Tanzquartier Wien

(Part 1): Hope Hunt & The Ascension into Lazarus by Oona Doherty, Some by Andrea Zavala Folache, Knuckles become clouds (Skizze) by Anna Prokopová, Costas Kekis and Andrea Gunnlaugsdóttir

On May 3, I did not only make my debut – attending an entire evening of performances for the first time – but the Festival Rakete at Tanzquartier had its debut as well. The evening comprises three performances which literally build up to the metaphorical image of the three launch phases of a rocket. The first phase was entitled Hope Hunt & The Ascension into Lazarus, while an Opel Corsa’s boot served as the provisional launch pad. Oona Doherty emerged from the car boot with manic, crude movements and the vile demeanour of an Irish ruffian. At first, she only represented the seemingly bleak reality of life on the streets in Europe’s metropolitan areas, but then, her ballet-like, elegant and graceful pirouettes seemed to escape the social background to leap out into the possibility of salvation. The motif of hope and salvation was especially highlighted by her changing into a different set of clothes at the end, she became the dancer all dressed in white. A remarkable excursion into the chaotic mind-set and life of a young person without prospects.

The next phase after take-off took place on another stage, the adjacent studio. The set décor of the performance Some was by far the most elaborate. Andrea Zavala Folache made use of an entire repertoire of audio-visual material and ways of expression: The lightning put additional focus on the erotic physicality, she spoke softly, even friendly, to the audience, she bent her body, a canvas and her skin got covered in colour, plait extensions were stapled onto her body, the use of microphone and camera, and the short skinny dress – all fragments of a versatile performance uniting painting, film and singing. Sensory overload. But the incredibly fast succession of performance practices and the multifaceted media usage made it hard to make sense of the chaos. The abstract stage processes left the audience in the dark about its deeper meaning.

The final performance of this evening was a trio called Knuckles become clouds (Skizze) by Anna Prokopová, Costas Kekis and Andrea Gunnlaugsdóttir. The repetitive use of humming “mhm” started off the performance until the three performers tried to speak words but failed and only managed to utter three incomplete sentences. No one really addressed the other. The same inability to get into contact with the others occurred when all three performs started shaking themselves and tried to come close to each other. And indeed, they may have touched, but there was no sign of actual social intimacy, only the attempt. Perhaps this was meant to be directed at the Digital Natives and our own inability to communicate with each other in a world of permanent networking. Since this was a sketch only, one cannot blame the dramaturgical input for a lack of climax. At least this performance gave me some issues of modern society to think about and to talk about during the later hours of a thoroughly enjoyable cultural evening. Houston, take-off successful.

The follwogin text was written as part of a cooperation with the department of communication at the University of Vienna (Dr Olga Kolokytha).

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