Tragedy of the Dancing Comic is a playful dance-theatre study of physical comedy for humans of all backgrounds. Learn how the body generates laughter. We will begin by questioning what physical performance means to us, what it has meant to us, and what it can mean. Without getting too pedantic, this project invites the participants to address the semantics of movement, to consider deeply what they are doing when they are performing, and to discuss the kind of meaning imbued in a moving body. The body, voice, and performance presence will be trained through attunement exercises, games, and tasks with heritages from contemporary dance, qi-gong, childhood schoolyard games, improvisational theatre, butoh, stand up comedy, and vocal training. This attunement process will carry us to the instant performance process as we develop an understanding of the phrase “the practice is the performance and the performance is the practice”.  The group will engage in instant performances, discussion, and refinement of material building towards a work-in-progress showing. Participants can expect a collaborative environment where their own voices, interests, and performance/research histories are encouraged to deepen and blossom in tandem with Saxton’s movement material and perspective. Standing on operatic shoulders, we will dig into the relationship between tragedy and comedy. Through dance we will learn about the rhythm of laughter and the timing of tragedy. The structures of comedy writing will guide us through our composition process. Deconstruct the value and history of earnestness in contemporary dance. Explore the relationships between comedy and dance, the physical and the theatrical, the personal and the public, performer and audience. You’re invited to take laughter very seriously.
P.S. You don’t have to be funny to be funny.

Fee: 190 € / red: 170 € / professional dancers: 150 €

Additionally there is a Contemporary class with Breeanne Saxton from 01.01.- 16.02.2022 | Mon & Wed 18:10-19:40
With a varied training background including athletic gymnastics, Horton-Limon, release technique, and contemporary floor work, Saxton’s contemporary technique class trains the muscles to take care of the skeleton through efficiency, alignment, and intelligent utilization of a body in motion. Beginning with a sequence of image and energy based warm ups, students will encounter rhythmic, spatial, and qualitative challenges individually and as a group. The class will progress to set choreographic material giving students a chance to experience specificity, group synchronicity, and achievement.