KOLLEKTIVE RIESS NEUSTADT performance

Kollektiv RIESS NEUSTADT is an ongoing collaboration between Fabian Riess and Tasha Hess-Neustadt. Together they have created and presented two short works, with plans for continued collective work. They are interested in working at the intersection of somatics and dance-theater.

Their newest production will premiere in November 2023 at the Schwere Reiter theater, as recipients of the Kulturreferat München Debütforderung, and in partnership with Tanztendenz München.

X (2022)

The aftermath of an unknown past, the nostalgia for an unknown future. A continuous search for what is in between black and white, edging towards and away from a sensory threshold.

X is the second part of an imagined trilogy. It tests the definitions and opportunities of spatial restriction, in the boundaries of two crossing lines - an X delineated on the floor; the next extension from their first work, LOT. Loops of recurring shifts and pulls in an atmosphere of obscurity and uncanny. Musical references to the 1970’s + 80’s transport us to a land of thick suburban air, shock, scandal, and romance, in their subliminally queer interpretation.

LOT (2021)

LOT is a performance of somatic research, addressing extreme spatial restraints and their effects on the physical body. We are interested in placing the body in a foreign situation to bring it to a place of insecurity. How do two unstable bodies meet? How do boundaries, consent and support evolve in a situation of physical restraint?

The smallest movements can be felt in the overwhelming pull of still air. I ride the silence and stay here where our fibers and the air and the timelessness coexist for a short time. Two bodies, uncompromisingly fixed in place.

We are interested in how subjective perception of somatic sensation can be transmitted to an audience: How does intimacy emerge from the individual sensing body to a shared awareness? How can the intersection of artistic forms create an atmosphere that enhances perception? Another aim is to value somatic experience as a performance – dancing a piece with constant authentic relation to the sensing body. Our project observes the effects of challenging classic somatic tools like gravity, weight shift, contact and weight sharing by situating them in the context of feet taped to the floor.

Performances:

• LOT at Tanztendenz Open Studios, München 2021

• LOT at ZUKUNFT TANZT festival by Co-Op Dance Company, Gallus Theater, Frankfurt am Main 2021

• LOT and X at Tanztendenz Residence, München 2021

• LOT at DELPHI Space #gbvk Performing Mondays, Freiburg im Breisgau 2022

• X at HIER=JETZT festival at the Schwere Reiter, München 2022

concept/choreography/performance- Fabian Reiss + Tasha Hess-Neustadt (Kollektiv RIESS NEUSTADT)

mentorship- Stephan Herwig

lighting design- Rainer Ludwig

photos- Mehmet Vanli (X), and Maciej Rusinek, Sophron (LOT)