CONVERSION / AFTERÂ AFGHANISTAN
23 & 24 June 2016 | 19:30 h
Impulse Festival
FFT Juta, DĂĽsseldorf
°
TRACES OF AFGHANISTAN
Lecture performance on the research in Afghanistan
„During “Traces of Afghanistan”, narration, film, sound, interviews and dance sum up to differentiated, multi-perspective performance-mosaic formed out of an analysis of our contemporary times and a mutual perception, which lets one exitedly expect the final presentation on the 8th of May.“
Mannheimer Morgen 16.02.2015
In December 2014 the ISAF-Mission in Afghanistan ended after thirteen years. Shortly before, members of the costa compagnie travel to the Hindu Kush, to speak to the people on site about the drawdown of the international forces.
During this evening the research and rehearsal process will be opened to the public. In addition to reports from Afghanistan, interview excerpts, audio and video impressions plus choreographic material all visitors are invited to address questions to the group in an open session.
Afghanistan-Research-Blog: http://costacompagnie.tumblr.com/
Hans Fleischmann*
Katharina Kellermann
Hauke Heumann
Marlies Kink*
Frank Koenen,
Felix Meyer-Christian
Anika Marquardt
Akemi Nagao
Sonja Winkel*
Jascha Viehstädt
* Members of the Theater and Orchester of Heidelberg
PRESS REVIEW
Mannheimer Morgen,
Montag, 16.02.2015
Theater:
Theater project “Traces of Afghanistan” in Heidelberg
Mosaic pieces from the far away Hindu Kush
By Martin Vögele
Frank Koenen carries water in his hands, folded like a shell, and hands it over to Akemi Nagao, before he raises into a breathless sprint in concentric circles around his colleague dancer – accompanied by the Looming sound of helicopter rotors. With such a poetic-fragile as upsetting tense choreography, the costa compagnie with “Traces of Afghanistan” delivers a glimpse of the dance performance “Conversion_2 / After Afghanistan” which will be premiered on May 8 at the Main Stage.
At end of last October three artists of the independent Hamburg based group (Artistic Director Felix Meyer-Christian, Choreographer Jascha Viehstädt, Cinematographer Stefan Haehnel) embarked on a three-week research trip to the Hindu Kush and visited Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif. A total of 32 interviewees were questioned, most of them Afghans, as Meyer-Christian reported. Additionally the artists interviewed German and US-soldiers who were stationed on-site, as well as a female Dutch soldier who worked as “gender advisor”.
Many Perspectives
These discussions, along with video and audio recordings will form the basis of the “Conversion_2″ performance, which will simultaneously finish the two-year cooperation between costa compagnie and the City Theatre. “Conversion_1” previously focused on the withdrawal of US-troops from Heidelberg and the process of the conversion within the city, how the theater-dramaturge Sonja Winkel recapitulates, who coordinates the project from the theater’s side, together with Meyer-Christian.
In “Traces of Afghanistan“,, narrative reports, film, audio recordings, interview excerpts and dance merge to a differentiated, multi-perspective performance-mosaic of analysis of the present and mutual perception, that makes one eagerly await the presentation of the results on May 08. Previously the VHS Theatre Workshop on 22nd of April will also focus on “Conversion_2”.
Funded through the FONDS DOPPELPASS by the
in Cooperation with the Theater and Orchester Heidelberg
