RE-MACHINE

Presentation

Jefta van Dinther ventures into a large-scale production using the apparatus of the theatre as a mechanical perspective to investigate the body in relation to an umwelt/ environment. With RE-MACHINE, he explores his contemporary take on the Gesamtkunstwerk to the fullest, incorporating the elements of light, sound and scenography in a monumental performance. Here, the human body is seen as an object contextualized by external operation inside a built environment.

RE-MACHINE zooms out to illuminate the external factors that make the body what it is. RE-MACHINE explores that which exists outside the human, examining the environment and its effect upon the body. Represented by the monumental machinery on stage, the audience becomes witness to an interplay between the human and a hostile yet intoxicating mechanized surrounding. The scenography will play a decisive role in this new work; it symbolizes the overwhelming environment which determines the human and at whose mercy it appears to be. The core scenographic idea is to create a dome larger than human on a rotating disc, on which the performers turn, walk and climb - upright, leaning or on all four. The scenography functions as a condition for the performers to exist in, addressing our interrelation to the machine. The performance conjures associations to working slaves or trapped animals, but also transcendental rituals, and to the celebration of the loss of body. The work will be a production of sixteen professional artists, with noteworthy new contributions by scenographer Ulrich Rasche and singer and composer Anna von Hausswolff. Performed by seven dancers their journey is an endless meditation on discipline, relentlessness, insatiability and the power of the mind over the body. The work opens up to a rich field of associations and meanings about doing and being done, bliss and struggle, labor and ritual, material and immaterial, the archaic and the futuristic.

Artistic Team

The production of RE-MACHINE will see a production of sixteen professional artists. Apart from seven dancers, Van Dinther will work with his longstanding team, consisting of lighting designer Jonatan Winbo, sound designer and composer David Kiers and the costume designer Cristina Nyffeler. RE-MACHINE will also facilitate two new promising collaborations: with scenographer Ulrich Rasche and singer Anna von Hausswolff. Choreography: Jefta van Dinther (SE/DE). Created and performed by 7 dancers based in Berlin and Stockholm. Voice/composition: Anna von Hausswolff (SE). Lighting: design Jonatan Winbo (SE). Costume: Cristina Nyffeler (DE). Sound: David Kiers (NL). Scenography: Ulrich Rasche (DE). Assistant choreographer: Thomas Zamolo (SE). Dramaturge: Gabriel Smeets (NL/FR). Most of the collaborators in this team have worked with Jefta van Dinther on his productions over the last 3-10 years. Together, they form a strong and exceptional artistic alliance, who have proven to be able to produce successful works for stages in Europe and beyond.

Co-producing Partners