Join
- Choreography
- Ioannis Mandafounis
- Dance
- Dancers of the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company
- Dance students from the respective city
- Choreographic assistance
- Pauline Huguet
- Dramaturgy
- Philipp Scholtysik
- Music
- Emanuele Piras / Maestrale
- Stage and Lighting
- Ioannis Mandafounis
- Costumes
- Thomas Bradley
- Rehearsal manager
- Smaralia Karakosta
- Dresden Premiere19.09.2024
- Frankfurt Premiere10.10.2024
Light. Something appears: an image, a formation, movement, development, transformation. Dark. And light. Something new: it is massive, it turns, it vibrates, it encompasses everything. Dark. And light. Surprise. And dark. And light. And dark.
"Join" makes a simple and yet difficult attempt: How can dancers come together at completely different points in their personal and professional trajectory? How can an ensemble of professionals working at the highest level dance together with a group of students? How do people come together in their diversity? What connections are possible beyond a standardising and unifying norm? "Join" takes a step in this direction for dance. Students from the city where the performance takes place dance together with the ensemble of the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company. The dramaturgy of the evening is determined by instant blackouts, which lend the scenes a sense of immediacy and constantly challenge the audience's perception.
"Join" is funded by the "Fonds Zero" programme of the German Federal Cultural Foundation. This is intended to support cultural institutions in trying out climate-friendly forms of production and new aesthetics with the lowest possible climate impact. The CO2-emissions are recorded during the process. Any emerging potential for cutting emissions is intended to make our working methods more sustainable in the future.
Press reviews
“Join, however, is about integrating young, not yet fully trained dancers into such a virtuoso and individual ensemble. Of course, this is not entirely possible. But it's great to see how hands are extended here, how opportunities are offered, how a temporary community is created. You watch the learning, the new experiences that help to tame the beast that is theater, you see the excitement, the fun everyone has, the alliances, the secret alliances to run, scream, bark, crawl, the appointments for wild jumps and daring turns.” - FAZ, 15.10.2024, article by Wiebke Hüster
“Huge applause from the audience and beaming faces - especially from the students.” - Feuilleton Frankfurt
“The “tools” of this method are “like a fence around a vegetable garden”, according to the self-description. “The fence holds everything together, but does not determine what exactly grows in the garden.” To stay with the garden metaphor of the dramaturgy, it has to be said: in the new production “Join” at the Bockenheimer Depot, wonderful wild growth succeeds because a lot of young vegetables shoot up here. This is dance with a green thumb.” - Darmstädter Echo, 12.10.2024, article by Stephan Benz
“It's like a flirt, it's also the pure joy of what they do that seems to move them.” - Sylvia Staude, Frankfurter Rundschau, 12.10.2024
“Ioannis Mandafounis shows what togetherness can mean” – Rico Stehfest in Tanznetz.de, 20.09.2024
"A captivating picture puzzle that also revolves around forms of encounter - peaceful and conflictual, curious and routine." - hr2 early review, Report of Esther Boldt
"Ioannis Mandafounis' proposal works: A relentless vigour emerges from the pleasant visual magma, a touch of youth in which discreet virtuosity always rhymes with skilful lightness." - Bach track for JOIN in Paris
JOIN Produktionshanduch
This guide to the cooperation project "Join" between HELLERAU - European Centre for the Arts and the DFDC documents the joint path from the initial considerations to the implementation of how CO2 consumption can be reduced in a production and also more generally in regular theatre operations. It offers insights into the different perspectives and areas of work of those involved.
JOIN Documentation
In this short film, the colleagues of the DFDC and HELLERAU present what it means to create a climate-friendly dance production together.
Interview
This interview is about the artistic process behind „Join“.
Wie war's? - JOIN Podcast
11-year-old Lula and her mum Marie talk to dramaturg Philipp Scholtysik about "Join".