Weapons of Tender Friction (WTF)

As the Hessische Staatsballett, we are accompanying the artistic development of Weapons of Tender Friction by Carlos Díaz, which was created as part of our pop-up residency at the Staatstheater Darmstadt. At the same time, we aim to give visibility to a choreographic approach that engages deeply with physicality, power, and intimacy.

Two bodies enter a space charged with desire. They circle one another, touch, hold on, and resist. What unfolds is not simply a duet, but a negotiation of intimacy in which attraction and aggression remain inseparably intertwined.

In Weapons of Tender Friction, choreographer Carlos Díaz explores the erotic encounter as a site of power. Drawing on contemporary dance and partner dance forms, the performers engage in a physical dialogue of invitation, control, and surrender. Gestures shift rapidly: support becomes pressure, closeness turns into confrontation, pleasure borders on violence.

The choreography exposes how desire is structured through roles — who leads, who yields, who takes, who allows. These dynamics are not fixed but are constantly renegotiated, revealing the instability that lies beneath familiar images of masculinity and control.

Within a minimalist stage environment, bodies, costumes, and objects become extensions of this tension. As the performers move between exposure and protection, the piece traces how intimacy can become a battlefield — a place where tenderness carries force and violence appears in the form of desire.

For the development of the piece, Díaz also received the Hessian State Ballet’s Pop-up Residency at the Staatstheater Darmstadt in 2025. The concept of the work was also selected for the Choreographic Workshop at the Staatstheater Darmstadt as part of the Tanz Festival RheinMain and was presented there in autumn 2025.

Choreography & Direction: Carlos Díaz
Performers: Francisco Chavez, Carlos Díaz, Juan Cruz Luque
Dramaturgy: Frederic De Carlo
Production Assistance: Frank Burkhardt

Thursday, 18 June 2026
Friday, 19 June 2026
Saturday, 20 June 2026

at the Gallustheater in Frankfurt am Main

Duration: 60 minutes – Ages 16+