In I’ll be back, the dance collective UTOPISISTAS explores notions of the self, pitches individual fulfilment against serving the common good (or vice versa) and exploits the full potential that lies in interdependencies. Supported by a specially commissioned soundscape and using improvisation in movement and speech to harness the power of the spontaneous, Matilda Bilberg, Nerea Gurrutxaga, Jenna Hendry and Maria Teresa Tanzarella dance and talk themselves into a multiple being with a collective body and a shared consciousness. In the process, they both satisfy and undermine our need for synchronicity and symbiosis, creating a sparkling, highly charged and often humorous piece, which not only reflects UTOPISISTAS’ collaborative and non-hierarchical approach to performance making but also raises quite a few timeless questions along the way: Do I end where you begin? Or do I exist only through you? And if so: Can we co-create a self? Or are we alone? Forever?

We are a wondering, wondrous being,
visiting an uncanny world and that other planet.
We will sweat for you.
We will be challenged.
As will you.
But don’t worry: We will also laugh with you.

So let us gather all of our existing mutants.
Let us assemble our multiple self.

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Choreographers at Work!

A series about creation processes in the field of contemporary dance by Michelle Ettlin & Mona De Weerdt

#2: UTOPISISTAS / Jenna Hendry, Matilda Bilberg, Maria Teresa Tanzarella, Nerea Gurrutxaga

The second portrait in the documentary series Choreographers at Work! is devoted to the collective work and rehearsal processes employed by UTOPISISTAS. It shows the four dancers and choreographers Jenna Hendry, Matilda Bilberg, Maria Teresa Tanzarella and Nerea Gurrutxaga working together on their production I'll be back. The film captures elements such as vocal and movement research, the four dancers' search for synchronicity in improvised unison, and their negotiation and decision-making processes. Viewers experience how the piece’s theme of the dissolution of the self is explored during rehearsals through dance and choreography, as well as the challenges that collective artistic work entails.

The film will be shown in the Tanzhaus lobby before and after the shows. Duration: 26 minutes