Manila Zoo
In Manila Zoo, the final part of her HAPPYLAND series, Eisa Jocson continues her exploration of Walt Disney’s empire of happiness. Similar to Princess, shown at TQW in 2018, the starting point for this performance will also be the role of Philippine entertainers at Disneyland Hong Kong. Disproportionally used to portray animals and objects, they serve the well-tuned machinery of family entertainment. Highly qualified, world-class machines of happiness bursting with energy. Anthropomorphised animals modelled on US-American values and life styles. Lions are kings; monkeys, crickets and fish are there to fetch and carry for the human visitors.
Together with German electronic music composer Charlotte Simon and four Philippine performers, Jocson will look at the intersection of human and animal, of spectacle, work and isolation. Together, they will seek out moments in which private and public, the real and virtual, happiness and horror are indistinguishable. In this piece, Eisa Jocson will address the psychosis that is at the heart of separating the human from the animal. Who can move freely, even across borders? Who is forced to stay at a certain place, in a restricted area? Such questions are ever more relevant in times like these.
is a contemporary choreographer and dancer from the Philippines. Her performances focus on the intersection between gender, affective work, migration and corporality. In this regard, she has previously explored themes of pole dancing, macho dancing – a dance prevalent in gay bars in Manila – and escort work. Trained in fine arts as well as ballet, she won the 2010 Pole Art Championship in Manila. Eisa Jocson has been showing her work regularly at renown international theatres and festivals in Asia and Europe. In 2018, she presented Princess at TQW, the first part of her HAPPYLAND trilogy, which explored the relationship between work and performances of happiness in the globalised entertainment industry. Jocson received the 13th Artists Award of the Philippine Culture Centre in 2018 and the prestigious Hugo Boss Asia Art Award in 2019.
Credits
Artistic direction, choreography, performance Eisa Jocson Musical direction Charlotte Simon In collaboration with Bunny Cadag, Cathrine Go, Russ Ligtas, Joshua Serafin Creative presence Arco Renz Dramaturgy Anna Wagner Light design Jan Maertens Livestream video design Yap Seok Hui | ARTFACTORY Choreographic advice, movement coach Rasa Alksynte Production management, coordination, distribution Anne Kleiner Artistic production management Frankfurt, touring Andreas Jahnke Production management Manila Perky Parong Technical manager Yap Seok Hui | ARTFACTORY Livestream & video engineer Stev.e Kwak | ARTFACTORY – A production by Eisa Jocson and Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt am Main as part of Tanzplattform Rhein-Main. Co-produced by BIT Teatergarasjen, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay (Singapur), Kaserne Basel, RISING Melbourne, Tanzquartier Wien, Taipei Performing Arts Center and TPAM – Performing Arts Meeting, Yokohama. In cooperation with Gallus Theater, Frankfurt am Main. Funded as part of the Alliance of International Production Houses by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and by the International Co-Production Fund of the Goethe-Institut. Tanzplattform Rhein-Main, a project by Künstlerhaus Mousonturm and Hessian State Ballet, is made possible by the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain and is funded by the Cultural Office of the City of Frankfurt am Main, the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art and the Foundation Alliance [Aventis Foundation, BHF BANK Foundation, Crespo Foundation, Dotter Foundation, Dr. Marschner Foundation, Foundation Polytechnic Society Frankfurt am Main].
In English
No admission under 16 years
Wearing an FFP2 mask is compulsory as soon as you enter the venue – also during the event.