Tanzfabrik
Berlin
Stage
Stage
Stage
Stage
Uferstudios 14
Badstr. 41A, Uferstr. 23
13357 Berlin
Stage
Stage
Photo: Sven Hagolani

The way you look (at me) tonight

Performance by Claire Cunningham, Jess Curtis / Gravity († 11.03.2024)
In the frame of Open Spaces#3-2016

How do we look at each other? How do we allow ourselves to be seen? How do our bodies shape the ways we perceive the world around us? Can we change how we see others? "The Way You Look (at me) Tonight" is a social sculpture—a sensory journey, for two performers and audience. Dancing, singing, telling stories and asking questions, leading UK disabled artist Claire Cunningham and international choreographer and performer Jess Curtis, combine performance, music, and video to wrestle (sometimes literally) with important questions about our habits and practices of perceiving each other and the world. In collaboration with noted author and philosopher of perception Dr. Alva Noë, video artist Yoann Trellu, composer Matthias Herrmann, and dramaturge Luke Pell, they perform an evening-length duet that excavates their own ways of seeing each other—as a man and a woman of different ages, bodies and backgrounds. In 2005 Curtis was the choreographer who first introduced Cunningham to movement, leading to her career as a choreographer in her own right. Now a decade later they return to work together to co-create "The Way You Look (at me) Tonight".

2.- 6.11.  Audio Description (AD)
Audio Description provides a verbal version of the visual elements: action, costumes and setting. During the performances will play a recorded version in English, which was made in the UK for international use. Please register latest one day before the performance date per email: produktion@tanzfabrik-berlin.de
Please ask the Front of House workers for your individual head set.

3.11. German Sign Language (DGS)
Laura Schwengber will simultaneously interpret from English into DGS.

4.11. Touch tour before the performance
A touch tour permits access to the stage and set before a performance for blind or partially sighted theatre-goers. Patrons will explore the space, and may like to handle selected props, costumes and performers. The touch tour starts at 7:30pm and last approximately 20 minutes. Please register latest on 2.11. per e-mail: produktion@tanzfabrik-berlin.de

3.+ 5.11. After talk with Claire Cunningham and Jess Curtis
3.11. Laura Schwengber will translate from English into DGS.
5.11. The students of Dance Intensive/Tanzfabrik Berlin program will moderate the post-show talk with the artists in the frame of a seminar conducted by Silke Bake

Assistance dogs welcome
Audio systems are available by request.

Created and Performed by Jess Curtis & Claire Cunningham | Philosophical Consultation: Dr. Alva Noë | Dramaturgy: Luke Pell | Composition: Matthias Herrmann | Video: Yoann Trellu | Costumes & Set: Michiel Keuper | Light Design/ Technical Direction: Chris Copland | Production: Nadja Dias | Co-Producer: Julia Danila, Alec White | A production of Jess Curtis/ Gravity, Claire Cunningham and Tramway Glasgow | Supported by Unlimited funded by Creative Scotland, Tramway Glasgow, New England Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco Arts Commission, The Kenneth Rainin Foundation, The California Arts Council, Fonds Darstellende Künste e.V., Kofinanzierungsfonds der Senatskanzlei für Kulturelle Angelegenheiten.

 

Claire Cunningham

Claire Cunningham is a performer and creator of multi-disciplinary performance based in Glasgow, Scotland. One of the UK’s most acclaimed and internationally renowned disabled artists, Cunningham’s work is rooted in the study and use/misuse of her crutches and the exploration of the potential of her own specific physicality. This runs alongside a deep interest in the lived experience of disability and its implications not only as a choreographer but also in terms of societal notions of knowledge, value, connection and interdependence. www.clairecunningham.co.uk

Jess Curtis / Gravity († 11.03.2024)

Jess Curtis died unexpectedly on Monday, March 11, in San Francisco.  

Gravity creates exceptionally engaging body-based art that physically addresses issues and ideas of relevance to anyone with a body. The company was founded in 2000 by choreographer-director Jess Curtis, whose work ranges from the underground extremes of San Francisco warehouse performances with such iconic companies as Contraband and CORE in the 1980s, to the exuberance of French circus tents with Compagnie Cahin-Caha, and the refinement of state theaters in Berlin, London, Glasgow, and other major cultural centers. Gravity’s innovative, accessible, and experimental work consistently engages with issues of embodied diversity including gender, sexuality, and disability.

German premiere
in English