DIN A 13 tanzcompany
DIN A 13 tanzcompany is one of the few dance ensembles comprised of dancers with different bodily capabilities. By means of continual artistical and conceptual development of their productions, DIN A 13 managed to become one of the globally leading mixed-abled dance ensembles.
The artistic approach taken by the company is marked by the exploration and visualization of the quality of movement inherent in “differing bodies“ whose diversity forms the basis for the choreographical work. Gerda König challenges viewing habits and normative ideals found in contemporary dance, enriching it in the process through new impulses. Assumed frontiers and evaluations between special bodily dispositions and a dancer’s peak performance become dissolved in choreographical pictures, posing questions, inviting one to enter into an artistical dialogue. She perpetually searches for contrast and provocation in her choreographical pictures, mirroring the human tension between inner and social conflicts. The unexpectedness of another body becomes the aesthetic experience whose expressiveness shows new benchmarks of quality.
Since 2005, in cooperation with the Goethe Institute, coproductions with regional and international artists in Ethiopia, South Africa, Brazil, Kenya, Ghana, and Senegal have been realized.
Gerda König studied psychology at the University of Cologne. She started to deal with dance intensely in 1991, working with the Ensemble Mobiaki, before founding the DIN A 13 tanzcompany in 1995. Right from the start, her choreographical development has been deeply affected by the vision to use the quality of movement inherent in “differing bodies“ in order to create new aesthetic approaches towards a language of contemporary dance. In 2005, she initiated “Dance meets differences“ a project aimed at the exchange between cultures, thereby supporting new mixed-abled companies. Her approach to choreographical research and her artistic works are marked by a continuous, artistical dealing with cultural realities, traditions, politically and socially determined conditions. This lends an unmistakable handwriting to her choreographies. Gerda König lives in Cologne.
