Sports take the stage in two productions from Luxembourg
Following a Kultur | lx call for applications, 11 files were received and assessed on 18 September by jury members Serge Basso de March (author and poet), Pablo Chimienti (communications & PR officer at THEATER FEDERATIOUN), Godefroy Gordet (journalist, author and director), Lee Fou Messica (artistic director at the Espace Bernard-Marie Koltès —national subsidised theatre in Metz—and co-president of the Quint’Est network) and Karine Sitarz (critic).
The jury selected the play Corps au bout du monde by Marion Rothhaar, directed by Elke Hartmann and produced by Maskénada.
A second play was also selected: Jennifer Gohier’s production for younger audiences, GO!. This production has already been invited by the Théâtre du Train Bleu in Avignon, and following the jury’s decision, will also receive financial support from Kultur | lx.
Both plays selected to represent Luxembourg in Avignon explore the world of sport and performance, each in their own unique way. A happy coincidence in light of the upcoming Olympic Games to be held in France in 2024.
The jury praised Corps au bout du monde for addressing burning current issues both in sport and in society more generally, such as harassment, abuse of power, and feminism. With an extremely physical performance, the play explores these themes in depth, and a touch of humour, as it draws on personal experience that will make it resonate with audiences of all kinds. The play will be adapted in French for the Avignon Festival.
The jury also recognised the artistic standard of GO!, a play for audiences of all ages that communicates the universal values of martial arts, sport, and life in society more generally. Recently awarded the 2023 Kanner- a Jugendtheaterpräis for youth theatre, GO! will be performed at Train Bleu, one of the most popular venues at OFF Avignon.
Kultur | lx looks forward to presenting these plays from Luxembourg and to providing continued support to the artists in Avignon.
About the productions
Corps au bout du monde (Body at the end of the world) questions success at all costs. The play is inspired by Marion Rothhaar’s personal experience as a former champion artistic and rhythmic gymnast who represented the Federal Republic of Germany at the Olympic Games in 1988 as well as accounts from other high-level athletes, press articles, and the eponymous text by Regina Dürig. Rothhaar’s work explores what it is like to come of age in the clutches of high-level sport with its daily training sessions, competitions, performance, control, determination, giving up, injuries, power and abuse, doubts and rebellion, pain and joy, victories and defeats.
GO! re-enacts a game between two men who meet and challenge each other through their martial arts. With each new fight, they get to know each other, control each other, and outdo each other. Each learns from the other—about their strengths and limitations—without there ever being a winner or a loser, because the opponent is, above all, a sparring partner to be respected if they both want to keep playing. Jennifer Gohier’s play is a cross between contemporary dance, martial arts, and digital creation where different universes meet and come together in a duo that combines humour, precision, and the beauty of movement.
About the artists
Marion Rothhaar is a director and dramatist who lives in Switzerland with her family. Following an international career as an artistic and rhythmic gymnast, she traded gym mats for the stage and became a dancer and performer. After a master’s in literature, theatre and media studies and training as a radio editor, she worked for radio and assisted several directors. She gained a Teaching Artist qualification at the Berne Arts College. More recently, she directed the science fiction performance La machine s’arrête (The machine stops), based on a story by E. M. Forster for Esch 2022, European Capital of Culture. Her latest production, Körper am Ende der Welt – Corps au bout du monde, draws on revelations by female athletes who reported failings at the Swiss Olympics training centre in Macolin and her own personal experience as a former high-level athlete who participated in the Olympic Games. Marion Rothhaar has been a member of the Luxembourg collective Maskénada for many years.
Jennifer Gohier trained at the Angers Conservatoire and the CC-Ballet du Nord school. In 2005, she joined the Metz Opera Ballet where she performed a lyrical, classical, and contemporary repertoire under the direction of Patrick Salliot. Between 2009 and 2015, she developed her artistic practice working for various choreographers including Christophe Garcia (FR), Julien Ficely (FR), Anu Sistonen (FI), Francesco Vecchione (IT), Bernard Baumgarten (LU) and Annick Pütz (LU). Together with Grégory Beaumont, she founded Cie Corps In Situ where they create, dance, present and share their work on stage, in gardens, in the street, in schools and many other locations. A qualified dance teacher, Gohier also occasionally teaches professionals and amateurs in various institutions across the Grand Est region and in Luxembourg.
Benefiting from the concurrent programming of Luxembourgish creations, Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg organised a very first Focus highlighting all the performing arts in Luxembourg.
The 3-day event benefited from the support of Les Rotondes to set up a special event for young audiences, and of the TROIS C-L for a special dance event, in addition to the theatre event held at the Grand Théâtre.
54 international professionals from the sector, programmers, artists and representatives of institutions, from 17 countries, were able to discover the Luxembourg scene through a framework programme offering performances, meetings with artists and management of Luxembourg theatres and cultural centres, as well as networking with 80 professionals from the Luxembourg sector.
This first Focus on the performing arts was a unique opportunity to introduce the Luxembourg scene in all its diversity to its international peers. As a concrete space for exchange with artists and producers, a platform for the promotion of contemporary creations, but also a space for discussion of the challenges of international cooperation in the sector, the Luxembourg and foreign participants were all able to open up their artistic horizons and professional development perspectives.
While certain invitations for residencies and programming have already emerged from the discussions during the Focus, it is clear that the internationalisation of Luxembourg’s performing arts sector can be expected to benefit from this event in the 2024-2025 season.
This type of programme, specifically designed for professionals in the sector, is part of the range of tools that Kultur | lx can deploy to encourage artistic mobility, stimulate the desire for collaboration and establish cross-border partnerships.
As part of its mission to promote and disseminate the Luxembourg arts scene, Kultur | lx has joined forces with Rotondes and Spektrum to invite professionals from the international digital arts scene to discover the projects of Luxembourg artists who will be exhibiting at the next edition of Multiplica, which will be held from 24 February to 5 March at Rotondes.
On the programme: on the site of the Rotondes and elsewhere, the public of all ages will be able to discover international and local digital and multimedia art creations, workshops for children and adults, audio-visual performances, concerts and meetings with artists, including:
Andrea Mancini – MINERALS: performance, installation, meet the artist / 24.02-26.02.
Steve Gerges – TOWERS: installation / 24.02-26.02.
Slumbergaze : concert / 25.02
About Multiplica
The Multiplica festival is a cultural and artistic project initiated by the Rotondes which started in 2015 with a first conference entitled “What is digital art? Driven by the will of some members of the team to create a festival around digital and multimedia arts in Luxembourg, the project has grown through its biennial editions (2017, 2019, 2021) and has become an important meeting point for everyone who is interested in arts that use current technologies and in the many themes related to the digitalisation of our daily lives, such as the impact of technologies on our environment or digital exclusion.
Discover the complete programme of Multiplica here.
Thursday evening was the opening ceremony of the Walfer Bicherdeeg and the presentation of the Lëtzebuerger Buchpräis 2021. In a warm atmosphere, accompanied by jazz music, the following were honoured:
In the category “Literatur” :
Bluttsëffer
Jemp Schuster, Editions Imprimerie Centrale
Déi eng schreiwen alles op, Dag fir Dag, Heftervoll, leeën déi Hefter op d’Säit a paken se ni méiun. Déi aner hunn all Erënnerungen am Kapp. Déi kann een zu all Zäit unzapen, wéi e vollt Faass. Mee kann een deenen Extrakter trauen? Wat ass wouer a wat ass erfonnt? A Bluttsëffer stinn d‘Famillje Gerber, Maltes a Birnbaum vu Grozeg am Mëttelpunkt.
In the category “Kanner a Jugendbicher” :
Waking the Mountain
Marina Fonseca & Lisa Junius, Zoom Editions
Nature is suffering, and so is Zura’s friend Milo. Naturally, this makes Zura angry. Soon, she knows she’ll have to turn her anger into action if she wants to save both. Waking the Mountain is a relevant and hopeful story about friendship and working together towards a better future and healthier.
In the category “Design” :
Stories from the Inside
40 Years Valentiny Architects : Point Nemo Publishing
In the category “Sachbicher” :
#LuxUKLinks
John Marshall, Maison Moderne
Did you know that Radio Luxembourg was the first radion station to play an album by British rock band The Beatles? A book assembling 150 stories connecting the United Kingdom and Luxembourg, told by Ambassador John Marshall.
In the category “Coup de cœur du public” :
12 Nei Gutt-Nuecht Geschichten
Sonja Bintner, Editions Phi
Et gëtt näischt méi Schéines, wéi matKanner op d‘Rees ze goen, an dWelt vun der Fantasie, wou et den Zauber nach gëtt a wou alles nach méiglech ass.Hei fannt dir 12 nei Geschichten, fir klengen a manner klenge Kanner virzeliesen an ëmmer erëm ze liesen
Find these books in Luxembourg bookshops and enjoy reading them!
If there is one Luxembourg literary event that cannot be ignored, it is the Walfer Bicherdeeg.
For the 26th edition of the largest book fair in Luxembourg, which will take place on 20 and 21 November, the theme “Magic words and a wonderful future” invites us to focus on discovery and imagination in a world strongly marked by the pandemic.
On this occasion and during the presentation of the Lëtzebuerger Buchpräis 2021, Kultur lx joins forces with Kulturkanal, Radio 100,7, the Federation of Luxembourg Publishers and the National Centre for Literature to present portraits of Luxembourg authors. Thanks to an original principle, the writers will read an extract from their latest books while the illustrator Antoine “Tunn” Grimée draws their portraits. This playful and contemporary format will enable the Buchpräis nominees for literature (Jemp Schuster, Tullio Forgiarini, Nathalie Ronvaux, Jean Back, Guy Helminger) and children’s books (Marina Fonseca & Lisa Junius, Marie Isabelle Callier, Sonja Bintner) to be discovered.
Let’s go for a month of reading, literary encounters and fun in November!
The detailed programme is available online HERE
On 16 and 17 October 2021 TRAFFIK THEATER will bring its children’s show Babar, der kleine Elefant back to the Wiener Konzerhaus with the support of Kultur|lx.
More than 80 years after the first edition of this book, BABAR inspires young and old with its poetry and the power of the unique music composed by Francis Poulenc between 1940 and 1945. Using Chinese shadow theatre, Dan Tanson tells the famous Story of Babar, the little elephant, and invites fans of slightly older tales on a sonic journey full of poetry and suspense.
Performers
Lynn Orazi, piano
Christophe Morisset, acting and shadow
Dan Tanson Erzähler, storytelling, acting and shadow
Christophe Morisset, concept and set design
Dan Tanson, concept
Jean-Lou Caglar lights
The Wiener Konzerthaus is one of the most important institutions in international musical life. Together with the State Opera and the Musikverein, it forms the prominent triad that establishes Vienna’s worldwide reputation as a leading music metropolis.