Tanztage Berlin – a staple of the Berlin independent contemporary dance scene, hosted and produced by Sophiensaele – is the place where Berlin audiences can check the zeitgeist of the city’s bustling performance arts field. Each year the selection is devised around a series of curatorial themes, and this 33rd edition tuned into topics of collective body and disorder. While showcasing experimental formats and fostering unconventional artistic visions, Tanztage Berlin remains true to its ideals and also tunes into the present. And what is indeed the present we are living in?
Two years ago when my article about the 2022 edition of Tanztage went online, Russia had just invaded Ukraine, sending blast waves across the world. It seemed to me back then that the slightly ‘apocalyptic’ focus of Tanztage Berlin 2022 had been spookily premonitory. Fast forward to January 2024, and things have gotten far worse. None of the wars have ended, and more have broken out. Far-right sentiment is gaining momentum across Europe, and the characteristically left-wing city of Berlin has flipped to the right (which has of course endangered its performing arts budget). In a move that hardly anyone had predicted in a country seemingly immune to state control over artistic freedom, many artists and theorists were cancelled, silenced or deprogrammed over their expression of solidarity with the Palestinian people in the ongoing war, or even calls for a ceasefire. Many other artists, in particular those who cannot afford to bid their status and reputation against cultural institutions, have muted themselves in self-censorship.
On a more local level, the opening of the festival coincided with the introduction of a controversial ‘anti-discrimination clause’ to be signed by applicants in order to get cultural funding from Berlin. Many figures in the art world criticised it for relying on a controversial definition of antisemitism, saying it would have a stifling effect on legitimate criticism of Israel’s actions. Berlin authorities have back-pedalled since and repealed the clause, however the chilling effect of the measure and, more generally, of the mess the world has become, was felt throughout the whole festival, that saw many artists take the mike after their shows to express their political stance, to an always unpredictable reaction from the audience.
Concluding the festival statement, curator Mateusz Szymanówka said that ‘despite the persistent feeling that the world is always ending, we stay curious and tender’. Although even the six premiering shows had been selected in summer 2023 (three other works were restaged, and one was an invited production), rehearsals had started only after the events of 7 October, and, according to Szymanówka, the works ended up by ‘soaking up what was happening in those months just before the festival’. Despite this turbulent offstage reality, most of the works presented during the festival indeed managed to carry through ‘curiosity and tenderness’, which at times created a strange symbolic gap between the show themes and the tense atmosphere in the audience.
