A Divine Comedy

Florentina Holzinger’s new performance A Divine Comedy catapults the world-famous work of the same name by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri right into the present. For her own version of the story, the exceptional choreographer condenses the three parts of the original – hell, purgatory and paradise – to create heaven and hell in the here and now, and set them in motion. Blurring the distinctions that are so deeply rooted in our culture, she brings an all-female cast of performers of all ages and with a mixed background in various physical, musical and dancing disciplines to the stage to explore the human dimensions of life and death. In a spectacular performance, Holzinger devises her own Divine Comedy, journeying through European choreography together with an ensemble spanning seven decades in search of connections between generations and the roots of the images and fantasies of death in our culture. Holzinger does not shy away from placing death itself on the dissecting table, creating an experimental field of extremes upon which she practises dances of death as exercises in dying that refer to death but mean life. How can you represent what cannot be imagined? The performers‘ bodies are the site of metaphysical and anatomical explorations to find a way. In the process, traditions of dance, music and literary history transform into the choreographer’s own creative material. High culture is used as a treasure trove and a rich source of entertainment including stunts, motocross and hypnosis. Holzinger populates her own afterlife with the faults and fears of our time and asks no lesser question than whether spirituality is possible in the 21st century.

Note

We recommend a minimum age of 18 to attend the performance. We would also like to point out that stroboscopic effects are used in this performance.

Management and international distribution: Something Great
Production Management: Ricardo Frayha

A commission by Ruhrtriennale. Produced by Something Great, Spirit, Ruhrtriennale and Staatstheater Kassel. In co-production with Tanzquartier Wien, Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg -Platz, deSingel, Theater Freiburg and Julidans

Funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes and Cultural Department of the City of Vienna

With friendly support of Rudolf Augstein Stiftung, Arts and Culture Division of the Federal Chancellery of Austria, documenta Halle (Kassel), Montévidéo (Marseille)

Supported by the NATIONALE PERFORMANCE NETZ Guest Performance Funding for Dance, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as well as the Culture and Art Ministries of the Federal States.

Thanks to Uwe Leifheit, Impulstanz Vienna