Tanzfabrik Berlin
tanzfabrik-berlin.de
Berlin, Kreuzberg, Möckernstrasse 68, backyard, 3rd floor. There, on 29 November 1978, Everybody Dances under the direction of Christine Vilardo marked the beginning of a new era. A place for contemporary dance opened in West Berlin. Actors of the first hour, such as Reinhald Krätzig, Helmut Gottschild, Christine Vilardo, Petra Kugel built the first studio: Studio Eins. With Jacalyn Carley, Claudia Feest, Dieter Heitkamp and many others, a community was formed to continue working and living as an artists’ collective.
The Tanzfabrik was a new model of artistic production and performance practice in which successful inner-city co-operations in West Berlin, such as with the Theater am Halleschen Ufer, the Akademie der Künste or Tanz im August, emerged. An international network developed, closely linked to the development of a cross-generational dance education dedicated to radically new forms. Who was involved in shaping and following the processes of change to trace the development to today’s second location of the Tanzfabrik in the Uferstudios? As much as the Tanzfabrik, as the oldest production site, embodies the epitome of the independent scene, it has not been included as a subsidised institution in the cultural budget of the city of Berlin to this day, but rather performs project-based work realised through the application funding structure.
8.7.2013
Anniversary talk on 35 years of Tanzfabrik
From collective project to permanent institution: Tanzfabrik Berlin invites you to an anniversary talk. Susanne Linke and Claudia Feest are two personalities who have played a major role in shaping dance in Germany – Susanne Linke as a pioneer of dance theatre and long-time director of the Folkwang Tanz Studio, Claudia Feest as co-founder and former artistic director of the Tanzfabrik. The conversation is intended to carry reflection on the past into the present and to reflect on aesthetics as well as structures in contemporary dance.
16.10. 2013
Close? Far away? A comparison of two training models
Can artistic practice be taught in a training course – and if so, how? By lecturers choreographing with students, or by teaching the basics of choreography and establishing contact with the dance scene? Two models are discussed by Dieter Heitkamp, Professor of Contemporary Dance at the HfMDK Frankfurt/Main, and Nik Haffner, Artistic Director of the HZT Berlin.
Afterwards, the film Kontakt Triptychon by Lutz Gregor from 1992 will be shown. Dancers include: Dieter Heitkamp and Ka Rustler.
5.12.2013
From empty factory hall to subsidy trap
With its founding in 1978 at Möckernstraße 68, in Berlin-Kreuzberg, the Tanzfabrik designed a new model of artistic production and performance practice, combined with an international network and the establishment of a dance education that spanned generations and was dedicated to radically new forms. How did it begin? Who was involved? How did the paths of life continue and where does the first performance and production space for contemporary dance after 1945 in Berlin stand today?
With Johannes Odenthal, Eva-Maria Hoerster and Thomas Plischke.
12.12.2013
Dance and Text: Developments of a new theatre language with Jacalyn Carley and Ingo Reulecke
Jacalyn Carley became famous with pieces on the interweaving of text and dance, such as ‘Schwitters Ursonate’ or ‘Ernst Ernst’. Her pieces toured Europe and America for almost two decades. She worked as part of the artistic leadership collective of the Tanzfabrik from 1978 – 1995, initiated and directed the symposium ‘Dance in Berlin’ in 1993, was co-director and co-founder of the Tanzwerkstatt 1988 – 1990. After her choreographic work, she wrote four books, including ‘Alma’s Dance’, ‘Dance for Your Life – Royston Maldoom’, and a handbook on his methods, ‘Community Dance – Everyone can dance…’.
Ingo Reulecke, artist in residence at the Tanzfabrik for many years, has “worked with all the independent groups” as a dancer and has worked and danced in numerous productions with Jacalyn Carley, Dieter Heitkamp, Helge Musial and Regina Baumgart, among others. His own choreographies have received several awards and have been invited to numerous festivals at home and abroad.