Follow me!
Sat 10.05. 11:00
About
Accessibility information: Reserved wheelchair spaces, advance admission possible, assistance dogs allowed, English translation in the form of a booklet (for an explanation of all icons and further background information, please click here).
Groups, movements or trends - almost everyone is a follower, whether consciously or not. But why do we follow people, trends, fashion or simply the beat of the music? Why do we imitate and copy what inspires and excites us? Is it an attempt to define ourselves by belonging and to gain orientation? And at what point does a collective movement actually become peer pressure?
Based on their personal experiences, choreographer Felix Berner and six tanzmainz dancers set off on a search for clues on the subject of following in both the analogue and digital worlds. In an interview, Berner talks about how he translates this phenomenon into multi-layered dance. ‘Being a follower can have both positive and negative aspects,’ says Felix Berner. ‘In terms of the team, it's often good for me as a choreographer to follow and work with the exciting ideas of my colleagues in the rehearsal studio. However, if many indifferent people in a company just follow and a few set the tone, then you quickly become a follower. So it's a double-edged sword.’
Follow-up conversations
Follow-up workshop after the performance on 9 May at 7:30 pm (Registration by e-mail to augenblickmal@parkaue.de)
Credits
Choreography and stage: Felix Berner
Video: De-Da Productions
Costumes: Lucia Vonrhein
Music: Orson Hentschel
Lighting: Dieter Wutzke
Dance mediation: Ronja Solveig Eick
Rehearsal and evening production management: Natalia Rodina
Dance: Tanit Cobas, Shani Licht, Réka Rácz; Paul Elie, Jaime Neves, Matti Tauru
Director tanzmainz: Honne Dohrmann
Artistic production management: Finn Lakeberg
Assistant to the dance director and tour coordinator: Hannah Meyer-Scharenberg
Assistant to the dance director: Julia Kraus
Stage & sound set-up/guest performance: Luka Curk
Lighting/guest performance: Dominik Hager
Stage manager/guest performance: Matthew Tusa
A production of the Staatstheater Mainz
Vote
‘Follow Me!": a seemingly harmless request that we encounter every day in both digital and analogue life. The dance theatre piece by Felix Berner at Staatstheater Mainz offers an abstract yet accessible exploration of group dynamics.
The dancers fill the stage with electrifying choreographies that create iconic images of trendsetters, imitators and copies.
But who is following whom? Who sets the actual impulse? The piece shows the endless cycle of imitation and group affiliation and at the same time sheds light on the need to hide in the crowd and avoid personal confrontation.
In this dance-based exploration of the courage of individuality, the power of the group and the will to free oneself from groupthink, the audience experiences a kind of personal crisis - the kind that is often suppressed in everyday life by overconsumption. ‘Follow Me!’ is like a modern poem that, despite its profound themes, radiates lightness and captivates the audience with the joy of dance.
In a game about self-presentation and the often unattainable urge to be someone else, even microphones become dance partners. Through energetic choreographies inspired by modern dance, vogue and hip-hop, as well as the impressive use of questions, the audience experiences an intimate identity crisis - on all levels.
Alicia Ulfik
