Hochschulübergreifendes Zentrum Tanz Berlin / HZT
Choreography: Justin Kennedy
Rehearsal Director: Justin Kennedy
Dance: Bence Ungvari, Konstantin Wloch, Noah Rees, Ton Bogataj, Ana Liborio, Natalia Higuita, Francesco Corsi, Luca Schüssler, Paula Boettger, Valeria Bobke
Music: “Merfolx & Zombies & Trons, Oh My!” Guillermo E. Brown and Justin F. Kennedy
“Merfolx & Zombies & Trons, Oh My!” is choreography and speculative opera exploring Apocalypse through an Afro-pessimist lens. Inspired by post-apocalyptic mutation / contagion, Merfolx is set after a fictional “End of Days” where transhumanism combusts, and hybrid beings like Merpeople, Zombies and animatrons rise to the “seeming” surface. Via metaphor, embodiment, and sensation, these multivalent archetypes evoke movement / vocal affects and eventually choreography / ritual arises. How do these figures, who have been sequestered so long, find community despite clumsiness and presupposed relational hierarchies / histories? What do zombies teach us about organizing? And what can robots show us about care?