Programme introduction by Ricardo Carmona

A festival, much like an archipelago, is a composite of diverse creations, each with its own unique landscape and story. Despite their individuality, these works are closely linked, forming a cohesive whole. Just as islanders, so too do the elements of a festival thrive through mutual dependence. In this archipelagic vision, each creation adds to the richness of the event, bringing together various narratives. Every island, or work, serves as a stage upon which the artists connect the invisible oceanic currents of our days.

As the spectators embark on the journey of Tanz im August, they – you – are invited to immerse yourself and experience how creations, traditions, and stories intersect, leading to vibrant forms of expression. Just as shores are shaped by the currents of the surrounding seas, individuals and cultures are formed by history, memory, and encounters. Across the vast seas, voices echo and narratives intertwine, moulding scenes of shared experience and common destiny.

When crossing waters between islands, we carry memories with us. Several works of this year’s edition offer an anthology of stories about ancestors, lost times, migration, and future paths to travel. Dorothée Munyaneza evokes the red-flower tree umuko, traditionally considered a healer and keeper of stories, to bring a new future on stage. Tamara Cubas shares the tales of migration journeys of women from different continents. Soa Ratsifandrihana embarks on a wandering voyage of diasporic lives. Francisco Camacho & Meg Stuart explore ancient ruins on the island of Sardinia and find emotional landscapes. Amanda Piña dives into forgotten biographies and brings to light a memorial of the Brown history of European dance.

Stories can be told through different means and media: Marco D’Agostin writes a letter to someone who can’t receive it anymore, Rita Mazza explores the intimate relations between voice and Deaf identity, and Alessandro Sciarroni guides us through a landscape of dreams, movements, and deep connections beyond words.

Dance can also emerge as a manifestation of our interconnectedness with the environment, as an expression of ecological consciousness. This year artists keep drawing inspiration from nature. Michelle Moura questions the ongoing exploitation of natural resources by humans and draws inspiration from non-Eurocentric perspectives. Jérôme Bel & Estelle Zhong Mengual guide us across the Western canon of dance history and show us how non-human existences and natural phenomena have been portrayed. Christos Papadopoulos replicates the underground networks of fungi, the movements of a flock of birds or of a shoal of fishes.

In a similar way some artists reflect on the current troubled state of humankind. Jefta van Dinther takes us into an immersive installation with elements of escapism, deep fakes, or our attachment to machines. Viktor Szeri reflects how the world today affects us and surrenders his body to the effects of fatigue. KOR’SIA sets out for a journey in search for a renewed conception of humanism, a hope beyond today.

In our journey across waters and times, we will also encounter artists who follow different lineages of dance. Yinka Esi Graves uses flamenco’s roots in her work. Mette Ingvartsen investigates the choreographic possibilities of skateboards and roller skates, and Amala Dianor honours urban dance cultures and social media choreographies. Outbox Movement also shares a wide range of dance forms in an outdoor battle format open to all.

These artistic works send waves across waves, create movements that ripple in rhythmic echoes and curl into currents. They also become gestures of resistance, a call for collective responsibility. In this year’s festival we discover not just a map of the world as it is, but a compass guiding us toward the world as it could be. It is a world where difference is honoured, where relations are nurtured, and where the bonds of solidarity transcend the barriers of war, culture, and geography.

Ricardo Carmona
Artistic Director & Team Tanz im August 
April 2024

Greeting by Annemie Vanackere

A while ago, on a street in Brussels, I saw the phrase “Ici commence la mer / hier begint de zee”. Part of an awareness campaign, it is a reference to the journey that our waste takes, one which often ends in the sea. The slogan is intended to make us more conscious of the effects that our waste has on our indirect environment. In fact, the ‘here’ in question refers to everywhere, particularly places that are not near the sea, like Brussels, as well as Berlin, a city that boasts a small inland harbour at best. “The sea begins here” thus illustrates the extent to which everything is interconnected – our homes with both our immediate surroundings and our broader environment, and us with everyone and everything that exists on our planet.

In its visual campaign, this year’s edition of our festival Tanz im August gestures towards this interconnectedness with images invoking an underwater world that – as we have known for quite some time now – will only be able to survive in its present beautiful state if we are mindful of our own local actions, even if we live in places far from the sea.

As a keen spectator of theatre and dance, I seek to deepen my knowledge of these and other such entanglements both emotionally and physically through aesthetic experience. In this respect, the artistic perspectives that actually develop in coastal areas and overseas are indispensable. As an international production house and core institution of the independent performing arts scene, at a time in which the world is shifting towards authoritarianism and militarisation, HAU Hebbel am Ufer is doing everything it can to remain an open house that provides space for diverse artistic programming and encounters – from here to the sea and beyond. In these times of multiple crises, war and polarisation, resources and financial support are threatening to be reduced – but it should be the other way around.

A festival like Tanz im August, which for three weeks transforms Berlin into an international ‘archipelago of dance’ (as we could describe Ricardo Carmona’s second edition), remains as essential for Berlin and the German dance scene today as it was when it was founded just before the fall of the Wall. It is a compass that helps us navigate between the many different artistic islands and bodies of water within this archipelago as we embark on new journeys of discovery. In doing so, it has contributed to Berlin becoming a focal point and key destination of international cultural life. As passionate as I am about watching theatre and dance, we argue just as passionately for the resources necessary to ensure that this navigating function – one that is just as important for local dance performers as international ones – is not lost. This is what HAU Hebbel am Ufer stands for: remaining an open and safe haven for these performers and their audiences.

My deepest thanks to all participating artists and their teams, as well as our partners: Berlin Atonal, Berliner Festspiele, Grün Berlin, Kraftwerk Berlin, Kultur Büro Elisabeth, Radialsystem, Sophiensæle, and Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz. We also thank our financial sponsors, especially the city of Berlin, the Capital Cultural Fund (HKF), and the Big Pulse Dance Alliance / Creative Europe. They help support us in our efforts to preserve HAU Hebbel am Ufer as a life-affirming safe haven for the artistic archipelago that is Tanz im August.

The HAU team and I wish you all savvy sails!

Annemie Vanackere
Artistic and Managing Director, HAU Hebbel am Ufer 
April 2024