Anima Obscura
To become immortal - an undertaking that is almost as old as mankind itself. The search for the one elixir that makes us invulnerable, gives us eternal youth and through which we can escape our earthly limitations runs right through history. From the Alchemist's Magnum opus, it took us to today's nanotechnological innovations that try to outsource the human brain to computers. We have come closer to our goal of eternal life at breakneck speed in recent years; how far is it still to the Philosopher's Stone?
Together with an interdisciplinary team, choreographer Nanine Linning develops to Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem a dance evening in which she allows intense physicality and fascinating virtuality to collide. Digital technologies challenge the expressive possibilities of dance as one of the oldest art forms and create a new, sensual theater experience.
Press quotes
"Set in motion and accompanied by music and dance, a total work of art has emerged that evokes strong emotions- which captivated the audience mercilessly" - Die Glocke
"Anima Obscura is a fantastic and beautiful, but also disturbing piece, which continues to captivate you with steady tension. But also with the perfect interaction of dance and video animation, music and light as well as stage design and costumes. Thanks to the noticeable incorporation of all art diciplines, such a total work of art arises, for which the audience thanked the performers with a standing ovation." - Westfalen Blatt
Cathedral
With Cathedral choreographer Marcos Morau created a major success production for Scapino Ballet Rotterdam. A prodigious quest for tomorrow's world.
Accompanied by the spiritual music of Arvo Pärt, pure as a heartbeat, Cathedral asks us to reflect on the nature of existence. About the mystery of man amid the grandeur of nature and the infinite universe.
Morau places the dancers in an equally impressive decor with life-size video projections and a spectacular lighting design. The encounter with a metres-high meteor on stage is the enigmatic opening of a sublime dance performance.
Press quotes
"With their bodies fragmented to the phalanges, Scapino's 12 dancers move virtuosically.” - NRC Handelsblad
"Dance by rising star Marcos Morau to music by Arvo Pärt: a wonderful combination that is powerful.” - de Volkskrant
"The movement language is surprisingly earthy and has a beautiful melancholic underlay, brought out excellently by the Scapino dancers.” - Trouw
Double Helix
Nanine Linning and Bart Hess continue their successful collaboration in developing new hybrid installations or physical sculptures as proposals for evolution of our species. They create around the philosophical questions which are getting louder and louder as scientist push the envelop of the possibilities for self optimization and blending artificial life with our organic heritage in search for eternal life.
The two artists behind Double Helix have collaborated very successfully several times: Nanine Linning asked designer & video artist Bart Hess to collaborate with her for two stage productions. This time Linning wanted to go a step further and created, instead of a full-length dance piece, a much more open, experimental format: a concept which combines a museum exhibition experience with a theatrical and performative experience.
Double Helix is dedicated to the effects of biotechnological developments in our society and within our bodies. The exploration at the interface between man and machine, technology and philosophy, this project, with 20 dancers divided over 4 rooms combines visual art, video and performance using interactive elements for the audience to experience an one-hour guided tour as an individual ‚Gesamtkunstwerk’.
Her experimental setup about the question of humanities future in a technologized world is astonishingly relevant."
Stuttgarter Nachrichten
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Get in contact with Scapino business manager Peter Jansen to request additional info on our productions.