Our look at what else makes schrit_tmacher justdance! special:

On the side and in the middle

Specials and context programme at the schrit_tmacher Festival Just Dance! 2025: ‘Judson Church is Ringing in Harlem (Made-to-Measure) / Twenty Looks or Paris Burning at The Chudson Church (M2M)’ by Trajal Harrell at the Ludwig Forum Aachen, ‘Dance as Ritual. Klasse Apart Projects / Raenys Martis’ at the Savelbergkapel in Heerlen, “2Unbreakable” by Maike Conway at the Eden Palast and “LOEV” by Danstheater AYA at the Kerkrade Theatre

By Natalie Broschat

„(M2M)“ by Trajal Harrell in the „Space“ at Luwig Forum Aachen

In 1993, Rick Takvorian founded the schrit_tmacher in the Space, the performance hall in the basement of the Ludwig Forum Aachen, and the US-American dancer-choreographer Trajal Harrell is once again a guest at the Museum of Contemporary Art. He became world-famous with his eight-part series ‘Twenty Looks or Paris Burning’, in which he links two dance styles that both developed independently of each other in New York: Voguing, which emerged in the 1970s in the subculture of Harlem, Uptown, and the postmodern dance of the Judson Dance Theatre, which was developed in July 1962 by the avant-garde dancers around Ruth Hamerson, Yvonne Rainer and Steve Paxton in the Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village, Downtown.

Trajal Harrell’s trio, which premiered in New York in October 2012, takes the audience on a dance-historical journey of the imagination. Czech performer Ondrej Vidlar welcomes the audience in person. The room is bare: a large black molleton curtain on the back wall of the stage, black dance carpet on the hard concrete floor and only three chairs arranged in a triangle: a piano stool, a mint green garden chair and a bistro chair. At the front right is a clothes rail with three black silk dresses hanging from it, which are gently blown into motion by a fan. Ondrej Vidlar is soon joined by Thibault Lac from France, they talk inaudibly and walk up and down the room from time to time. The two have been dancing in Trajal Harrell’s pieces for a number of years; Ondrej Vidlar is also part of the Zurich Dance Ensemble, which was created under the directorship of Nicolas Stemann and Benjamin von Blomberg at the Schauspielhaus Zurich and is now still based in Zurich and directed by Trajal Harrell.

Thibault Lac takes the floor and presents the title of the evening’s play: ‘Judson Church is Ringing in Harlem (Made-to-Measure) / Twenty Looks or Paris Burning at The Chudson Church (M2M)’. Yes, that’s the title. ‘M2M’ is the only part that imagines the visit the other way round, i.e. the postmodern dancers in one of the opulent ballrooms. And this dance-based mind game works perfectly. Beautiful and sad at the same time, full of emotion, the singing begins sitting on the chairs. Until Trajal Harrell, Ondrej Vidlar and Thibault Lac stand up, spread their arms and walk off the chairs in a triangle. ‘Judson is open arms’, as dancer Aileen Passloff put it. They stride around elegantly, as if on the catwalk of the ballroom scene they are visiting. They explore the space on the balls of their feet, as if walking on pointe or high heels, but there is no typical vogue pose; after all, it is conceptual dance that forms the basis.

Yvonne Rainer’s minimalist, geometrically structured pieces, inspired by everyday movements and characterised by repetition, such as ‘Trio A’ (1966/78) or ‘We Shall Run’ (1963), are perceptible. The trio at the Ludwig Forum Aachen put on trainers and then ran across the stage, becoming ever faster and more urgent. Thibault Lac almost completely exhausts himself in post-modern running voguing and the two others fly and run across the stage around him. This could go on forever and the song sung at the beginning echoes incessantly: ‘Mama said, don’t stop!’

„Dance as Ritual“ by Klasse Apart Projects / Raenys Martis in Heerlen

The audiovisual and energetic lecture by DJ Lynnée Denise in the Savelbergkapel in Heerlen on Saturday afternoon, in which she described the influence of music movements on the African diaspora and vice versa, could also have been longer. The Californian-born artist lives in Amsterdam and Johannesburg and is deeply involved with the history of the Dutch colonisation of West Africa and black music culture. Her video presentation not only shows ceremonial funerals in various Black communities in several parts of the world, but we also hear house music over loudspeakers. The fact that nobody dances is always a little unusual for Lynnée Denise, as it gives her feedback and power. ‘Hearing how house music feels’ is incredibly important, as it contains so much history. House music emerged in the 1970s in Chicago’s black community around DJ Frankie Knuckles. It was a kind of revenge on the great aversion to disco music that boiled over in the mid-1970s and culminated in a record burning, the ‘Disco Demolition’, in Chicago.

Lynnée Denise tells and presents this musical history in such a rousing and cool way that her presentation time flies by. But she even spontaneously refers to the spiritually powerful and communicative Yoruba dance piece ‘Egbe’, presented by Pedro Ricardo Hendry and Karel Acosta, in which she invites dancer Pedro and drummer Karel to improvise afterwards. A magical experience that lives up to the title of the event ‘Dance as Ritual’ and delights the small but captivated audience.

The fantastic side programme ‘Dance as Ritual’, put together by cultural manager Raenys Martis and his Apart Projects class, presents a full three-day programme of folkloric and spiritual dance traditions from the African diaspora in the cosy Savelbergkapel with tea, coffee and biscuits. On Saturday and Sunday, a total of eight experimental dance films will be projected under the title ‘Cinedans Films’, ‘which emphasise the power of dance as a cultural heritage’.

„2Unbreakable“ by Maike Conway at Eden Palast in Aachen

Dance and film are also part of this year’s schrit_tmacher side programme in Aachen. A few people have gathered in the cosy cinema room number 5 to watch the documentary ‘2Unbreakable’ by Maike Conway about the German breakdance scene.

Two breakers, Dresden B-girl Joanna from the Saxon dance group The Saxonz and Serhat ‘Saïd’ Perhat from the Sankofa Crew in Munich, accompany the filmmaker. The great thing is that we not only see them in motion, but also get a very personal insight into their everyday lives. Serhat, who has Uyghur roots, stands up for his people and was able to infect his initially sceptical mother with a fascination for dance. The camera is even present during one of Serhat’s physiotherapy sessions, which are designed to get him in shape for the Olympic Games. The Olympics is a theme in the film, but fortunately does not take up the most space. The breakers, the dance groups and their love for dance and the special, embracing and welcoming culture take centre stage. Joanna met her partner Felix in this family-friendly scene and she shares her own family life with us.

Filmmaker Maike Conway followed the breakout scene with her camera for several years and collected an incredible amount of material. So much that, in addition to the wonderful feature film ‘2Unbreakable’, the ZDF report ‘Mein Tanz, mein Battle’ for 37 Grad and an informative, three-part documentary series about The Saxonz entitled ‘Dance till you break’ could be published, which can still be seen in the ZDF media library. Their feature film is characterised by great arcs, insights and an alternation of mounting shots of the physical and spectacular battles, the dancing aspect and the quiet moments of each person.

Screenshot

„LOEV“ Danstheater AYA in Theater Kerkrade

It’s 1 pm in Kerkrade Theatre and it’s really loud. Around 300 schoolchildren have come to watch ‘LOEV’ by Danstheater AYA. The Dutch group led by choreographer Ryan Djojokarso, who is interested in interpersonal relationships and has already explored them in ‘TWOOLS’ (2018) for the Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, for example, has explored the most heartfelt of all feelings in this piece: love (loev in Dutch). A total of eight people are on stage: the Maat Saxophone Quartet, consisting of Daniel Ferreira, Catarina Gomes, Pedro Silva and Mafalda Oliveira and the four dancers Simon Mual, Thersa Bergmann, Sam Corver and Thu Hang Pham. Dancing at an incredibly high level, the group moves through scenic advances, unrequited feelings, affection and rejection and the performers captivate the children in dynamic, whirling and really smart choreographies. Driven and supported by the Maat Saxophone Quartet. The stage, consisting of a red carpet and a platform on stilts, serves primarily as a seating area, but could have offered even more scope for exploration, hiding and surprises. The lighting technology of the well-equipped theatre would certainly have had a few more spotlights on offer to let the great artists shine in the right light. In the course of the play, stereotypical behaviour and patterns are exaggerated, such as when two men are bursting with belligerence in a cockfight or the bitchy women howl deafeningly. It is precisely through this negativity and the incessant fighting that the world comes to an end. What then emerges out of nowhere looks like a smartly dressed, almost uniformed concert group singing about the importance of togetherness, brilliantly intoned by Catarina Gomes and including all eight performers. This energy radiates into the audience and the children leave the hall feeling inspired. Oh, how beautiful.