With SHOW-OFF, Tanzhaus Zürich supports local emerging talent. SHOW-OFF was launched in 2017, and every year, Zurich-based dancers and choreographers are invited to apply with a short concept. The platform offers three weeks of shared rehearsal time, exchange, and a professional environment to develop a short piece of about 20 minutes. This year's artists explore the theme of needs in various ways – from the search for self-determination, to vulnerability as a creative force, to a queer perspective on mainstream pornography:
NYALA LIU SIMPSON & NOAH WEBER
unstableism
In unstableism, siblings Nyala Liu Simpson and Noah Weber explore their vulnerability and the strength gained from it. Driving drum grooves meet powerful movements that understand dance as self-empowerment and reflection. The transdisciplinary performance combines music, dance and visual expression, questioning not only their own identity but also the social norms that surround them.
LADINA AMBER NIMUË WHITEHEAD
Daughter of Freedom
Daughter of Freedom, choreographed by Ladina Whitehead, is a dance piece about inner conflict and the search for self-determination. Three dancers fuse dynamic and versatile movements from elements of street styles such as waacking or groove with contemporary dance. The piece plays with the dualities of freedom and control, strength and fragility, fuelled by the search for authenticity.
DAS FLAMMENDE FAGOTT
I came for you
I came for you explores the power structures and political dynamics of mainstream pornography. With body, sound and movement, the collective DAS FLAMMENDE FAGOTT poses questions about identification, objectification, intimacy and violence and illuminates the field of tension between hegemonic views and emancipatory appropriation from a queer perspective – a remix of pop, desire and reflection!
unstableism
Performance, music Nyala Liu Simpson, Noah Weber
Daughter of Freedom
Choreography, dance Ladina Amber Nimuë Whitehead
Dance Elisa Serrano, Vanessa Morandell
I came for you
Concept, choreography, performance Johannes Schmidt
Concept, text Kian Amadeus H.
Concept, sound André Veigas
Text sources Lucy Neville: Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys, Ocean Wong: On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, Evan Tepest: Power Bottom, McKenzie War: Reverse Cowgirl
Coaching Lisa Letnansky, Teresa Vittucci
Licht design, technical support Matthias Brunner, Jean-Marc Desbonnets, Iris Rohr
Production Tanzhaus Zürich
Nyala Liu Simpson completed her Bachelor's degree in Contemporary Dance at the Manufacture in Lausanne in 2024. She lives in Bern and explores her identity as a choreographer and performer inspired by African-American literature. Zurich musician Noah Weber studied jazz drums and, after years as a musician in the jazz and pop scene, is now looking for interdisciplinary forms of expression that transcend genre boundaries.
Ladina Whitehead is a dancer and performer. She completed her Bachelor's degree in Urban and Contemporary Dance in Zurich in 2024. Her young career covers international engagements, including with Monster Chetwynd, as well as projects outside of classical stages. As a dancer, she mainly deals with hip hop, house, contemporary and waacking, focussing on the expression of her conscious and unconscious inner self.
DAS FLAMMENDE FAGOTT is an interdisciplinary collective based in Zurich. Using the expertise of its participants - choreography, sound, language - it takes the interpersonal power dynamics of various audience situations as the starting point for its exploration of questions of queerness, sexuality and excess.
DAS FLAMMENDE FAGOTT are: Kian Amadeus H., Johannes Schmidt, André Veigas
