PORTALS Performance Project

The last weekend in April I will facilitate a 2-day dance workshop at Tanz Tangente (which, if you’re like me and you’ve lived in Berlin for awhile without ever visiting this studio because of it’s location in Steglitz, is 1000% percent worth the trip for anything happening there). But I digress. The workshop, a “Schnupper und Einstiegsworkshop” (taster and introductory workshop), is exactly that: a workshop for potential participants in a 2-month long performance project, beginning in May, to get a feel for the theme and my style.

The theme is PORTALS. For a complete workshop description, go here. For my personal thoughts and excitements, read on!

Tanz Tangente I first visited this dance studio in 2023 to learn more about their dance pedagogy course Creating Dance in Art and Education, a 10-month certificate course in dance pedagogy. I applied and auditioned for the 2024 cohort, was accepted, and spent one weekend most months of 2024 learning approaches and techniques for facilitating dance. It was one of the biggest gifts of an otherwise difficult year. Everything the course entailed– dancing in community, talking about dance, analyzing our choices as teachers and movers and pedagogues– opened the space for me to reflect deeply on the questions of what dance does, why it matters, and the relationships between how we move in the studio and how we move in the world. I could rave about my experience there all day, but will conclude by describing the atmosphere and values of studio itself. It is warm and friendly, populated by teachers profoundly dedicated to dance, and accessible to folks of diverse ages and abilities. In short: a rare gem.

Performance Projects During my time in the pedagogy program, I facilitated a 10-week workshop at Tanz Tangente for dance teachers and pedagogues to ask critical questions about dance through embodied research. From these sessions, a performance project was born. While we only had four rehearsals, the seven participating dancers (four of whom I had never met before our first rehearsal!) and I put together a 20-minute piece that premiered in the show Dance – Words – Bodes at Tanz Tangente in December. The piece, entitled What Does Dance Do?, reflected a few of the ways that question can be answered. I thoroughly enjoyed both the embodied workshops and co-creating the performance with the dancers. Although it was my first time directing a performance project, it flowed really naturally and intuitively from my experiences as a choreographer. I knew both that I wanted to do more of them, and that I wanted to do them with people who are curious and passionate about dance but aren’t necessarily professional dancers.

Portals I have been thinking a lot about portals this year. I am specifically thinking about how “big experiences” in our individual and collective lives can (and do) act as portals which reveal completely new things to us about ourselves and the world. And how sometimes after going through a portal, there is no going back. The portals I have experienced lately have felt physical and emotional, shifting my priorities and how I spend time, rippling through the edges of my life and back to a changed center. Since dance and creative processes have always been my way to understand and process life, it felt right to explore these themes in this process.
Another thing I like about the word portal is that it has so many different definitions and associations, from the physical (a door, a window) to science fiction (Dr. Who, anyone?) to technology (a web portal) to mythological (the River Styx). I trust that participants will bring their own ideas about portals to share, and I’m excited to see how they all dance together.

Important Info There are multiple parts to this project. Here is the breakdown of each including costs.

2-day Introductory Workshop
Friday 25 April (17-20 Uhr)
Saturday 26 April (12-17 Uhr)
80-100€ sliding scale
During these two days we will move, talk, research, dance, create, compose, share, and connect with each another. It is open to everyone and a great chance to dive deeply into the theme of portals and get to know my style of facilitation, so potential participants in the performance project are very welcome to join.

Short class (“Kurzkurs”)
every Friday 2 May-4 July (16-17:15)*
90€
This 75-minute class is a combination of contemporary techniques and improvisation. Sampling exercises and principles from release technique, contact improvisation, vocal tuning, somatic practices, and theatrical training, the class offers a mix of structure and freedom to invite each participant into supported, dynamic, connected movement. Some movement experience is recommended but not necessary.

Performance Project
every Friday 2 May-4 July (17:30-20)*
Performance 11 July @ Tanz Tangente
280-320€ sliding scale
In this performance project, we will ponder the question of portals: When do they appear? How are they generated? What do they bring us closer to, and farther away from? Together we will wonder and wander through the world of portals: physical, conceptual, digital, mythological, and fantastical.

PORTALS is a collaborative process that blends dance, theater, vocal work, composition, and dramaturgy. Physical scores, improvisational exercises, compositional tasks, and dialogue all intertwine, guiding the work in unexpected directions as each participant’s body, voice, and ideas shape the journey. This approach invites participants into a space of embodied research, where each practice unveils new layers of material to unearth, dissect, and explore– constantly deepening the grooves in the tangled spiral of portals and what they do. As the process unfolds, a performance emerges—part composition, part ongoing discovery. The work itself becomes a portal, rupturing familiar ways of perceiving and opening space for new constellations of movement, sound, and language. What has been unearthed, dissected, and reassembled accumulates into a living, shifting landscape—an imprint of our collective journey. Through regarding our bodies as the source of both questions and answers, PORTALS seeks to explore the mysteries of change.
This project is open to all levels, with some experience recommended.

If you have been curious to:
move your body more
learn what “dance research” is
embody complex concepts
perform onstage
work with a group
sweat, laugh, connect, and create……

me too :) And I hope to see you at the introductory workshop, the Kurzkurs, or the performance project!

xo

nicola

*excluding holidays