Announcement: CONTEXT – Platform for Contemporary Dance Festival (Berlin)

The 7th edition of the Festival “CONTEXT – Platform for Contemporary Dance” is entitled “Anaesthesia of Emotions”. The starting point for the programme is the observance that in recent times emotions have been granted a special amount of attention. However it remains to be seen whether we are dealing with a boom or with a taboo concerning emotions. The sciences are already speaking about an “emotional turn”, while the arts sections of the newspapers have controversial debates about the appropriateness of speaking about emotions. What is the current state of our individual and collective emotional life? Are emotions on the advance, or are they being increasingly suppressed?

CONTEXT #7 takes a closer look at how emotions and attitudes are being staged with the means of the theatre. The main focus is on dance productions, performances and installations that reflect on strategies of producing and manipulating affects. In addition to that, and in co-operation with the cluster of excellence “Languages of Emotion” at Freie Universität Berlin, there will be a series of lectures on January 30 and 31 on the Festival’s topic in its cultural and social context. In two workshops in Authentic Movement and Body-Mind Centering the link between motion (movement) and emotion will be explored under the guidance of international experts.

Hebbel Am Ufer (Berlin)
January 26 – February 06, 2010