DEAR FRIENDS,
DEAR COLLEAGUES,
The new year has begun and we are looking forward to our current and upcoming projects. In this annual newsletter, we provide an overview of what's to come and welcome a year full of dance and encounters.
On March 25, ZURÜCK ZU ALI (Back to Ali) will premiere at Kampnagel. After two large group pieces about collective decision-making processes (ENSEMBLE 2023 and ATTEMPTS OF TOGETHERNESS 2025), ZURÜCK ZU ALI now turns to a very personal story: a dance solo about Jenny Beyer's grandfather Walter “Ali” Beyer, who fought in the resistance against National Socialism. The creative process behind ZURÜCK ZU ALI is being accompanied by open studios. The next dates for these are February 5 (Studio Alte Post) and March 6 and 20 at Kampnagel. Find out more here. A guest performance tour is planned for fall/winter 2026.
SHARED LEADERSHIP IN DANCE (SLiD), a model project in collaboration with Hamburg choreographers Antje Pfundtner in Gesellschaft and Ursina Tossi on the structural and financial sharing of funding and resources in Hamburg's independent dance scene, was launched a year ago. We had a wonderful start with TOUCH IS CHANGE in the summer of 2025, were able to facilitate an artistic residency in which Kai Er Eng researched on wheelchair partnering, and developed our first joint production FÜHLER in collaboration with Junges Schauspielhaus Hamburg and 26 young people. There will be news very soon about what SLiD is planning together in 2026. Stay tuned!
We are definitely looking forward to further performances of FÜHLER on January 28 + 29, February 2 + 3, and April 15 + 16, each at 7 p.m. More information here. In addition, URSina Tossi and Antje Pfundtner in Gesellschaft will also be presenting their own artistic works at the beginning of the year: URSina Tossi's new piece E(R)DEN will premiere on February 19 at Kampnagel, and Antje Pfundtner in Gesellschaft will present a revival of her play OH, A VISITOR! on March 21 and 22 at Theater Rampe in Stuttgart.
We would also like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to our beautiful brochure, which documents three years of GEBEN-NEBEN-BRAUCHEN and shows Jenny in her working methods and projects. It's worth taking a look!
We look forward to seeing you at one event or another!
Yours, Jenny & Team
THE BODY AS MEDIUM, THE BODY AS MEMORY
In her solo piece ZURÜCK ZU ALI (Back to Ali), Jenny Beyer dances, while her conversation partner—her grandfather Walter Beyer, who died in 2004—is absent. Walter Beyer grew up in a communist working-class milieu in Hamburg and, after the Nazis seized power, joined the resistance, among other things by distributing leaflets. He was imprisoned, deported to a labor camp, and survived only with the help of fellow prisoners. His sisters and many friends were also arrested, some of them murdered. Jenny Beyer's solo performance operates on two levels: a documentary level, which deals with memories of the Nazi era and their relevance today, and a personal level, which deals with the artist's relationship with her grandfather. Her body becomes a medium for memory and a platform for exploring her grandfather's history.
In the solo, Jenny Beyer first embarks on a process of research and reflection. The aim is to reconstruct her grandfather's story both historically and biographically. In a second step, she will explore how she wants to present this very personal story on stage. In doing so, she asks fundamental questions: How relevant is her grandfather's biography of resistance to the present day? How can the stage be used as a place of knowledge transfer?
In a second step, she will consider how she wants to present this very personal story on stage. In doing so, she asks herself fundamental questions: How relevant is her grandfather's biography as a member of the resistance to the present day? How can the stage be used as a place for imparting knowledge? And what role does her personal relationship with him play—can she be proud of him even though she herself did not contribute to his resistance?
"The questions that concern me are: What is worth telling about Grandpa Ali's story? What do I want to pass on and why? Why don't I talk about my other grandfather, who was a Nazi, or do I do so automatically? How does the moment of the performance become a reminder of resistance in Nazi Germany? What stories emerge when biographical accounts (more documentary in nature) and personal memories collide? Are we sharing history or are we sharing personal memories?"
ZURÜCK ZU ALI is accompanied by an artistic audio description, making it accessible to blind and visually impaired audiences. For tickets and show dates click here.
SHARED LEADERSHIP IN DANCE: COMMITMENT TO COLLABORATION
With Shared Leadership in Dance (SLiD), the city of Hamburg has for the first time enabled the continuation of TANZPAKT funding at the state level, allowing us to realize our vision of a collaborative model in contemporary dance based on resource sharing by Jenny Beyer, Antje Pfundtner in Gesellschaft, and URSina Tossi. The model is explained in more detail in the interview “Sharing Creativity” with Anette Bob. The entire interview can be read here. Another interview, “Out of Competition,” with Falk Schreiber from TANZ, can be found here.
FÜHLER
The joint SLiD production FÜHLER will continue to be shown at the Junges Schauspielhaus. FÜHLER is accompanied by an artistically integrated audio description and explores the theme of touch:
Perhaps the time has already come, and we are living in an era that will later be described as: Do you remember the time when bodies became taboo and touch disappeared? It was replaced by likes. Touch began to be disturbing—too close, too suggestive, too curious, too freedom-loving, too sensual—simply too dangerous! And yet there has always been a deep longing to be touched by something or someone, to experience a sense of safety, to feel connection—with the world, with the person in front of me, with the raindrop hitting my fingertip. The next performances take place on January 28 & 29, February 2 & 3, and April 15 & 16, all at 7 p.m. Further information here.
Premiere: E(R)DEN by URSina Tossi
Choreographer Ursina Tossi and her team explore the ambivalent nature of the “Garden of Eden” in their new work E(R)DEN. For them, paradise is neither an otherworldly nor an idyllic place, neither a religious control space, nor a site of longing, nor a tourist resort. What if paradise is not a geographical location, but an attitude of sharing and openness? Premiere: February 19, 2026, further performances: March 20–22, each at 7:30 p.m., Kampnagel.
Revival: OH, A VISITOR! by Antje Pfundtner in Gesellschaft
Antje Pfundtner in Gesellschaft presents OH, A VISITOR! on March 21 and 22 at Theater Rampe in Stuttgart. This piece is a trio that grows anew with every performance. OH, A VISITOR! is an ongoing invitation to additional artists to share the stage with Antje Pfundtner in Gesellschaft before and during the performance—to bring together vanished stage scenes, make the invisible visible, resist disappearance, and collectively follow a simple logic: If I welcome guests and offer them cake, there is less left for me in the end. But if I share ideas with my guests, I end up with more.
Brochure Geben-Nehmen-Brauchen
The three-year project Geben–Nehmen–Brauchen (To Give -To Take -To Need), funded by Tanzpakt Stadt Land Bund, has come to an end. Over the course of these three years, we connected our own artistic practice with a curiosity about the social responsibility that the performing arts—and dance in particular—can assume. Various spaces were opened up: for collective research, new formats, audience participation, diverse exchange, and artistic production. Looking back on the many projects and experiences of the past three years, we have created a brochure together with the graphic design studio Hansen2. It is available both in print and in digital form. If you would like a printed copy, please feel free to get in touch!
OVERVIEW DATES 2026
OPEN STUDIOS
05. Februar | 6–8 PM | Studio Alte Post
06. März | 6–8 PM | Kampnagel
20. März | 6–8 PM | Kampnagel
ZURÜCK ZU ALI
Premiere 25. März | 8 PM | Kampnagel
further shows: 26.-28. März | 8 PM | Kampnagel
FÜHLER
28. & 29. Januar, 02. & 03. Februar, 15. & 16. April 2026 | 7 PM | Junges Schauspielhaus Hamburg
E(R)DEN BY URSINA TOSSI
March 20–22, each at 7:30 p.m. | Kampnagel
OH, A VISITOR! BY ANTJE PFUNDTNER IN GESELLSCHAFT