A Commission for the Dance Ensemble of the Gießen City Theatre
(Audiences 14+)
Premiere 12.4.2025, Performance, City Theatre Gießen
Hi beautiful. How are you doing today? I guess not so good. Smile! Smile!
Hey, what’s up! How are you doing?
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The body has not yet cooled down, and there are already people dancing.
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Borders – what’s up with that?
Politics – what’s up with that?
Even if you are not ready for the day,
Maybe that will WAKE YOU UP
A snake lures us into the colourful yet treacherous swamp of social media. In ANACONDA, her new commission for the resident dance company of the Gießen City Theatre, Reut Shemesh creates another high flying performance for young and adult audiences alike that moves with precision through a bubble gum coloured landscape. While those generations who spent their childhood offline insist on ways to regulate this ‘biotope’, Generations Z and Alpha didn’t even believe in the idea of digital safe spaces. For them, social media is both a playground and a battlefield. They balance between fame, shaming, framing, fake news and conspiracy. The dancers move like avatars in ANACONDA – always on the trail of the algorithm that promises fulfilment and perhaps even salvation from the tristesse of analogue reality. They pick up popular dance moves, snippets of comments, flock together as a pack and beguile us with the promises of this overwhelming world. Reut Shemesh’s movement language is raw, cool, honest and direct. And it ultimately reveals the misery behind the polished surface and the idealism of our global connectedness.
“Aggression und Rythmus”
Interview (DE) by Caroline Rohmer with Reut Shemesh about ANACONDA
Programme Note by Caroline Rohmer
Credits
Choreography: Reut Shemesh
Music: Simon Bauer
Stage Design & Video: Ronni Shendar
Light Design: Kevin Weidlich
Costumes: Lukas Noll
Dramaturgy: Caroline Rohmer
Choreography Assistants: John Ross, Beatrice Panero
Production Assistant: Julia Rilling
Performance: Julia Araújo, Pin-Chen Hsu, Borys Jaźnicki, Rose Marie Lindstrøm, Maja Mirek, Jeff Pham, Omar Torrico Real, Laura Schönlau, Gustavo de Oliveira Leite* (*Swing)
Duration: 60 Min.
Upcoming & Past Performances:
- 12.4.2025, *Premiere*, 19:30, City Theatre Gießen, DE
- 24.4.2025, 19:30 // Physical Introduction 18:30 // Introduction 19:00, City Theatre Gießen, DE
- 02.5.2025, 19:30 // Physical Introduction 18:30 // Introduction 19:00, City Theatre Gießen, DE
- 31.5.2025, 19:30 // Introduction 19:00, City Theatre Gießen, DE
- 03.6.2025, 11:00 School Performance, City Theatre Gießen, DE
- 13.6.2025, 11:00 School Performance, City Theatre Gießen, DE
- 15.6.2025, 18:00 // Introduction 17:30, City Theatre Gießen, DE
- 21.6.2025, 19:30 // Introduction 19:00, City Theatre Gießen, DE
Press:
- Reut Shemesh “ANACONDA”, Magazin tanz, Ausgabe Juni 2025
- Der Tanz der betörenden Schlange, hr2 Frühkritik, 17.4.2025
- Im Würgegriff der Anaconda, Gießener Allgemein, Manfred Merz, 13.4.2025
- Bunter und tückischer Sumpf, Gießener Anzeiger, Ursula Hahn-Grimm, 13.4.2025
- Lass ein Like da! Anaconda von Reut Shemesh am Stadttheater Gießen, tanznetz.de, Dagmar Klein, 14.4.2025