Since October 2021, the Sonnenstein Loft in Linz Urfahr has been the new home of the RedSapata Dance and Culture Association, which has been writing a colorful history in Linz for 14 years. In 2022, the RedSapata team made the first big leaps in the new premises - That's why: before looking forward to 2023, we need to take a look back at 2022:
Within a year, the Loft was able to record quite a bit of programming: over 30 events and 30 residencies, more than 20 world premieres, about 300 visitors per week, and a broad audience of up to 140 people per event.
Cooperations with the Lange Nacht der Bühnen, TanzhafenFESTIVAL, A!KO Dance Festival, SOS-Menschenrechte, the event series FORMA(R)TS as well as the Hybrid Space Residencies were the icing on the cake of the 2022 annual program.
So proudly the highlight report 2022 can be published: https://www.sonnensteinloft.at/post/highlight-2022-ein-stolzes-erstes-jahr
NEW ARTISTS / FEATURED ARTISTS
The new year 2023
RedSapata welcomes with fresh wind, new visions and plans.
For the new residency program in the first half of the year 8 artists and art ensembles have been selected: Inge Gappmaier, Tura Gómez Coll & Sense Pell Collective, Valerio Iurato, Cat Jimenez, Polina Klyuchnikova, Aleksandra Krzekotowska & My Skin Collective, Veronika Maidukova and Stasa Zurovac.
The artists receive a stipend and are allowed to create stage artworks for a chosen period of time in the premises of the Loft, which will then be presented at international festivals and events.
Speaking of presentations, starting in February, a series of dance evenings will be held monthly, including the new Loftanz program (Saturdays) and the already familiar Sunday Showings (Sundays). "Local" artists will be presented. These include internationally renowned artists who have chosen Upper Austria as their center of life.
The first show evening starts on Sunday, 19.02. at 18:00 clock. More information on the website: https://www.sonnensteinloft.at/events/sunday-showings-4.
Our Featured Artists in the first half of 2023:
Inge Gappmaier, choreographer, dancer and dance scientist based in Vienna, is currently working on her new concept, now, an installative dance performance that reflects the cultivation of emotions in our society. The moment of now is not understood and staged as a fleeting moment on a linear timeline, but as a constantly present, open space of possibilities. The premiere will take place at brut Wien.
Tura Gómez Coll, performer and choreographer from Barcelona, based in Linz together with Filip Löbl, dancer from Prague, form Sense Pell Colective, with whom they work on the dance theater piece Kalilele / Kalibanjo. The piece is choreographed for 5 dancers and reflects social problems with an apocalyptic landscape in the background, as well as with a dose of irony and humor. The premiere is scheduled for April 22 at Sonnenstein LOFT.
Valerio Iurato is a dancer and choreographer of Italian-Sicilian origin who lives and works in Linz. In collaboration with costume designer Darija Pejić and video artist Philip Steiner, Valerio's new project, with the working title A fragile story about time, will see dancing bodies interact with costumes to explore the difference between reality and illusion.
Cat Jimenez, interdisciplinary artist based in Vienna, wants to rework the already existing performance losing face into a short version suitable for other venues than previously conceived for and thus be able to reach further audiences, e.g. for small hip-hop festivals. losing face delves deep into the entanglements of the colonial mindset. Four non-white performers with different movement backgrounds negotiate their place in a predominantly white country. Are they able to free themselves from the feeling of being less?
Polina Klyuchnikova, dancer from Russia and MA-student at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz, is working on the project under the working title True, False, Not stated. The title is related to the theme of information pressure, which in many periods of history became a powerful instrument of social manipulation. It also reflects current events in her home country, whose propaganda she finds highly manipulative and destructive.
Aleksandra Krzekotowska, freelance dancer from Poland, based in Linz, together with the actress from Germany, Melanie Sidhu, and the violinist from Goa, Ashley do Rego, have been developing for 2 years an interdisciplinary project My Skin. Short Stories. Through physical practice (body and voice), text work and music composition, the trio seeks to create an alternative practice of rethinking, re-experiencing and re-appropriating skin and skin color.
Veronika Maidukova, Ukrainian dancer, continues to work on a collective project W'ART - after a successful premiere in the fall of 2022 at LOFT. The project explores the role of art as a mechanism for social change. It explores what happens when art is used as a tool for collective catharsis and healing. The project involves artists from Ukraine and Syria. Two performance evenings in May are already planned.
Lucia Mauri and her Company La Lucina, an interdisciplinary group of dancers, actors, a musician and a director who have been active since 2016, are working on their new project Olympia. Titian's Venus and Manet's Olympia - two images inscribed in the topos of the representation of the feminine in Western art history - serve as objects of the Western male gaze. The project explores how the Western female body has been constructed through a kaleidoscope of non-white, Asian, Native American, Latin American and African women and how this significant role has been played from the off-screen.
Stasa Zurovac, Croatian choreographer who has been creating art in Linz and internationally for years, starts his new project UNRAST/FLIGHTS. Your experiences our memories - our memories your experiences. A dance theatre performance for six dancers inspired by the book "Flights" by the Polish writer and Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk. The piece will speak of a journey, as today more than "half the world" is fleeing from various kinds of horrors and tragedies or is simply driven by the motives of their desires. This is more than a current theme. Travellers - pilgrims - refugees. You can see the first impressions at the LOFT at the beginning of March.
Sonnenstein Loft was listed on the A-List (extraordinary spaces in Linz) and slowly it began to attract more and more interested parties. From dance classes to dance evenings to seminars and weekend retreats; from performances to exhibitions to concerts and dance parties - the offer is constantly growing and becoming more diverse. The purpose remains the same: contemporary art, performance, community and passion.
NEW COURSE PROGRAM STARTING MARCH 2023.
For those hungry for dance, curious and eager to learn, our current educational program will be presented with a new schedule starting in March.
In addition to Streetdance, Waacking, Lyrical Jazz, Contemporary, K-POP and Breaking, Tango is also on the program.
This is where multiple generations meet as dance students and switch studios. The program under the direction of Joel Teodoro is growing and thriving. Also for children Hip Hop and Streetdance takes place again on Mondays.
To the current courses & workshops: https://www.sonnensteinloft.at/kurse-workshops
Photo credits in order: 1. cover photo "My Skin.Short Stories" - phot. Annelie Straub, Edit: Ashley do Rego; 2. Inge Gappmaier - phot. Inge Gappmaier; 3. Tura Gómez Coll - phot. Mirela Gonzalez-Fernandez; 4. Valerio Iurato - phot. Kayla May Corbin; 5. Cat Jimenez - phot. Christine Miess; 6. Polina Klyuchnikova - phot. Victoria Ebert-Skibskaya; 7. Aleksandra Krzekotowska - phot. Aleksandra Krzekotowska; 8. Veronika Maidukova - phot. Sofia Vinnichenko; 9. Lucia Mauri and Company La Lucina - phot. Compagnia La Lucina; 10. Stasa Zurovac - phot. Matija Ferlin.