A dance performance for 5 air beds, 3 performers*, 8,5 melodicas, 1 musician, X mothers*, 1 fresh air and 1 care choir
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Uferstudios
Lullabies are a ritual that parents around the world use to accompany their children to sleep. But who sings - and is singing lullabies work? Lullabies! is an open air dance performance about motherhood, care work and privilege from a queer-feminist perspective, inspired by Brecht's "Lullabies of a Proletarian Mother" (1932): These are songs to fall asleep to that are at the same time meant to rouse - they are soothing, repetitive, but also agitational.
Based on their individual perspectives on motherhood, the participating artists and an amateur choir investigate movement patterns and body images of mothers* and workers*. In and on a breathing landscape of airbeds, the performers dance, sway and bounce in a process of continuous, routine, repetitive work. Melodicas become the breathing lungs of the piece: the performers themselves as well as the „Care Choir“ are responsible for controlling a system of connected instruments, "breathing" it and keeping it going until exhaustion. In a dense sound atmosphere of melodica sounds and an electronic pulse, "Wiegenlieder!" („Lullabies“) moves between lulling and rebelling, resistance and surrender.
"This is a piece about becoming a mother and being a mother from today's perspective. (...) a queer feminist approach, for which the Brecht quotes are mixed with the performers' own experiences as mothers. (...) The private becomes the political here and with that Claudia Gabe is again quite close to Brecht and Eisler. (...) This is where the strengths lie, especially in the last part, which deals with unpaid care work, i.e. care work in families, which is still mainly done by women today. (...) This play is convincing in pointing out the problems and also in pointing out solutions.“
Frank Schmid, rbb Kulturradio, 15.07.2022
Additional information
A production by Claudia Garbe. Supported by the NATIONAL PERFORMANCE NETWORK - STEPPING OUT, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of the initiative NEUSTART KULTUR. Aid Program Dance. The revival was supported by the Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of NEUSTART KULTUR. With the kind support of Uferstudios and Theaterhaus Mitte. The performances from 01-03 June will take place as part of the Performing Arts Festival Berlin. The Performing Arts Festival Berlin of LAFT Berlin is funded by the State of Berlin - Senate Department for Culture and Europe.
CHOREOGRAFIE: Claudia Garbe | PERFORMANCE: Steffi Sembdner, Virginnia Krämer, Diana Thielen, Rita Dita Scholl + der Sorgechor | DRAMATURGIE: Anja Spitzer, Margret Schütz | CHORLEITUNG: Claudia Garbe, Jojo Büttler | SOUND-PERFORMANCE: Vera Pulido, Claudia Garbe | BÜHNE + KOSTÜM: Michaela Muchina | PRODUKTIONSLEITUNG: Anja Kolmanics, Anja Spitzer | ASSISTENZ: Jojo Büttler | PR- UND ÖFFENTLICHKEITSARBEIT: Gesa Rindermann | GRAFIK: Ingolf Watzlaw
Claudia Garbe studied Cultural Studies and Aesthetic Practice at the University of Hildesheim and in Vologda and Choreography (MA) at the HZT Berlin. Since 2010 she has been working as a freelance choreographer, performer and dance teacher in Berlin and other places. With her work she has been invited to Sydney, Ahrenshoop, Chelyabinsk and Ekaterinburg, Hamburg, Dresden and Chemnitz. She recently received a Tanzpraxis grant from the Berlin Senate for her choreographic research and a #Take Care grant from the Fonds Darstellende Künste for her work on the 3-channel video installation "Essay über einen potentiellen Körper" (presentation autumn 2023) as well as other research grants from Neustart Kultur. Her work moves between dance performance, social sculpture, contemporary music and art. Since 2018 she has been exploring mother*hood choreographically from a queer-feminist perspective. She is co-founder of the artist collective possible.movement. As a performer she has worked with artists such as Gabriel Wong, Anja Spitzer, Isabelle Schad, Trajal Harrell and Tino Sehgal. As a dance educator for contemporary dance, she is also active at schools and in various projects.
