ON_LINE__

premiere.... 2009, Düsseldorf, Tanzhaus NRW

A creation about cocaine, the most popular droge of the restless western busy lifestyle-world. In fact, cocaine is prohibited, but it’s the oil in the machine of success, money and power. People are smart, but at the same time disgusting. After maximum performance follows the crash, empty crankiness, a displaced perception of oneself, extravagant and egomaniacal emptiness, without any empathy, imminent danger of madness. The cocaine push the bodies, provocate restless movements, tension ends in motionlessness, activity up to exhaustion, that has to be overcame as fast as possible: the white powder keeps people at a trot.
 
A stage installation with black washing machines signify this restlessness. Streaked and illuminated by white neon lights, they convey the image of a world of design and lifestyle. The pulsating of the stock exchange, the world of fashion, of business, of restless people  as the pulse for the dance. Kick and crash – the dynamic of this hipe world with her preferred drug; last but not least the dynamic of Flamenco.The bodies of the dancer go through a wash program. The running washing machines as metaphors for the uninterrupted online status. The drum of the machine comparable to a person’s brain. The washers a platforms for brokers, models and crankiness personalities.

In this project el contrabando collaborates with Abdullah Benabdallah’s E.L.F. E.L.F stands for electro flamenco, for the artistic link between flamenco and electronic music. Melodious flamenco sequences are replaced by minimalistic, repetitive composition structures. Atonal synthetic sounds depart from the typical atmosphere of flamenco music, transport one to a futuristic aural carpet into which the sounds and tones of washing machines are woven. The rhythms of the machine noises intertwine with the rhythms of flamenco.

The production is accompanied by light projections, projections of lines in various “aggregate states”. The lines recall stock performances, brain measurements, pulse diagrams – a sub-commentary. The projections are generated and manipulated live during the performance by lighting designer Stephan Haller. Cameras deliver footage from the stage, which impacts the projections as a sub-layer. The projection is on_line__.

On_Line__ is the further development of the Bolero della Borsa choreography.