Ioannis Mandafounis & Thomas Bradley

In the double bill “Here Is There”, Ioannis Mandafounis, Artistic Director of the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company, gives a member of the ensemble his own stage as a choreographer for the first time. Thomas Bradley has been a member of the DFDC since 2023. For his new work, he combines his choreographic system with his unmistakable style as a costume designer and works with sculptural, body-changing costumes. Mandafounis explores the tension between the desire for transformation and the inertia of physical reality. Both choreographers manipulate space to create movement. At the same time, they move on the border between noise and music: Bradley between the sounds of an electrical appliance being dismantled and a trumpet sonata, Mandafounis between the sounds of objects and the live music of a drummer.

“Several Rhythms Sort Thoughtfully” by Thomas Bradley

If you look closely at something, you can recognise patterns even in seemingly random actions. If you look long enough, you can see how they change. Thomas Bradley's first work for the DFDC invites such an observation. He understands choreography as a social system, similar to a game. Sustained attention creates a charged atmosphere in which rules and conditions bring the dancers' decisions into focus. Everyone has their own strategies, but their relationships are maintained through their common goal. The costumes also have a decisive influence on the action. In a carefully structured space, the choreography meets two further acoustic elements: the sonic traces of the dismantling of an electrical device and a solo sonata for trumpet by HK Gruber.

“This Beautiful Messy Thing” by Ioannis Mandafounis

In great confinement, one longs for expanse, in the hullabaloo for reduction and clarity. Something often contains its own opposite. The images and situations in “This Beautiful Messy Thing” are characterised by such tensions. Where does the urge for change lead? Perhaps one can enjoy the contrasts themselves instead of hoping for a moment in which all wishes are fulfilled. When dancing, you can play with the limits of the situation instead of being held back by them. Objects that could serve as building materials for a scene refuse such a useful order here and instead assert their own life as a noisy choreography of objects. Things are flying through the air. In the hands of percussionist Philipp Danzeisen, samples of the various noises mingle with the sounds of the drums. The lively, organic physicality of the dancers, confined and held by the stage set, very close to the audience or occasionally in the space, seems as vulnerable as it is powerful. It is a piece by Mandafounis, only louder - and quieter.