Tanzanweisungen (it won't be like this forever)
It won't be like this forever – this is what the sign says that choreographer Moritz Ostruschnjak carries across the stage, while dancer Daniel Conant performs a Schuhplattler for an audience which is properly seated according to the new Corona guidelines. The thirty-minute solo TANZANWEISUNGEN (dance instructions) is full of self-reflective and ironic references that defy any specific definition. Ostruschnjak remains true to the eclectic style of his latest productions and allows his soloist to transition effortlessly from a Schuhplattler to a grand jeté, from boxing footwork to break dance moves and from a référence to the jump rope; the common element is the sound, the pounding, clapping, breathing, jumping, bouncing that fills the space as a consistent rhythm. As if he had been wound up, the protagonist tirelessly works his way through the extremely diverse canon of movement, assuming poses of resistance, combat and victory, stylized masculinity, youth culture, classic ballet, ballroom dancing and sports in rapid succession – an absurd sequence of divergent elements that overdraw, ironize and contradict each other and that, in combination, playfully yet relentlessly lead into an abyss. Accordingly, the piece ends with DAF’s provocative song “Der Mussolini”, a literal dance instruction – "dance the Mussolini, dance the Adolf Hitler, dance the Jesus Christ…"
World premiere: June 07th 2020, Nationaltheater München
Choreography: Moritz Ostruschnjak
Choreographic collaborator: Daniela Bendini
Dance: Daniel Conant
Dramatic adviser: Carmen Kovac
Light design: Benedikt Zehm
Costume: Daniela Bendini, Moritz Ostruschnjak
Production management: Hannah Melder
PR: Simone Lutz
A production of Moritz Ostruschnjak in collaboration with Bayerische Staatsoper. The artist is supported by Réseau Grand Luxe 2019/20 and is a member of Tanztendenz München e. V.
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“On a platform surrounded by fluorescent gas tubes, a slim person, wearing a baseball cap, mustard yellow T-shirt and bright red boxer shorts, a caricature of himself, pumps himself up to a triumphant victory pose.(...) and starts to "Schuhplattel", beats changing, increasingly complex rhythmic beats on chest, stomach and thighs, stomps with sneaker-shoed feet, jumps and turns. (...) Conant spends a full 15 minutes in acrobatic body twists, dribbles like Muhammad Ali, demonstrates a variety of tricky ballet steps and poses. He demonstrates ballet as physical training, what dancers have been practicing ironically at home since the crisis for the day when all they can do will once again merge into visible art.”
Eva-Elisabeth Fischer, Süddeutsche Zeitung, June 08th 2020
"Winking drastically. Under exceptional circumstances. And aware of the current explosive situation. Moritz Ostruschnjak makes all this physically palpable in his premiere "Tanzanweisungen" (Dance Instructions). What you see is a firework of steps, turns and kicks (...) sometimes upbeat, sometimes contritely contrite. Boxing arms, signal fingers, sexy hips and punches against heart and forehead. In between again and again graceful balletic sprinklings. (...) Like a rubber ball turned into a human being with an occasional flaccid side. Whether it's burning energy with imaginary rope skipping or gun salvos. Conclusion: Ostruschnjak's "Dance Instructions" are an occasional piece, but by no means a compromise theatre!"
Vesna Mlakar, Abendzeitung München, June 8th 2020