a participatory dance performance
At the dawn of the modern era, hundreds of people danced excessively for weeks in the squares of Strasbourg. For many, the dancing frenzy ended only with death. To this day, what exactly happened back then remains unclear.
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UND WAS DIE SEELE DIR VERSTÖRT, IST ES NOCH DA?
UND WAS DIE SEELE DIR VERSTÖRT, IST ES NOCH DA?
UND WAS DIE SEELE DIR VERSTÖRT, IST ES NOCH DA?
Was it an illness? Demonic possession? Mass hysteria? A counter-society? What about intoxication and ecstasy? Every interpretation of the dancing frenzy reflects a worldview, pointing to constraints or utopian ideals.
The production originally premiered under the title "The Bacchae," taken from an ancient drama in which Dionysus cruelly punishes all those who refuse to worship him through dance.
In a kind of immersive radio play, the performance undertakes the adventurous endeavor of empathizing with the medieval events. The audience can engage in this exercise through their imagination or with their own bodies. Trying to imagine what happened back then simultaneously brings the present into focus. Suddenly, the Raving Society becomes a more plausible way of life than the desire to function in a society that is destined to collapse anyway. Now the only question is whether the beat is catchy.
Additional information
Philipp Scholtysik works as a dramaturge, performer, and director. He studied economics in Regensburg and Berlin and dramaturgy in Frankfurt. In 2014, he and colleagues founded studioNAXOS in Frankfurt, which has established itself as an important venue for contemporary performing arts and has since merged into the NAXOS production house. He has contributed to works that have been invited to festivals both nationally and internationally, including the Festival Premières in Karlsruhe, the tjcc in Gennevilliers, and the Impulse Festival. He was also an artist-in-residence at the Fleestreet Theater in Hamburg. Since the 2023/24 season, he has worked as a dramaturge for the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company.
