How can we regain hope in the face of personal loss and existential threat? Where do we find new sources of joy and promise for the future? We fall down and pick ourselves back up over and over again. What is this perpetual motion that drives us ever forward?
rubarb dance & art explores these questions through dance, music, and visual art, drawing inspiration from traditional Indonesian music and dance. Working in international collaboration, the ensemble transforms the House of Indonesian Cultures in Berlin into a laboratory of synergies in which visual and sensory experiences overlap. The performance installation unfolds within diverse spaces, opening up new perspectives and auditory experiences.
CONCEPT, ARTISTIC DIRECTION,CHOREOGRAPHY: Ruben Reniers
DANCE, PERFORMANCE: Nora Vladiguerov, Yuya Fujinami, Chia-Ying Chiang, Ruben Reniers
COMPOSITION, LIVE MUSIC: Konstantin Heuer, Bilawa Ade Respati
PAPER ART, PERFORMANCE: Barbara Steinitz
COSTUME: Juliane Längin
LIGHT DESIGN: Emese Csornai
DRAMATURGY ADVICE: Monika Radl
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Studio Workshop
PHOTOGRAPHY: Marco Baass
A Phantasmagoric Gamelan Frenzy by Richard Pettifer.
The space is pushed and shoved around, things occur in slow motion and fast forward – and moments begin to gather power and swirl, as dissonance becomes unison, and technique gives way to informality. It’s a triumph of collaboration and resourcefulness from an assembly of artists who seem at the peak of their powers, given the space to breathe and exchange. The result is infectious and marvellous, blending intimacy and precision in a kind of transformative conversation, shared in glimpses over an epic, 2-hour evening.