M | Я

M | Я is an abstract dance dialog about peace, violence and the relationship between the individual and the collective. The title comes from Slavic and means both peace and world; the mirror-inverted "Я" stands for the ego in Cyrillic.

By SoBo Productions / Darja Reznikova & Sade Mamedova

M | Я is an abstract dance dialog about peace, violence and the relationship between the individual and the collective. The title comes from Slavic and means both peace and world; the mirror-inverted "Я" stands for the ego in Cyrillic. The central questions of the work are already condensed in the name: Where does peace begin? And where does it end?

The piece was developed together with the dancer Maya Selezneva. The starting point for the choreographic material and the text fragments is her own life story - personal experiences, imprints and inner conflicts that exemplify larger social contexts. In this way, the individual becomes a resonance space for collective questions.

M | Я examines how global conflicts seep into personal attitudes, bodies and relationships. Education, propaganda, the loss of dialog and inner turmoil are addressed as well as the possibility of understanding and responsibility. In intense physical proximity, a choreographic examination of violence as a learned pattern unfolds - and of peace as an active, fragile process.

M | Я does not think of peace as the absence of war, but as a conscious practice. The performance encourages us to question our own convictions, perceptions and prejudices - and to consider the responsibility of the individual within the social structure.

As part of the 3 TAGE FREI festival.

CONCEPT: Darja Reznikova

CHOREOGRAPHY: Darja Reznikova & Sade Mamedova (in collaboration with the dancers)

DANCE / PERFORMANCE: Doris Lingenau, Gleb Bondarev

MUSIC / VOICE COMPOSITION: Sabio Janiak

DRAMATURGICAL ASSISTANT: Angela Wendt

LIGHTING / SOUND: Stefan Grießhaber

COSTUME DESIGN: Natalia Moskvychova

STAGE DESIGN: Elena Nekrasova

This project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts, the Landesverband Freie Tanz- und Theaterschaffende Baden Württemberg (LaFT), the Kulturamt Mannheim and the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg. Further cooperation partners are the Schwindelfrei Festival Mannheim, EinTanzHaus Mannheim and Inter-Actions Studios Heidelberg.