An Austrian choreographer and a creative director of the Steptext dance project in Bremen, in cooperation with dancers Alain Elsakhawi and Konan Dayot has created this duet as a part of the KoresponDance Europe project.
Photo: Felix Landerer
Helge Letonja lingers upon a picture of a young man in today’s society. Hovering in-between expectations and acquiring their true identity, dancers probe their own boundaries wearing out and exceeding their physical limitations aiming to outstrip each other. They engage themselves in different roles, one time they are savages, the other full of empathy, testing where they can go with no constraints. Breaking down conventional perception of manhood/manliness, they explore the other one as a body, a partner, a subject, a possibility and a mirror. Should an unexpected situation arise, the relationship between two characters will transform into new qualities.
Created with help of residencies in Micadanses /FR and Théâtre de Chartres /FR.
Helge Letonja comes from Austria. He has acquired his dance qualification at Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main (Music and Scenic Arts College), Hoogeschool voor de Kunsten in Amsterdam and in New York at Erick Hawkins and Alvin Ailey. He performed as a classical dancer for Operahaus in Graz, as a contemporary dancer in pieces of Suzanne Linke/ Urs Dietrich, Jan Fabre, Gilles Maheu, and as a part of groups Theater der Stadt Heidelberg, compania conteporanea bailloado in Lisbon and Montréal Danse in Canada.
His first choreographies were created for Bremer Tanztheater. He has had his signature on more than twenty productions up to present day, the newest being a trilogy « Schaum » (2007), « Darkland » (2008), « Void » (2009) where he cooperated with music composers and visual artists.
Leton’s choreographies have received many international awards and have been presented in Europe, USA, Canada, Israel and Latin America. He established his own dance group Steptext dance project in 1996. The group has had its residency in Schwankhalle since 2003.
As a creative director of Steptext, foundation member of Tanzstadt Bremen initiative, director of an Alternative groups section at Norddeutsches Tanztreffen-Tanzplan Bremen and a co-organiser of KoresponDance Europe, Helge Letonja embarks upon the development, creating new networks, variety and dynamics in the field of contemporary dance.
9. 11. 2010 / 9th Norddeutschen Tanztreffen — Tanzplan Bremen
