Behind every meme is a truth for which we have no words.

In their new production "Hype the Pain", Miller de Nobili - the winner of the Dresden 2025 funding award - turn their attention to the digital world - a space in which irony becomes a coping mechanism, where fake news spreads faster than facts and fleeting images form unnoticed ideologies. Laughter masks the pain of a prejudiced world: jokes become protective shields, discomfort hides behind punchlines and the call for attention becomes a performance.

Together with five dancers who combine breaking, urban styles and contemporary dance with theatrical forms, Maria Chiara de Nobili & Alexander Miller explore how online humour shapes our feelings and beliefs. Movement and fragmented voices meet in a dissonant chorus - an echo of the sensory overload and distorted reality of social media.

Is it still a game when the rules are blurred and nobody knows who is pulling the strings? Are we shaping the digital age - or has it long since shaped us?

Biography

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Photo: Alexander Miller

Miller de Nobili was founded in 2020 by Maria Chiara de' Nobili and Alexander Miller to artistically combine their passions for breakdance, contemporary and urban dance theatre and performative techniques. Both graduated from the MA Choreography programme at Palucca University Dresden. Miller de Nobili has enjoyed a close partnership with HELLERAU since its foundation. The first full-length work "PACK" was premiered in 2021 as part of the TANZPAKT festival "Dancing About" in HELLERAU and received an invitation to Tanzplattform Deutschland in 2022. Miller de Nobili last performed "Labyrinth" in March 2024 in HELLERAU. In 2025, Miller de Nobili received the Dresden State Capital Sponsorship Award.

Cast & Credits

ChoreographyMaria Chiara de Nobili, Alexander Miller
In collaboration with the dancersNam Tran Xuan, Niklas Capel, Giulia Russo, Alessandro Ottaviani, Yuexuan Gui
MusicGábor Halász
Lighting designGeohwan Ju
Stage designSabine Mäder
Costume designKim Schölch, Till Lukas Fiedler
Production managementKsenia Lukina
Production managerMiller de Nobili
Co-productionHELLERAU - European Centre for the Arts, Residency Centre tanz+ and the Choreographic Centre Heidelberg

Funding

A production by Miller de Nobili in co-production with HELLERAU - European Centre for the Arts, Residenzzentrum tanz+ and the Choreographisches Zentrum Heidelberg. Funded by the Dresden Office for Culture and Monument Protection, the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony and the Dresden Art & Culture Foundation of the Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden. Supported by a residency at the Freiburg Theatre and the TENZA Schmiede.

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