Ballerina meets warrior, sublime aesthetics meets full-contact sport, high and popular culture of movement. On the one hand the artful ideal of the ethereal, unreal, female body, on the other hand the trained, warrior-like, male body.

As in pieces such as “Momentum” and “Vis Motrix”, Rafaële Giovanola’s ensemble is inspired in its search for the still ‘unthought’ body by foreign forms of movement, in this case two that could hardly be more contrary. Both romantic ballet and Thai boxing belong to the cultural heritage and traditional body images in Asia and Central Europe.

For research, training and coaching of these movement concepts, CocoonDance had the support of Isabelle Fokine, granddaughter of the legendary choreographer Michail Fokine and the multiple world and European champion in Muay-Thai, Priest Tyron West.

The ultimate goal of HYBRIDITY is the fusion of the two into something completely new. The aesthetically and physically designed hybrid form offers a speculative expansion of our definition of body, gender and identity.

A production of CocoonDance in co-production with Ringlokschuppen Ruhr Mülheim, Théâtre du Crochetan Monthey, Malévoz Quartier Culturel, Hessisches Staatsballett/ Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Theater im Ballsaal Bonn

Supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste, Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, NRW Landesbüro Darstellende Künste e.V., RheinEnergieStiftung Kultur, Bundesstadt Bonn, Pro Helvetia, ThéâtrePro Valais, Loterie Suisse Romande, Conseil de la Culture État du Valais