On the island of chocolate trees
"Kopfüber", which premiered on June 1, was already the third production for children by tanz&kunst Königsfelden. The concept of the performances, which take place every two years, is comparable, and the result is always a source of amazement and delight.
The projects of Brigitta Luisa Merki, artistic director of tanz&kunst Königsfelden, are complex because they stimulate and challenge all the senses of those involved on stage and the audience in the Königsfelden Windisch monastery church. This year's 70-minute performance required a stage set, choreography, lighting design, music and texts: Everything was developed by pupils under the expert supervision of professional artists and rehearsed until it was ready for performance.
This time, three 5th graders from Angelrain Lenzburg elementary school enjoyed the event. Two years ago, school leavers were also involved, children and young adults met. This time, it was exclusively eleven to twelve-year-olds, who performed with enthusiasm and eagerness, without any adolescent inhibitions, in a relaxed yet highly concentrated manner. The density of the choreography only became apparent during the song sung from 72 children's throats. Thereʼs a Place I Found aware of how young they still are.
December 2017 marked the start of the project, which was integrated into the regular school day. At the performances, the audience experienced a veritable fairytale land: video projections based on drawings and collages created with the children evoked a magical world. The live music was individually and enthusiastically incorporated into the contemporary dance and hip-hop, which was performed with astonishing confidence by various groups in alternation or even in small solo performances.
One of the goals Merki pursues with her projects is worth considering: "I'm interested in the fact that the children are dealing with artists, people who lead a different life, who function differently." So it's not "just" about encouraging children's creativity, but about understanding other ways of life that are dedicated to creative processes.
Dreamy, dance-like images
The children approached the "head over landscapes" dancing, reciting or singing and playing. At the beginning, a white feather-light cloth billowed on the floor, under which four girls hid, only to appear through openings like nymphs. There was a palpable ice age, the playing area was completely immersed in blue, the spherical music of composer Christoph Huber (sax, piano, effects), singer and cellist Corinne Huber and percussionist Julian Häusermann underscored the scenario. For the children, this initially meant moving in slow motion.
Video interludes (visual art: Eliane Zgraggen, Karl Egli, Doris Haller, Regina Bänziger) and hip-hop interventions (production: Patrick Grigo) quickly melted the ice. "Kopfüberland" was reached, where dance scenes, gymnastics acrobatics (contemporary dance: Teresa Rotemberg, Lucia Baumgartner) or - particularly touching - a musical sequence delighted the audience. Children sat on stools and used ukuleles to create a carpet of sound for the grooving Christoph Huber on saxophone. The performance was light and airy, with trees painted by the children hanging in the church sky.
"The headland is an island of chocolate trees, people eat absorbent cotton and sunbeams, and they drink the moonlight." This is how one of the children poetically defined the enchanted place in the monastery church. For another, Kopfüberwelt is "a chill island, the inhabitants are chilled, their language is chilled, they chill on clouds". Writer Andreas Neeser created these witty texts with the children in a workshop at the Literaturhaus Lenzburg.
Merki designed the performance as an escalation run, so that only at the end did everyone stand on stage together. She comments on the development process: "I supervise and observe the young people in all the workshops and develop the dramaturgical concept during this time. I create dance images in which the rehearsed dance variations and the creative elements of the young people are incorporated. At the same time, the musical composition is created during this time."
Upside down functions as teamwork in which everyone is valued and given a role. Especially with fifth graders, where the intellectual and creative level is still very heterogeneous, this is as much a challenge as it is a pleasure for everyone to see what has been achieved. Listening to and looking at each other is a must for the children, and they did this well. And the audience also felt like they were in a midsummer night's dream, where some things went topsy-turvy!
