Britney X
BALLROOM
by the Shapes & Shades Collective and Tanz Köln
Photo: Jetmir Idrizi / Shapes & Shades
MI 07 JUNE • 19.30 P.M.
Ballroom • 3h 30 min
Dates & Tickets
07.30 - 11.00 p.m.
*BRITNEY X pass holders, schoolchildren, students, FSJ workers and BFD workers
receive the reduced price.
receive the reduced price.
Video
To kick off the festival, the Shapes & Shades collective from Düsseldorf, in cooperation with Tanz Köln, will transform Depot 1 into a ballroom - and present an explosion of dance arts.
Ever since the Netflix series »Pose« at the latest, the »Ballroom« and the closely related »Voguing«, which transforms the movements of models on the international catwalk into a dance form of its own, have been known worldwide. The roots of the »Ballroom« culture lie in the so-called »Drag-Balls« of the 1920s, which gave queer people of colour their own and safe space as well as recognition and distinction. Since the 1960s, New York's Black and Latinx LGBTQI+ community has regularly hosted prestigious competitions where participants compete in various categories to creatively and performatively exchange and compete against each other - Fashion, Face, Body & Sex, Realness, Performance. The categories originally imitated the lifestyle of privileged social classes to which the participants had no access and are still an integral part of every »Ballrooms« today.
The »Shapes & Shades Kollektiv« consists of the 4 artists Miriam Owusu-Tutu, Eray Gülay, Espoir Freitas and Hannah Lisa Paluch. They see the »Ballroom« as a safe space that catches marginalised people and offers them a home for their creative potential.
Ever since the Netflix series »Pose« at the latest, the »Ballroom« and the closely related »Voguing«, which transforms the movements of models on the international catwalk into a dance form of its own, have been known worldwide. The roots of the »Ballroom« culture lie in the so-called »Drag-Balls« of the 1920s, which gave queer people of colour their own and safe space as well as recognition and distinction. Since the 1960s, New York's Black and Latinx LGBTQI+ community has regularly hosted prestigious competitions where participants compete in various categories to creatively and performatively exchange and compete against each other - Fashion, Face, Body & Sex, Realness, Performance. The categories originally imitated the lifestyle of privileged social classes to which the participants had no access and are still an integral part of every »Ballrooms« today.
The »Shapes & Shades Kollektiv« consists of the 4 artists Miriam Owusu-Tutu, Eray Gülay, Espoir Freitas and Hannah Lisa Paluch. They see the »Ballroom« as a safe space that catches marginalised people and offers them a home for their creative potential.
The shapes & shades collective
Shapes and Shades is a collective made up of four artists and cultural workers that has been active since late 2019. The goal is to create a safer space in which marginalized bodies can come together and empower themselves and each other. German society ismade up of many people with unique cultural histories and identities. However, because of lack of representation, gatekeeping, marginalization, insufficient funding and emotional support, these people are rarely seen and treated like an anomaly, which leads to isolation and depression. Ballroom is a Safer Space, in which these people can find the home and emotional support they crave. Ballroom´s creative potential, which can simultaneously be expressed very personally and individually, can create room for safer spaces and also engage people in friendly competition.
With
Miriam Owusu-Tutu
Miriam Owusu-Tutu is a media and cultural studies student. In the context of her studies, she deals with auditory and visual arts and their relation to different social structures. Furthermore, she is a founding member of the collectives »Schwarzes Haus« and »Shapes&Shades«. Her concern in projects and events she participates in is to create a space for marginalized people. Outside of this framework, she tries to gain diverse artistic experiences. Be it as a singer and producer or video and photographer. Her creativity condenses into stories, documentaries, series, photos videos and much more. In the ballroom scene, she paves her way as a commentator under the name Terror 007.
Eray Gülay
Eray Gülay completed his dance studies at Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany in 2017. In his 4 years of study, he focused on learning and developing his modern and ballet technique. He performed in dance pieces by renowned choreographers and was also a choreographic assistant among others. Commercially, he has worked with companies such as Tamaris, Acer, adidas and Schwarzkopf. Eray is also part of the so-called Ballroom scene since 2014 and is a member of the House of De La Ehle. Since then he is active in the scene, gives voguing workshops internationally and is a lecturer at tanzhaus nrw in Düsseldorf.
Espoir Freitas (Essi)
Espoir Freitas (Essi) studies at the University of Siegen and is a successful star in the German Ballroom scene on the side. From 2018-2021 Espoir was member board of the queer group Queerpeers in Siegen. In Ballroom Espoir is known as Essi 007 for runway and performance categories like non-binary, drags and BQ Vogue Fem Performance. Since February 2022, Espoir Freitas (Essi) is part of the Shapes and Shades collective.
Hannah Lisa Paluch
Hannah Lisa Paluch is a student of media and cultural studies and is particularly interested in the media and communication side of events. In 2017, she was part of Filmfest Düsseldorf and participated in the acquisition of the films. In summer 2021, she was the social media presenter for the Theater der Welt Festival. For Shapes and Shades she has been communications officer since February 2022.
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