Everything but Solo

The media art collective Swoosh Lieu is now reversing theatre production processes: "In the beginning there was a radical reversal," explains Rosa Wernecke, "we wanted technical media such as sound and light to be points of departure and no longer just assistants.” Johanna Castell, Juliane Kremberg, Katharina Kellermann and Rosa Wernecke met while studying at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen. In 2009, they began working together as Swoosh Lieu, which can be translated as "roaring places", because their work is always related to the spaces in which it takes place. Therefore, they began setting up the stage at the Mousonturm many weeks before the premiere, in order to create Everything but Solo at the actual performance location - and not, as it is usually the case, largely in a studio environment. The radical reversal of the process has turned into a close dialogue: Together with four dancers, they develop a conversation between dance technique and stage technology, which inquires into where does dance begin. "We want to build a stage setup that choreographs and becomes a vehicle for movement," says Katharina Kellermann. They all see themselves as theatre workers, each contributing their own specific knowledge to the collective process - because it is also about the examination of individual expertise within the framework of the collaboration. An encounter that takes place via pulleys, spotlights and dimmer stations, and last but not least via the black box of the studio stage.