMA festival, among others.

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Choreography & Performance: Yotam Peled

Communication: Laia Montoya / TINA agency

Soundtrack Design: Yotam Peled

The project is supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, and Collider AIR / Contemporary Calgary.

What if we all lived forever? The dream of a life after death has always inspired humans. Numerous fairy tales and legends deal with death, resurrection or eternal life. Greek mythology created immortal gods, animals, monsters and giants with supernatural powers. What do children think about life and death, about dying and immortality? To what extent may and can children be confronted with this topic? There are many ways to make yourself immortal: starting a family, creating artistic works, leaving a political legacy. Limited by our own death, we try in various ways to create a continuity that remains once our own life ends. Children have a gift of dealing with topics in a playful manner. Through interviews, games and workshops, the ideas and fantasies of children between the ages of 8 and 12 about life and death, about dying and immortality were awakened. The resulting material was then translated by five professional dancers. Forever creates a world of immortality in which creatures are brought to life by children’s fantasies. A visual, joyful, sensitive and moving journey through a visual language about what would be if we all lived forever. Forever is part of a trilogy of productions by Tabea Martin on the topic of transience. This Is My Last Dance (premiere February 2018) deals with the transience of one’s own body, with the experience of the final state. Forever playfully looks at our ideas of a life after death, the desire for an in finite life. In 2020, the project Nothing Left followed, in which the death of others is to be illuminated and investigated.

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Tabea Martin is a choreographer and performer, based in Basel, Switzerland. After studying Modern Theatre Dance at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, and Choreography at the Rotterdamse Dansacademie in Holland, she began developing her work as a choreographer in which sociological questions occupy a central role. Tabea focuses more on the creative process than the actual end result: losing one’s way, confronting the unknown, leaping hurdles, dealing with the emotions that arise, or discovering the unexpected. Tabea has won several prizes with her work, and was nominated by the Dutch Dance Days for promising young choreographers. Duet for two dancers was selected by Aerowaves in 2013 and was awarded by (Re)connaissance in France. It has since toured extensively in Europe. She has created new works at Stadttheater Bern, Maxim Gorki Theatre Berlin and Schauspielhaus Zürich, and regularly collaborates with Sebastian Nübling and Sibylle Berg. She has her own company and tours numerous different works across Europe. Since 2018, she has been supported with a KFV between Canton Baselland/Baselsstadt and Pro Helvetia.

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Choreography: Tabea Martin

Choreographic assistance: Laetitia Kohler

Dancers: Tamara Gvozdenovic, Emeric Rabot, Benjamin Lindh, Daniel Staaf, Miguel do Vale

Stage design: Veronika Mutalova

Costumes: Mirjam Egli

Lighting design: Simon Lichtenberger

Musical accompaniment: Donath Weyeneth, Roxane Wappler

Dramaturgy: Irina Müller, Moos van den Broek

Dramaturgy assistance: Nadja Rothenburger

Outside eye: Sébastian Nübling

Mediation: Dominique Cardito

Video documentation: Heta Multanen

Photo documentation: Nelly Rodriguez, Heta Multanen

Production management: Franziska Ruoss, Roxane Wappler

 

With the kind support of Fachausschuss Tanz & Theater BS/BL, Pro Helvetia-Swiss Arts Council, Migros Culture Percentage, Fondation Nestlé pour l’Art, Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation, Ernst Göhner Foundation, Ruth and Paul Wallach Foundation Basel.