In their first dance piece in almost 20 years of performing together, Gob Squad have invented a new form of dance floor, part nightclub, part ritual worship, part expressive dance therapy. Dance itself is both form and content of Dancing About.
Over the ages people have congregated in various forms of popular dance rituals to express their intentions and emotions. Gob Squad seeks to harness the euphoria generated through dancing and use it to show where we are today, as individuals and as a group. In Dancing About, the dancers give it their all to turn a personal weakness, a secret passion or a shameful stigma into the most impressive dance possible.
The paradox of the cult of the individual and our need for community becomes the central drama of the piece. The dancers form temporary teams, shifting the individual to a potential ‘we’. One dances for many, many dance for one. The performers temporarily represent such diverse groups as ‘atheists’, ‘optimists’ or ‘sons of alcoholics’, forming constantly shifting Venn diagrams of belonging, standing up to be counted as a proud minority, sometimes a minority of one...
Duration: 1h 30min
With: Johanna Freiburg, Mat Hand, Sean Patten, Tina Pfurr, Tatiana Saphir, Sharon Smith, Berit Stumpf, Sarah Thom, Laura Tonke, Bastian Trost and Simon Will
Director: Gob Squad
Costumes: Marie Perglerova
Sculptures: Josa David Marx
Sound Design: Sebastian Bark, Jeff McGrory
Video: Miles Chalcraft
Dramaturgy and Production: Christina Runge
Management: Eva Hartmann
We like to dance.
We like to dance and we like to drink.
We like to drink and need to drink in order to cope better with our lives.
We like to drink mint tea.
At least one of our parents is an alcoholic and that’s a fact.
We worry about our parents.
We are afraid of getting old and frail.
We have been in therapy before.
We don’t believe in therapy.
Dancing About from Gob Squad on Vimeo.
