Boys don’t dance / dance performance
In “Boys don’t dance”, Düsseldorf dancer and choreographer Takao Baba and his company explore ways in which viral and urban dance moves may pave the way towards dance and the discovery of one’s own movement vocabulary.
60'
Performance in German language with the Polish performative translation.
In programme
Concept: Takao Baba
Choreography, dance: Takao Baba, Felix Küpper, Solomon Quaynoo
Music, dance: Jenny Thiele
Outside Eye: Mijke Harmsen
Costumes: Charlotte Grewer
Lighting design: Horst Mühlberger
Technic: Eckehard Merholz
Live Tagtool & Animation: Christian Spieß
Production management: Susanne Berthold
Photos: © Eva Berten
Performative translation into Polish: Iwona Nowacka
Performative translation into Polish: Iwona Nowacka
We are all pop stars in our bedrooms at home. We feel so good through a filter, and every bored child quickly improvises the “Floss dance” – the dance move where the arms are quickly swept besides the hips – like flossing your teeth. Like the „Dab“, the „Fresh“ or the „Take the L“, the „Floss dance“ is a global sensation thanks to social media. In urban dance, moves like these have been common for quite some time.
Nowadays, new moves come from computer games or apps like TikTok. TikTok and youtube stars, via videos shot in their own homes, show a more diverse picture of young peoples’ movement vocabulary than what is expressed in the classroom or in public spaces. The “made at home” aesthetic and production form enables you to quickly enter a star-making career, but it also submits early artistic attempts to a direct feedback of likes and emoticons.
In “Boys don’t dance”, Düsseldorf dancer and choreographer Takao Baba and his company explore ways in which viral and urban dance moves may pave the way towards dance and the discovery of one’s own movement vocabulary. How much outside influence makes itself felt in body language? How does the gaze of others determine our course of movement? How does shame come into play? Three dancers and one musician analyse each other’s movement language with almost microscopic precision. By copying and variation, a new, appropriated version of the copies comes up every time. They collect an archive of movement, and in this manner, they provide inspiration for each other on stage as well as for the children watching them.
Supported by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, NRW Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste, the Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the Cultural Office of the State Capital Düsseldorf. In co-production with the Asphalt Festival Düsseldorf.
Supported by the NATIONALES PERFORMANCE NETZ International Guest Performance Fund for Dance, which is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
