Where do I come from – and who am I really? Are my ancestors a part of me, even if I never met them? What does family mean?

The ensemble explores these questions with curiosity, lightness, and a Cyr wheel. They embark on a journey through time between past and future, between the turn of the century, the 1950s, and the 1970s. Along the way, they follow the relics, memories, and heirlooms families leave behind – painting a multifaceted picture of identity, origin, and belonging.

With physical presence, dance, and theater, the ensemble dives into bygone dance eras – Charleston, Rock ’n’ Roll, Twist, and Swing – searching through movement and encounter for familial connections within their own family tree.

Wurzel-Baum invites us to reflect on our roots and on how closely past and future are intertwined – sensually, movingly, and with playful humor tumbling through time.

Photos: Laura Nickel

The workshop introduces the fundamentals of Electro Dance. Participants will learn about the history, technique, and choreographic approaches of this style, which originated in France in the 2000s. The focus is on fun and the shared experience of dancing together.

Fr. 31.10. | 4:30 p.m.
Staatstheater Darmstadt — Ballettsaal

For participants aged 12 and older, no prior experience required

Duration: approx. 120 minutesDauer: ca. 120 Minuten

Language: Englisch

Inspired by Rachid Ouramdane’s Corps extrêmes, this workshop explores gravity, group dynamics, and physical connection. Dancing takes place as part of a group — united in movement, like a single organism.

Participation from age 16, with prior experience.
Duration: approx. 120 minutes
Language: English
Tickets: €14

(c) Pascale Cholette

Tanztees waren in den 1920er-Jahren gesellschaftliche Höhepunkte. Sie boten eine zwanglose Möglichkeit, neue Bekanntschaften zu schließen. Es wurde getanzt, gelacht, begutachtet
und erprobt. Tiefsinnige Gespräche wurden geführt – und dann wurde wieder getanzt. Das Tanzfestival Rhein-Main lässt die Tradition des Tanztees samt Live-Orchester wiederaufleben und
erinnert so daran, dass Tanz nicht nur schön anzusehen, sondern für jeden erfahrbar ist und meistens zu ausgesprochen guter Laune führt!

Mit Live-Musik von BLUESETTE
Staatstheater Darmstadt — Großes Haus, Foyer
So. 2.11. | 16.00 bis 19.30 Uhr

With Möbius Morphosis, Rachid Ouramdane, in collaboration with Compagnie XY, created a monumental spectacle of dance, acrobatics, music, and song. For the Olympiade Culturelle of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, he brought more than 70 artists to the stage: 35 acrobats of Compagnie XY, 26 dancers of the Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon, and the children’s choir of the Maîtrise de Radio France. Inspired by murmurations — the breathtaking formations of flocks of birds — the ensemble fills the stage like a dancing swarm. Jean-Benoît Dunckel, co-founder of the legendary pop duo AIR, composed the music for this project, which celebrates the Olympic values of excellence, friendship, and respect.

The Tanzfestival Rhein-Main now presents the 2024 film recording of Möbius Morphosis and invites the audience to be carried away by the power of collective physicality. A hypnotic evening in which nature, community, and movement merge into a playful choreography, making the spirit of the Olympic Games impressively tangible.

Duration: approx. 60 minutes

The film”Seasons of dance”, directed by Tommy Pascal, brings together six internationally acclaimed choreographers with four dance duos. Each duo interprets, in its own episode, different phases of love — from the first spark to the moment of farewell. This is accompanied by Max Richter’s composition The New Four Seasons – Vivaldi Recomposed, which blends Vivaldi’s iconic Four Seasons with electronic elements to create a rich soundscape. The result is a multifaceted dance portrait that makes love in all its many forms tangible.

Duration: approx. 45 minutes

Am 8.11. geben ausgewählte Künstler*innen aus der Rhein-Main-Region Einblicke in Stücke und Projekte, an denen sie aktuell arbeiten. Die perfekte Gelegenheit, um die neuesten Entwicklungen in der Tanzszene zu entdecken und Talente aus der Region kennenzulernen. Für die Künstler*innen ist die Choreografische Werkstatt eine wichtige Chance, um bereits während ihrer Recherchen und Proben Rückmeldungen vom Publikum zu bekommen und diese in den weiteren Prozess einfließen zu lassen.

Und das steht dieses Mal auf dem Programm:

Tatort
Carlos Díaz Torres

Reden wir über Begehren: Dominant oder unterwürfig? Es ist 2025 und trotz aller Kritik verkörpern wir weiterhin traditionelle Rollen des Begehrens, so die These des Stücks. Warum? Tatort ist eine laufende choreografische Recherche über das Zusammenspiel von erotischem Verhalten und sozialen Machtstrukturen.

Caramelized
Micaela Odriozola Maglie
„I’m soo sweet!“ – In einer klebrigen Bühnenlandschaft begibt sich Caramelized auf eine süße Suche nach der Quintessenz von „Sweetness“ in seiner gustatorischen und emphatischen Bedeutung – „like sugar on my tongue“

PLAYWORK

PLAYWORKGROUP

PLAYWORK ist ein choreografisches Spiel. Unter bestimmten raum-zeitlichen Vorgaben, Verhaltensregeln und unter der Verfolgung verschiedner Ziele und Strategien möchte das Ensemble um Thomas Bradley choreografische Prozesse zu dezentralisieren.

Mit Glimmer kehrt Rui Horta zurück in eine Region, die seine choreografische Handschrift maßgeblich mitgeprägt hat: In den 1990er-Jahren leitete der portugiesische Choreograf das legendäre S.O.A.P. Dance Theatre Frankfurt, das für viele zur Keimzelle des zeitgenössischen Tanzes im Rhein-Main-Gebiet wurde. Nun erschafft Horta, bekannt für seine genreübergreifende Arbeit, gemeinsam mit der portugiesischen Elektroband Micro Audio Waves ein multimediales Gesamtkunstwerk zwischen Musik, Tanz, Lichtkunst und effektvoller Technologie. Glimmer ist ein audiovisuelles Spektakel – zwischen goldenen Oberflächen, biomorphen Kostümen und dichter Atmosphäre entsteht eine futuristische Landschaft, in der sich Körper, Natur und Technik begegnen. Inspiriert von Fragen zu künstlicher Intelligenz, Klimawandel und kollektiver Verantwortung entwirft Glimmer ein visionäres Szenario: lebhaft, pulsierend und voller Hoffnung auf eine Welt, in der alle Platz finden. Ein Stück, das feiert, fragt – und zum Träumen anregt.

Dauer: ca. 75 Minuten
Sprache: keine Sprachkenntnisse erforderlich
Tickets: 44 € / 35 € / 26 € / 18 € / 9 € , ermäßigt 50%

With ÉPIQUE! Nadia Beugré returns to the roots of her childhood in Ivory Coast, to a village that was overgrown by the forest long ago and now only survives as a memory. In this solo piece, the dancer and choreographer, whose reputation is based on works that radically challenge social norms of identity, gender and perception, moves between ritual, memory and resistance. Inspired by her grandmother Gbahihonon, the “woman who says what she sees,” and legendary female figures from her heritage such as Dô-Kamissa, the female oracle and “buffalo woman”, Beugré weaves together personal and collective stories in which women – often overlooked – determine history. Accompanied by a musician and a female griotte, a keeper of forgotten stories, ÉPIQUE! invites the audience to listen to the voices of her ancestors. Dance, music and storytelling combine to create a thunderous space in which Beugré celebrates the power of female resistance. An intense and vivid solo that uses her body, voice and rhythm to summon the courage to face her own roots and history, the piece is both tender and direct and is sustained by her compelling presence.

Duration approx. 65 minutes

Languages: No language skills required. The play contains a few passages in French and Bété, with German surtitles.

Rave Lucid is an energetic homage to the electro dance community – also known as “Tecktonik” or “Milky Way” – that developed in the Paris of the 2000s between club culture, the internet and the battle scene. In this work, Mazelfreten, the French ensemble led by choreographers Brandon Masele and Laura Nala Defretin, combines hypnotic group choreographies with the raw power of freestyle. Twelve dancers exhibit extreme precision, synchronicity and powerful presence – while also conveying the freedom and ecstasy that still drive electro dance today. With techno beats, whirling arm movements and clear choreography, Rave Lucid develops an aesthetic between rave, ritual and futuristic body images. The commercialisation of electro dance in the 2000s – often marketed under the label “Tektonik” – is challenged critically without denying the scene’s strength. Rave Lucid is a throbbing collective body, a piece about visibility, community and the desire to create a space through dance – explosive, political and extremely alive.

Duration: approx. 55 minutes

Tip: After the performance, keep dancing at the rave party at 10:00 p.m. in the Kammerspiele foyer.

On October 31 there will be a workshop with members of the Company Mazelfreten.

Notes on content and sensory stimuli: strobe lights, extremely loud music, fog, extreme brightness.

Dancers of the São Paulo Dance Company provide insights into their working methods and invite you to experience the company’s artistic style up close.

Duration: approx. 120 minutes
Language: English
Tickets: €14