2022
Time Gestures
Die Masse dessen, durch das alles begann, ist so
gross oder so klein wie die Masse dessen,
durch das alles Nichts wird
Unendlichkeit
Keine Raum-
Zeit
mehr
Vorwärts läuft auch rück-
wärts. Nichts hat einen Rand
Alles war und ist und wird sein. Oder?
Alles war und ist und wird sein. Oder?
Ein Stück – ein Versuch – über das, was bleibt.
Ein Stück – ein Versuch – über das, was jenseits ist.
Ein Stück – eine Idee, ein Wunsch
Choreography and Performance: Melissa Kieffer
Dramaturgy: Lauren Rae Mace, Asad Shukhrat-Zade
Choreographic Assistance: Niki Anjes Stalder, Daniele Di Felice
Outside Eye: Breeanne Saxton
Premiere: 11.08.2022, Volksbühne Kaulenberg
Co-produced by: Volksbühne Kaulenberg
2021
NEO
"NEO" is a piece that addresses the topic of newness and transformation.
Turn old into new. What remains then? What is old and what is new? Is old bad? Is new good? These questions are addressed by young performers who are guided by dance artist Melissa Kieffer who creates a contemporary dance theater choreography around the themes of "being new," "renewal," and also "reinventing oneself." To experimental music and with dynamic-expressive movement language and meaningful images, the performers move from old to new to old and new.
Choreography: Melissa Kieffer
Dancers: Alejandra Lepinat, Yohanna Lepinat, Janneke Campen, Linnea Fenske, Lea Heiser, Carla Damberg, Marlene Ensslen, Anne-Katrin Selzer, Paula Wohlgemuth, Ina Guo, Rahel Blumann, Emma Biermann, Milena Traut
Production: JTW Spandau
Performances: 18. & 19.9.2021, 18h at Jugendtheaterwerkstatt Spandau
Durch Hilma
The combined and unified artistic visions of the trio of contemporary performance artists Melissa Kieffer (performance and concept), Alica Minar (scenography and dramaturgy) and Breeanne Saxton (choreography, costume, music), draw inspiration from Hilma af Klint - a swedish abstract painter. To a contemporary "solo" dance performance that makes the invisible visible. Hindurch is performed by Melissa Kieffer in a multi-dimensional grid structure of skin-like rubber bands, unfurled by Kieffer throughout the performance. Kieffer appears to be a single female body on stage, but what is revealed throughout the piece is that loneliness and personal disconnection are illusions of limited human perception.
Melissa's connectedness to her environment is represented with the grid structure in three-dimensional space as she tests, questions, and struggles with the duality of her attachments. Concepts of impact, presence, dependence, and interconnectedness are present as the grid designs, reshapes, destroys, and gives birth to new spaces, approaches, and perspectives. The piece questions the neoliberal individualism of the 21st century, which describes the consumer society and its tendency towards spiritual hype and bypassing. Thus the performance addresses the individual as well as the collective level.
Idea, Concept, Performance: Melissa Kieffer
Choreography, Costume, Music: Breeanne Saxton
Dramaturgy, Scenography: Alica Minar
Performances: End of March 2023 at Dock11, Berlin