DEAR FRIENDS,
DEAR COLLEAGUES,
We’re back from our summer break, taking a curious look at the months ahead, and sharing what’s been on our minds lately. As always, we’re looking forward to dancing through the upcoming season with you.
Here’s a brief overview of upcoming dates and events—feel free to mark them on your calendars! Below, you’ll find more detailed information about the guest performances of ZURÜCK ZU ALI, what’s new with SHARED LEADERSHIP IN DANCE (SLiD), and everything happening in and around STUDIO ALTE POST.
You can look forward to an OPEN STUDIO on September 16 at Studio Alte Post, which will be dedicated to the revival of ZURÜCK ZU ALI. On October 2 and 3, ZURÜCK ZU ALI will be performed at fabrik in Potsdam, and on November 28 at KuB in Bad Oldesloe.
Some of you may remember TOUCH IS CHANGE from last summer, when SLiD, together with other artists, invited people to share artistic practices of connection, solidarity, and touch. This year, on December 11, we’re hosting a collaborative evening with guests at Studio Alte Post.
See you soon at one event or another!
Yours, Jenny Beyer & Team
ZURÜCK ZU ALI: “I'M INTERESTED IN WHAT ENABLES PEOPLE TO RESIST.”
On March 25, 2026, Jenny Beyer’s solo piece ZURÜCK ZU ALI premiered at Kampnagel. A moving dance piece that explores family history and resistance during the Nazi era. The body becomes a canvas for memory, using dance to give space to the questions that extend from the past into the present.
We are very pleased to announce two upcoming guest performances: on October 2 and 3, ZURÜCK ZU ALI will be presented at fabrik in Potsdam. And on November 28 at KuB in Bad Oldesloe. We’re also inviting you to an Open Studio at Studio Alte Post on September 16. The Open Studio will be dedicated to the revival of ZURÜCK ZU ALI.
ZURÜCK ZU ALI is Jenny Beyer’s first full-length solo piece. It is deeply personal and, at the same time, political: for this piece, Jenny engages in a dialogue with her grandfather Walter “Ali” Beyer, who passed away in 2004. Even as a teenager, he resisted National Socialism and was, among other things, imprisoned at the Neuengamme concentration camp. The piece asks: What does my grandfather’s history of resistance mean today—for me personally and for a present in which right-wing movements not only relativize historical responsibility but also rhetorically renew and politically reactivate Nazi ideologies? What empowers people to resist? Where does the responsibility of the present begin?
The play deeply moved many audience members, not least because it confronted them with their own family histories. During the accompanying OPEN STUDIOS—both before and after the performance—many intense and emotional conversations took place about coming to terms with the past, memory, and our responsibility in the here and now. “The play has been resonating with me for two months and has triggered so many processes within me,” said one audience member. Click here for the trailer.
To make the play accessible to younger audiences as well, we aim for a a pop-up version for schools and other non-theatrical settings. ZURÜCK ZU ALI is accompanied by an artistic audio description, making it accessible to blind and visually impaired audiences.
SHARED LEADERSHIP IN DANCE: RESEARCH ON ARTIST-LED SPACES
Shared Leadership in Dance (SLiD) consists of the three Hamburg-based choreographers: Jenny Beyer, Antje Pfundtner in Gesellschaft and URSina Tossi. Together, they are developing a model for resource sharing in contemporary dance. Insights into their visions and approaches can be found in these interviews: “Sharing Creativity” with Anette Bob and “Moving Beyond Competition” with Falk Schreiber. With FÜHLER, a dance piece by and for young people in collaboration with Junges Schauspielhaus, they developed their first joint project, which preserved each artist’s individual artistic voice and celebrated its premiere in October 2025 and its derniere in April 2026. As part of the Tanzriennale in Hamburg, SLiD presented an impulse on June 19 on the topic “Working for the Long Term—Choreographers on Sustainable Artistic Careers” and moderated a roundtable discussion on July 12 at the Schwindelfrei Festival in Mannheim about changing ways of working in the independent dance scene. The focus was on the challenges posed by precarious production conditions and the question of how more sustainable and solidarity-based forms of artistic collaboration can emerge.
In June, SLiD visited six artist-run spaces in Dresden: Villa Wigman, Studio 56, Tenza, Zentralwerk, as well as the spaces run by Freaks und Fremde and farbwerk. The starting point for this visit was one of SLiD’s themes: space as a resource and how to manage it in a spirit of solidarity. Artist-run spaces are unique places. They are created by artists for artists and operate in the space between the public and (funding) institutions. Over the course of three days, SLiD met with the people who organize and shape these spaces: What happens when one’s own artistic practice is linked to a space? Can spaces visit, network with, and support one another? What are the stories behind these spaces? Are these spaces “safer spaces,” especially in times of budget cuts? What are the different forms of hosting? We thank Anne Kersting, Hermann Heisig, Katja Erfurth, Josephine Wosahlo, Julia Amme, Anna Till, Barbara Lubich, Daniela Lehman, Heiki Ikkola, Seraphine and Chiara Detscher, Jule Rottluff, Susan Schubert, Jacqueline Hamann, and Jeannette Scholz for the exchange and insights.
What’s next for SLiD?
This research continues to have an impact, and SLiD is currently exploring, among other things, how to build on it. So, mark your calendars now for December 11, 2026. Together with other artists, SLiD invites you to Studio Alte Post on that day. Stay tuned!
In addition, Ursina Tossi will lead a TOUCH_LAB at Studio Alte Post on August 28 and September 25 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Ursina Tossi’s TOUCH_LABS explore the following questions: What moves us in dance? How does touch bring about change? How are power structures reflected in touch? And how does touch become political action? These sessions invite participants to shift their perspective, step out of the spotlight, and engage with other bodies and ways of being. More information here.
In September 2026, Antje Pfundtner in Gesellschaft will start her year-long research project and Tischgesellschaft “Komm du mal in mein Alter!” (“Come on over to my age!”) with young people from Hamburg, which is a) an intergenerational—and thus multi-perspective—research project on the right to age, and b) a literal invitation to step into each other’s ages, to exchange ideas, support one another, encourage one another, and understand one another. A Tischgesellschaft will take place on September 26 at Kampnagel. More information here.
You can already follow all of SLiD’s news and activities on its newly launched Instagram profile and, coming soon, on its website. Check it out!
STUDIO ALTE POST: WHAT'S NEW?
We’re looking forward to our new neighbors, Kampnagel and K3—Center for Choreography. Due to renovation work at Kampnagel, which will begin this fall and turn Kampnagel into a “performative construction site” (don’t worry, shows will continue as usual), part of Kampnagel and K3—specifically office and rehearsal spaces—will be moving to the Alte Post grounds, right next to our Studio Alte Post. We’re looking forward to it and are excited to see the new energy this will bring to the Alte Post grounds.
SLID INVITES YOU
11. Dezember | more info will follow