DIN A 13 tanzcompany

DIN A 13 tanzcompany is a dance ensemble comprised of dancers with different bodily capabilities. By means of continual artistic and conceptual development of their productions, DIN A 13 tanzcompany managed to become a globally renowned mixed-ability dance ensemble.

The artistic approach taken by the company is marked by the exploration and visualization of the quality of movement inherent in “differing bodies” whose diversity forms the basis for the choreographical work. Gerda König challenges viewing habits and normative ideals found in contemporary dance, enriching it in the process through new impulses. Assumed frontiers and evaluations between special bodily dispositions and a dancer’s peak performance become dissolved in choreographical pictures, posing questions, inviting one to enter into an artistic dialogue. She perpetually searches for contrast and provocation in her choreographical pictures, mirroring the human tension between inner and social conflicts. The unexpectedness of another body becomes the aesthetic experience whose expressiveness shows new benchmarks of quality.

Since 2005, in cooperation with the Goethe Institute, there have been coproductions with regional and international artists in Ethiopia, South Africa, Brazil, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Israel and Spain.

inbetweenPOWER

Duration: ca. 60 min.

Description: Digital and live stage performance (2021)
Mixed-abled performance by Mehdi Farajpour and Gerda König for five performers (3 streamed online from India and Turkey).
A choreographically staged trialogue about power, threat, and their
intermediate worlds for dancers with and without special physical distinction in
Germany, Turkey and India.

Extra information: https://www.din-a13.de/en/tanzcompany/productions/inbetweenpower

The stage is used accordingly to its original shape and dimension. The stage should be at least 10m wide and 10m deep.
The back wall remains open, no black curtain necessary. No main curtain. Black wings
recommended. The floor must be black, if possible black dance floor.
We mark with 4 rolls of white dance carpet a front white room, behind it a gauze on
three frames.

For any further information e.g. Stage, Internet/Streaming, Video, Light, Sound please ask for our Technical Rider or contact our Production management:

Anastasia Olfert
E-Mail: anastasia.olfert@din-a13.de
Mobil: +49 (0) 173 438 10 70

People on road: 10

Freight: necessary

Freight details: Props / stage design elements are brought along. If we are unable to bring the props
for travel reasons (flights), they must be provided on site, or the insured transport
must be provided.

cellar & secrets - BEYOND REASON

Duration: ca. 60 min

Description: Digital live performance (2020, Germany/Spain)
4 sterile tiled rooms, 4 dancers, 8 cameras, countless people.
The performance refers to the traumas of the fascist and National Socialist dictatorships of Hitler/Germany and Franco/Spain
https://www.din-a13.de/en/tanzcompany/productions/cellar-and-secrets-beyond-reason

Extra information: 10 people are involved. As the performance is specifically designed as an online format, no travel expenses are required.
The artistic concept of the production was explicitly developed as a new online format. The performance will be broadcast live by 4 dancers and 1 video artist via online streaming from Germany and Spain.
Necessary for this kind of event is a streaming portal and a possibility for buying online tickets.

For any further information please contact our

Production management: Anastasia Olfert
E-Mail: anastasia.olfert@din-a13.de
Mobil: +49 (0) 173 438 10 70

Freight: none

cellar and secrets

Duration: 55 min

Description: “Cellar and Secrets” plays with the absurdity of the hidden and brings situations from the
dark cellar to the light. Secret Passions become visible, bizarre neuroses are lived, rituals are staged – sometimes humorous, sometimes frightening or even just astonishing.
https://www.din-a13.de/en/tanzcompany/productions/cellar-and-secrets

Extra information: The stage should be at least 10m wide and 10m deep.

For any further information regarding light, sound and other technical equipment please contact our

Production management: Anastasia Olfert
E-Mail: anastasia.olfert@din-a13.de
Mobil: +49 (0) 173 438 10 70

People on road: 8

Freight: necessary

Freight details: Special props are required for production, which are brought by the company.

techNOlimits

Duration: 75 min

Description: Microchips and implants optimize the parameters for our health. Chip-controlled leg or myoelectric arm prostheses open up countless possibilities of “technical physicalities” – and all of this is having an ever-increasing impact on our daily lives and is slowly becoming the “normal ideal” – the Parahuman

Extra information: https://www.din-a13.de/en/tanzcompany/productions/technolimits

TechNOlimits is a site-specific performance in which the audience is guided to different locations of the artistic event. This requires a building, theatre or venue that has different areas or rooms available. The performance can thus be flexibly adapted to various spatial conditions. All rooms should be accessible for spectators with disabilities.
Every room need a small sound system and some atmosphere lighting.

For any further information regarding light, sound and other technical equipment please contact our

Production management: Anastasia Olfert
E-Mail: anastasia.olfert@din-a13.de
Mobil: +49 (0) 173 438 10 70

People on road: 11

Freight: necessary

Freight details: 3 boxes with props and costumes with approx. 50 kg

bodyRealities – cityCodes

Duration: 60 min

Description: DANCE- / VIDEOPRODUCTION (2017)
"bodyRealities – cityCodes" deals with the complex structures of the ghanaian capital Accra - a melting pot of past and present, diverse ethnic groups, languages and cultures.
https://www.din-a13.de/en/tanzcompany/productions/bodyrealities-citycodes

Extra information: The production needs 3 video beamer with a minimum of 4200 lumen each,
video screen 6 x 4 m

For any further information regarding light, sound and other technical equipment please contact our

Artistic Director: Gerda König
E-Mail: gerda.koenig@din-a13.de
Mobil: +49 (0) 176 23297567

People on road: 7

Freight: necessary

Freight details: 2 small trolleys made of metal
2 m³ pieces of polystyrene

In 2019 DIN A 13 tanzcompany started the M.A.D.E. program.

M.A.D.E. Mixed-Abled Dance Education
Professional artistic further education in the area of mixed-abled dance
for dance students and dancers with and without physical characteristics.

In dance, there is hardly no educational institution in Germany that offers people with specific physical characteristics the prospect of an artistic dance education and career. Against this backdrop, the DIN A 13 tanzcompany has developed a program that enables further education for mixed-abled dance at a professional level and is aimed at the following target group:

• talented dancers with physical characteristics without previous experience, who
are looking to further develop and
professionalize their artistic abilities and professional interests.
• professional dancers with and without physical characteristics and dance students
who are interested in a well-founded
further education offer for mixed-abled dance.

With this further education offer, the DIN A 13 tanzcompany creates a basis from which mixed-abled dance can professionalize itself as an art form in the long terms and establish itself as a natural component of the art.

In addition DIN A 13 tanzcompany offers:

Dance workshops
Our workshops, covering:
• Integrated dance
• Choreography and mixed ability

offer new approaches to broadening artistic work by looking at special qualities
of physical movement and how these can enrich the choreographic process through
providing a new stimulus.
These workshops are aimed at both disabled and able-bodied people interested in dance
as well as choreographers, dancers and dance educationalists.

Lectures
DIN A 13 tanzcompany offers lectures on the following topics:
• Danceability in the intercultural context
• Aestheticising the other

“Particularly dance appears to be a suitable measure for breaking down the barriers between cultures and between people with and without disabilities.“ Gerda König

Documentary films
• „Invitation to the dance“
• „Making the difference“

Documentary filmmaker Gerhard Schick accompanied the DIN A 13 tanzcompany to Kenya and Brazil during their unusual international project ‘Dance meets differences’. Viewers gain an intimate glimpse of the creative process behind the pieces, with the camera present from the auditions to the premiere.
The full-length documentary films were produced for WDR and 3sat in co-operation with the Goethe Institute.

“The DIN A 13 Dance Company from Cologne liberates beauty from convention.” […]
The measure of things suppressed pales and what was a shadow becomes mere distinction.”
StadtRevue

“König’s choreography takes simple images and turns them into a driving force. […]
The intimacy created by DIN A 13 is not put on display; it is intervention:
the open-minded audience has the limits of physical ability paraded before them without the merest hint of shame. The disabled body is transformed beyond this into a source of additional power. The apparent physical incapacity is the very factor that lets the frugal, expressionistic gestures of long and brittle fingers emerge in such an unexpected manner.”
Ballettanz aktuell

“Because the movement which characterises the dance-like expression of DIN A 13 is so unusual, their pieces can be freely seen as a platform for physical intervention when emotions are the key. DIN A 13 reshapes the human body – the company brings movement onto the stage which can be performed by no other than very special, very different bodies.”
die TAZ

“Speaking with some people after the show, I learned that after that initial surprise wore off, the audience seemed to experience a sense of exhilaration from the beauty of the dance.”
Sunday Nation, Kenya