Photo: Delphine Claret
CocoonDance stages social topics as mind games of narration. Citing different genres like film, concert, literature, and internet, CocoonDance tries to differentiate the narrative form of dance, playing with different narrative strategies, transformations and forms of staging. Depending on the project, the director’s duo calls on different dancers, musicians, and set decorators. Continuous team work and a clear dramaturgical direction form the basis of the topical and artistic quality: “Wealth of expression, virtuosity, the telling of tales barely tellable, the reproduction of recurring images and obsession draw the audience into their thrall.“ (Heinz-Dieter Terschüren, Bonner Rundschau)
CocoonDance was founded by choreographer Rafaële Giovanola and dramaturge Rainald Endraß on the occasion of an invitation to the Festival Off Avignon in 2000. Swiss-born Giovanola was a soloist in Turin before being brought to the Frankfurt Ballett by William Forsythe for the duration of eight years. After this, she worked with Pavel Mikuláštik’s Choreographical Theatre, with Bonn as the last station. Since 2004, CocoonDance Company plays at and is also the artistic direction for dance at the Bonn theaterimballsaal, “with admirable professionalism and to international acclaim.“ (Bettina Trouwborst, General-Anzeiger Bonn). Their projects, born in the tight field between theatre and abstraction, are touring on three continents by now and have been awarded numerous prizes, most recently the Sponsorship for Culture of the Swiss canton Wallis in 2010.
