Omer Krieger

“Amphi II” is a performance in a public space that explores fascist forces of the past and present. The piece is based on a dance composed by the choreographer Noa Eshkol in 1953 for a commemoration marking the tenth anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The work was performed only once in the amphitheatre of the House of Ghetto Fighters in Israel.

Omer Krieger’s “Amphi II” translates the original work and its artistic and political vocabulary into the present day. The choreography combines archival traces with movements that oscillate between discipline and detachment, mourning and renewal, stillness and energy. It is a moving monument that revives memories of mass movements in public space. For Dresden, Omer Krieger is developing a new version of the work, which unfolds between two historically significant locations: the former rallying terrace from the Nazi era in the city centre on the banks of the Elbe, and the Festspielhaus Hellerau, which was founded as a school of rhythm and, under National Socialism, became the site of the ‘ Hellerau ’ police school and police weapons school, and was subsequently used by the Red Army.

Over two days, “Amphi” moves between commemorative dance and public action. It works with historical gestures within the current political context and asks how bodies can gather without becoming uniform, and how commemoration can take on an active form. It explores a form of coexistence that remains open and vigilant to the risks and potential of mass movements.