Join us for a wonderful evening of dance, movement and the body! Four dancers will take you on a journey of attempting to dismantle patriarchal power structures and finding a connection to their own practice anchored in contemporary dance.
The performance 'Schaf weils brav, gilt drum als dumm' was choreographed by Austrian dancer and choreographer Hannah Maria Wimmer and will be performed incorporating the town house set-up of the Austrian Cultural Forum London.
The performance was inspired by folk dances found in Austria, in particular the 'Landler', and attempts to redefine, deconstruct & reanalyze Austrian folk dance and to question how to handle its past and present and perhaps even its future.
The movement material was created for Hannah Maria Wimmer's MA research with the help of the dancers ZE, Sunhi Willa Keller, Vittorio Pagani, Sigrun Stefansdottir, Hanaë Salavy, Maelle Le Pallec, Sua Tsubokura-Aguiriano, Sini Halttunen, supported by her MA supervisors Florence Peake & Tom Hastings as well as her grandparents (Riki Oma und Ferdl Opa) and the lovely people from BAG for Austrian folkdance.
Hannah Maria Wimmer is a contemporary dancer, choreographer and performance artist currently dancing between London, Vienna and Altmünster. She began her professional dance training at the St. Pölten Ballet Conservatory and continued in New York, focusing on contemporary dance. Hannah recently finished her MA in Expanded dance practice at the London Contemporary Dance School.
In her practice, movement is used as a language to transform space, form connections and challenge one's perception and emotions. She draws inspirations from other art forms and has collaborated with various artists from all over the world. Her current interests focus on feminist politics, queer theory and connected body and identity issues that can be addressed both in the physical, as well as in the digital landscape. The body itself is the main material and source of inspiration for both her practice and research. More recently, using props and other art forms have gained focus within her work, thus supporting and enhancing the feeling of opening up and taking up space - predominantly in collaboration with other artists.
Sini Halttunen was born in Finland and moved abroad to pursue a career as a dancer. She trained professionally in NYC at the Peridance Capezio Center, and the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts where she received her Ba(Hons) degree. Sini is based in London and works freelance in the commercial dance industry.
ZE is a contemporary dancer and choreographer who graduated from London Contemporary Dance School. They have worked with choreographers such as James Cousins and Anders Duckwork and enjoy immersive and stage based work. They are currently working in gallery spaces and choreographing their own work in collaboration with Ivor Novello nominee Alex Groves.
Originally born in Barcelona and raised in Nottingham, Sua began her dance training in Ballet, Modern Jazz and Tap. At age 15, she started contemporary technique at the FABRIC CAT scheme. During this time, she joined National Youth Dance Company, touring pieces nationally with a premiere at Sadlers’ Wells. Sua went on to complete a BA Hons Degree at London Contemporary Dance School graduating in 2022 with a first. Alongside this, she enjoys street styles and is currently part of Company Jinks in London.
cusyn is a kurdish-german electronic music project based in Berlin. cusyn's sound ranges from distorted dream-pop to noisy deconstructed pop and explores themes like horror, diaspora, trauma, queerness, dissociation, angst, demisexuality, obscurity. cusyn likes to explore texture, lo-fi, distortions, autotuning, sampling, sometimes of their own vocals. cusyn works in and around sound art and tied to performance and film, scores as well as sound design.
Choreography: Hannah Maria Wimmer created in collaboration with the dancers
Dancers: ZE, Sua Tsubokura-Aguiriano, Sini Halttunen, Hannah Maria Wimmer
Sound design: ex cusyn
Costumes: screenprinted in collaboration with Lisa Strasser
Doilies: Hannah Maria Wimmer with the help of Sigrun Stefansdottir & Sunhi Willa Keller