Vertanzt | Antje Pfundtner in Gesellschaft (DE)

Antje Pfundtner in company reaches for the evening slip of “Vertanzt” at the time and asks: What remains of a play after 10 years and what prompts us to look again?

“One and one make two…” sang Hildegard Knef, and finiteness begins with the two. We have been divided into two genders, the two introduces dualism, it is the opposite of the one, the two lives from the dichotomy and it is usually supposed to be nicer in twos. Antje Pfundtner and Silke Hundertmark dance the arithmetic duet and offer themselves manifold options of being together.

They double, repeat, resist, and use the time available to them for listening. For Antje Pfundtner and Silke Hundertmark, 1+1 = the attempt to dwell side by side, to break through result-oriented expectations and to face the moment with what remains. The divided view of the mechanisms of attention creates a space for the intermediate steps, sounds and calls of two dancers.

” The eyes of the animal, when looking at a human, are attentive and alert. The same animal will look at other animals in the same way. No special gaze is reserved for man. But no species other than man will find the gaze of the animal familiar. Other animals are captivated by the gaze. Man, however, by returning the gaze, becomes aware of himself. The animal watches him closely, across a narrow chasm of non-understanding. Man also looks across a similar, though not identical, abyss of non-understanding. Wherever he looks. He always looks across an abyss of uncertainty and fear.”

John Berger, “The Life of Images or the Art of Seeing”

The world premiere of “Vertanzt” from 2011 can be seen at www.antjepfundtner.de.