Third part of the Trilogy of Encounter

Premiere: 18 January 2023 | Kampnagel Hamburg

We end up – and not only in dance – in the same dilemma again and again. The longing for togetherness rubs up against the search for a distinction, differentiation, for personal freedom, for breaking out of a group. And although these two forces are seemingly incompatible, it is clear that they cannot exist without each other. We can turn it around however we want: If we focus on the same thing – on the perfect correspondence of intention and movement in different bodies – we inevitably come to the emergence of differences. And vice versa in the same way.

So what can be seen when eight bodies dance with each other on one stage – as in the case of ENSEMBLE? 

Since 2007, choreographer Jenny Beyer has been inviting audiences to encounter contemporary dance along its traditions. Her new piece ENSEMBLE is now being created as the third part of a trilogy in which she questions the classical dance formats – namely solo, pas de deux and corps de ballet – for their moments of encounter. With ENSEMBLE, the choreographer and eight dancers have decided to brush the traditional form of group dance in ballet against the grain. The classical corps de ballet as an equalising human formation is broken up. The eight of them ask what it means to be in harmony with the many. Will they seek assimilation or, even more so, dissociation? Quite simply, they move away from this simplistic, two-part categorisation and inspire each other in a game of constant movement. In the midst of this corps de ballet, seemingly equal forms give way to differences and a word that does not really exist: multicorporeality.

Photos: © Anja Beutler

Premiere

18 January 2023 | 7.30 pm | Kampnagel Hamburg

Further Performances:
19-21 January 2023 | 7.30 pm | Kampnagel Hamburg
27 January 2023 | 11 am + 8 pm | KuB Bad Oldesloe

28 und 29 March 2025 | Theater im Depot Dortmund

ENSEMBLE is a production by Jenny Beyer, in co-production with Kampnagel Hamburg, funded by the Ministry of Culture and the Media Hamburg. It is conceptionally docked to the three-year-project TO GIVE–TO TAKE–TO NEED, funded by DIEHL+RITTER/TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund with the support of the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of the initiative NEUSTART KULTUR.Hilfsprogramm Tanz.

The guest performance of ENSEMBLE at KuB Bad Oldesloe is funded by Danceland – Guest-performance partnership programme of the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media Hamburg.

Photo Header: © Thies Rätzke
Further photos: © Anja Beutler