Showcase VII – WITNESS
Ballett Chemnitz

“Witness” is a piece for three female dancers, three male dancers and one female voice. The audience is invited into the ballet studio to take a look behind the scenes of the creative process and experience the encounter between freelance choreographer May Zarhy and the ensemble of Ballett Chemnitz up close. The dancers concentrate their movements on sensing the others, describing their experiences through body language and finally seeking contact. An exciting interplay in which previous movements are also remembered and individually interpreted. At the same time, “Witness” suggests that the audience should be a “witness” rather than a “spectator” of the piece.

Freelance choreographer May Zarhy created her first piece at the age of 16 for the national choreography biennial Shades in Dance in Tel Aviv before moving to the Netherlands, where she graduated from the Rotterdam Dance Academy in 2006. During her studies she also worked as an assistant to William Forsythe at the Forsythe Company (2005). In 2007 she completed the postgraduate program ex.e.r.ce of Xavier Le Roy and Mathilde Monnier in Montpellier, France. She later founded the collaborative trio Mamaza together with Fabrice Mazliah and Ioannis Mandafounis, with whom she performed all over the world. Since 2014, Zarhy has been creating her own performance works as well as participatory works in public spaces.

Choreography: May Zarhy

Music: Daniella Ljungsberg

Text translation: Antje Cordes

Dance: Dávid Janik, Koh Yoshitake, Valeria Gambino, Tim Hutsch, Isabel Druenne, Adèle Roulman

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Image: ©Nasser Hashemi