RICARDO FRAYHA
producer

Florentina Holzinger’s new performance A Divine Comedy catapults the world-famous work of the same name by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri right into the present. For her own version of the story, the exceptional choreographer condenses the three parts of the original – hell, purgatory and paradise – to create heaven and hell in the here and now, and set them in motion. Blurring the distinctions that are so deeply rooted in our culture, she brings an all-female cast of performers of all ages and with a mixed background in various physical, musical and dancing disciplines to the stage to explore the human dimensions of life and death. In a spectacular performance, Holzinger devises her own Divine Comedy, journeying through European choreography together with an ensemble spanning seven decades in search of connections between generations and the roots of the images and fantasies of death in our culture. Holzinger does not shy away from placing death itself on the dissecting table, creating an experimental field of extremes upon which she practises dances of death as exercises in dying that refer to death but mean life. How can you represent what cannot be imagined? The performers‘ bodies are the site of metaphysical and anatomical explorations to find a way. In the process, traditions of dance, music and literary history transform into the choreographer’s own creative material. High culture is used as a treasure trove and a rich source of entertainment including stunts, motocross and hypnosis. Holzinger populates her own afterlife with the faults and fears of our time and asks no lesser question than whether spirituality is possible in the 21st century.

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FLORENTINA HOLZINGER

The choreographer and dancer Florentina Holzinger was born in Vienna in 1986. In her works, she consciously plays with the shifting boundaries between high culture and entertainment. Kein Applaus für Scheiße (2011), the first joint work by Florentina Holzinger and Vincent Riebeek, immediately earned them a reputation as the »most provocative young choreographers«. Their diploma solo work Silk was awarded the Prix Jardin d'Europe at the lmPulsTanz Festival 2012. Other internationally successful works have followed since then. Most recently, her work TANZ was invited to the Theatertreffen 2020. In the same year, the magazine Theater heute named TANZ Production of the Year and Holzinger received the prestigious NESTROY Prize in the category Best Director.

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A DIVINE COMEDY

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Concept & Directing: Florentina Holzinger | Performance & Choreography: Foxxy Angel, Amanda Bailey, Linda Blomqvist, Renée Copraij, Beatrice Cordua, Paige A. Flash, Alba Gentili-Tedeschi, Noam Gorbat, Ria Higler, Florentina Holzinger, Susanne Jablonski, Steffi Laier, Annina Machaz, Courtney May Robertson, Audrey Merilus, Xana Novais, Maja Osojnik, Bärbel Schwarz, Anna Tierney, Linnéa Tullius, Miranda van Kuilenburg, Isabelle Volckaert | Composition & Sounddesign: Maja Osojnik, Stefan Schneider | Stage Design: Nikola Knežević | Dramaturgy: Renée Copraij, Sara Ostertag | Dramaturgy RT: Sara Abbasi | Real Choreography: Ty Boomershine | Light Design: Anne Meeussen, Max Kraußmüller | Video Design: Noam Gorbat | Technical Lead: Anne Meeussen, Stephan Werner | Stage technician/ Rigger operator: Dörte Wilfrorth | Stage Design Assistance: Nicole Marianna Wytyczak, Camilla Smolders | Music Coach: Almut Lustig | Stunt Coordination: Leo Plank (Haeger Stunt & Wireworks), Stunt - Factory | Hurdle Training: Valerie Kleiser, Ulrike Kleinschmidt | Animal Preparation Coach: Lydia Mäder | Timbersports Coach: Josef Laier | Outside Eye: Fernando Belfiore | Production Intern Kassel: Lisa Birkenbach | Management and international distribution: Something Great | Production Management: Ricardo Frayha

 

A commission by Ruhrtriennale. Produced by Something Great, Spirit, Ruhrtriennale and Staatstheater Kassel. In co-production with Tanzquartier Wien, Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg -Platz, deSingel, Theater Freiburg and Julidans

Funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes and Cultural Department of the City of Vienna

With friendly support of Rudolf Augstein Stiftung, Arts and Culture Division of the Federal Chancellery of Austria, documenta Halle (Kassel), Montévidéo (Marseille)

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Ruhtriennale
Kraftzentralle
Duisburg, Germany
19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26/08/2021

 

Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg -Platz

Berlin, Germany

23 and 24/09/2021

08 and 09/10/2021

05 and 06/11/2021
18 and 19/12/2021
06 and 07/01/2021
 

Tanzquartier Wien

Halle E
Vienna, Austria

22 and 23/10/2021

 

Staatstheater Kassel

Schauspielhaus

Kassel, Germany

29 and 30/10/2021

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deSingel

Antwerp, Belgium

12 and 13/11/2021

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