The Hindu : New Delhi News : A fresh insight into the world of theatre

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 01, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

A fresh insight into the world of theatre

Madhur Tankha

NEW DELHI: Extreme spaces are the trademark of Helena Waldmann, the renowned Berlin-based choreographer and director. And her preferred method consists of taking apart the theatre elements — body, voice, architecture, music, video and light — and putting them together differently.

Helena will deliver a lecture on dance and theatre at Max Mueller Bhavan here this Saturday. Hosted by Max Mueller Bhavan/Goethe-Institut, Helena will talk about her working experiences with hybrid dance/theatre forms. She will also speak about the general working conditions for independent theatre productions in Germany and India.

“Politicians would like art to be something that people do not have to be wary of. But theatre has curtains. And behind them, undercover, lurks the uncertain, the unpredictable risk,” she says.

Since her first international success in 1993 with “Die Krankheit Tod”, the choreographer has devoted special attention to the potential of curtains, dividing walls, gauze windows and overdubbing. In Iran, Helena caused a sensation in cultural politics with a company of dancing tents. “Letters from Tentland” is probably the first piece by a foreign female choreographer to be staged in Iran for more than 30 years.

Premièred in January 2005 with six female performers, the piece has received positive acclaim from audiences and critics alike. Acting inside tents, the women talk about their complicated, sad and funny life between invisibility outside and freedom inside.

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