WEST-LAND-DANCES

WORLD PREMIERE

11 January 2024

FFT Düsseldorf

EINE PRODUKTION DES THEATER DER KLÄNGE

Have you ever heard of dances like Maike, Neue Spindel or Kleiner Düsseldorfer? All dances that were once danced here. So what do we dance? And: who dances together anyway?

J.U. Lensing 2024

Kleiner Düsseldorfer, Siebensprung, Spindel, Herr Schmidt – these are the names of folk dances that were once part of every celebration in this region. Hardly anyone knows them today. In western Germany, and especially in NRW, engaging seriously with folk dance and folk music is still almost frowned upon – while in southern and central Germany, ensembles and festivals keep this cultural heritage very much alive. What is missing is not the heritage itself, but the willingness to touch it.

In 2023 the THEATER DER KLÄNGE set out on a journey of discovery, determined not to look far afield: the dances had to be practically on the doorstep. After contact with folk culture experts and local heritage associations, archive work at the Tanzarchiv Köln, workshops at the Tonhalle and hours of listening through recordings, West-Land-Dances took shape in the second half of 2023. Choreographer Jacqueline Fischer and the dancers contributed their own ideas; the historical material was not treated as museum piece but allowed to develop through use – exactly as folk dance has always worked.

The piece posed its central question directly: “Whoever loses their culture loses themselves”, one ensemble member stated at the FFT premiere. Folk dance is not decorative folklore. It only works collectively – you hold on to each other, place your arm around someone’s shoulder, turn together. “Dancing alone makes you lonely” is not a metaphor; it is the physical premise of the art form. The ensemble consistently moved across the stage in pairs or groups, sometimes in quiet dialogue, sometimes mirroring each other like twins.

The music followed the same logic: Christiane Meis on accordion, Jens Barabasch on woodwind and Jörg Lensing on live electronics played live, working from traditional dance melodies that had been researched and rearranged. The evening began in silence – movement without rhythm. Sound arrived only gradually. That was not a dramaturgical trick but a statement: movement is older than the notation that describes it.

After the performance, the THEATER DER KLÄNGE invited the audience to a Bal modern in the foyer. Performers and audience danced together – no demonstration, just shared doing. Those who did not know the steps simply watched and joined in. Cultural heritage can work that simply, once you stop keeping it behind glass.