Sheroes

Sheroes

2017, 6 dancers

about the piece

I don’t give a damn what the people say

I’m gonna do it, gonna do it my way

Gonna let it all out an do my thing

Boom boom boom an a bang bang bang

Oh-do your thing

– Basement Jaxx

Sheroes takes the general increased interest of society and the arts in strong female characters as an incentive to question our relationship to heroism.

Six dancers set out in search of possible heroines and their attributes. They question old ideas of female heroism and use them to develop new ones.

videos

credits

Concept, Choreography: Christoph Winkler | By and with: Lois Alexander, Dagmar Dachauer, Tamar Grosz, Sophie Lèbre, Judith Nagel, Teresa Zschernig | Scenography: Valentina Primavera | Camera: Walter Bickmann Tanzforum Berlin | Production: ehrliche arbeit – freelance offe for culture.

A Christoph Winkler and ehrliche arbeit project. Co-produced by the Schauspiel Leipzig and Ballhaus Ost Berlin.

Funded by the Berlin Senate Administration for Culture and Europe.

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reviews

The heroic "overcoming of obstacles" is considered male territory. Actions or achievements alone do not lead to the status of a hero; it requires social acceptance. In this production, six female dancers play with such categories, dismantle them and with a delicate yet simultaneously vigorous touch, explore the potential for female heroes. In terms of dance, the evening often forges a path into rhythmic choreographies, for instance when it percussively integrates the chopping of wood […] Christoph Winkler is known for taking his aesthetics as seriously as his subject matter. We see this again in "Sheroes", which freely makes its way, unconstrained by any burden of theory; playfully, suggestively, unobtrusively. With a very convincing ensemble. The six dancers, who have come together from across half of Europe for this production, have grown into a harmonious unit in Leipzig. Their delight in performing is infectious and you can easily allow yourself to be carried away by the entertaining quality and effortlessness of the danced images. Don’t fear losing sight of evening’s central theme. It will always find itself again.
- 4.2.17, Leipziger Volkszeitung, Dimo Reiss

One of this production’s great strengths is that Winkler shows us a heterogenous array of bodies. This is not just another pre-digested example of common feminist discourse. Fortunately for us, Winkler does not style his dancers as heroines and young white-collar professionals. One of the insights that we gain from the piece – and this is not to be underestimated – is that we are all different: Everyone is a heroine in her own right.
- 8.2.17, taz - Leipzig, Kornelius Friz

[...] impressive solos, a kind of constantly changing group sculpture, a chorus of voices. Elegance and powerful use of bodies which flow into each other, rather than taking turns, thus also naturally leaving erotic traces. And everything is infused with quiet irony. Winkler's choreography is very intuitive; you don't have to understand anything about modern dance to follow it. The result is amazing tableaus, in which male and female poses are repeatedly assumed and called into question again. The dancers physically slip in and out of various allocated physical roles. Until finally dismissing the distinction between male and female gestures in favor of a celebration of the individual and of individual differences. And yet, what also becomes apparent is that people can only move forward together. The final scene culminates in a powerful celebration of stomping beats and tender female voices to such an intensity that it pushes the audience back into their seats. Then the axe falls once more and the gripping evening ends with a “wow”.
- 8.2.17, CROSS, Tobias Prüwer