11th International Festival Berlin
12.8. – 29.8.1999
Internationales Tanzfest Berlin will once again show a wide array of dance works ranging from pure abstract movement to concrete conceptual statements. Due to the longstanding collaboration between presenters TanzWerkstatt Berlin and Hebbel-Theater, the festival has become one of the city's major annual events. It features daring, often experimental works from a younger generation of dance creators as well as the newest works by established companies of international acclaim. This year's program offers compelling works at nine different venues.
With the surfacing of a new generation of artists, the creative process and the aesthetics of dance have changed noticeably over the last decade. Rarely now is a single author responsible for the creation of a choreographic work. An updated dialogue is being pursued between choreographers, visual artists and musicians. At times, the choreographies of Meg Stuart and Vera Mantero remind one of living exhibits. Jérôme Bel and Emio Greco make use of sampling, looping and remixing techniques much in the manner of digital musicians. Their strong personal visions are at the forefront of dance and performance today, while those who preceded them - innovators such as Merce Cunningham, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Éduouard Lock and Saburo Teshigawara - continue to fascinate audiences everywhere.
As part of the festival, a workshop series directed by Goat Island, Stephen Petronio, Michael Laub, Anne Marie Benati, Dennis O'Connor and André Lepecki will explore the practical side of dance creation. Three "interventions" initiated by André Lepecki, Johannes Odenthal and Mårten Spångberg will investigate current themes and theories of performance while providing ample space for dialogue between audience, guest artists and theoreticians.
If theater is a place to physicalise ideas, as Reza Abdoh has claimed, this year's Internationales Tanzfest will be a place to hear new ideas expressed through movement.
(Foreword of Tanz im August programme magazine 1999 by Nele Hertling, Marion Ziemann, Ulrike Becker and André Thériault)
Venues 1999: Hebbel-Theater, Sophiensæle, Podewil, Akademie der Künste (Hanseatenweg), Komische Oper, Deutsche Oper, Schiller Theater, Theater am Halleschen Ufer and Turnhalle Chausseestraße 96.
