CENA 11 / Alejandro Ahmed
Dark Matter

  • Dance

Alejandro Ahmed has been heading company CENA 11 for 22 years, with its seat in the federal state of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil – a state that significantly backs the country’s right-wing totalitarian government led by Jair Bolsonaro. Reason enough for the choreographer to devise situations that liberate movement forces of resistance and solidarity.
In “Dark Matter”, Alejandro Ahmed turns a physical phenomenon into an image for unseen powers: It is about that matter that can only be experienced by and seen through transfer processes. So, the performers’* movements transport emotions to the surface, via facial expression and muscle tension, making coexistence and the recognition of otherness visible in a kinetic dramaturgy: Sounding enhancements of the body and brute objects meld into “kinetic jewellery” – those things of weight that extend and amplify gravity and centrifugal forces beyond the body.
In CENA 11’s works, the will to conquer physical limitations breaks through. This unique aesthetic, drawing from a conscious attention towards the body and its abilities, garnered CENA 11 the epithet of “punks of the Brazilian dance and performance scene” – which does not lack its nostalgic undertone. CENA 11 already guested at tanzhaus nrw during festival Projeto Brasil in 2016, presenting their piece “Monotony of Approach and Fugue to Seven Bodies” as well as a first draft of “Elephant Protocol”.

 

Concept, direction, choreography: Alejandro Ahmed; Performance: Aline Blasius, Kitty Katt, Marcos Klann, Luana Leite, Malu Rabelo, Hedra Rockenbach, Karin Serafin, Bianca Vieira, Adélia Wellington, Natascha Zacheo; Sound, lighting design: Hedra Rockenbach; Stage elements: Diego de los Campos; Video: João Peralta, Thiago Rodrigues, PACT/UFSC e Rodrigo Garces; Production, assistance direction: Karin Serafin; Technology: Malu Rabelo; Artistic collaboration: Diego de los Campos, Maria Beraldo, Rodrigo Garcês (PACT – UFSC); Technical preparation: JUSC-Jurerê Sports Center; International distribution: Something Great.
A performance by CENA 11 / Alejandro Ahmed, co-produced by tanzhaus nrw as part of Bündnis internationaler Produktionshäuser, funded by Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt a.M., Sesc Vila Mariana – Sesc São Paulo, Corpo Rastreado, Elisabete Anderle Award for Support to Culture ∕ Arts – 2019 Edition – SC – Brazil, Something Great. The guest performance is funded by Goethe Institut.