Pre-Day NRW at Fabrik Heeder

The region of North Rhine-Westphalia thrives on its diverse dance landscape. There is an impressive number of municipal dance companies, a unique independent dance sector, theatres and festivals for dance, and two universities offering dance education. The region loves dance and is also known for transforming industrial buildings into dance venues.

This year’s Pre-Day NRW will take international visitors to Fabrik Heeder in Krefeld – a beautiful former oilcloth and wallpaper factory turned into a cultural centre run by the Cultural Office of the City of Krefeld. Tanzmesse participants are invited to find out more about Fabrik Heeder’s annual dance programme and get to know local artists in an artistic tour in and around the building. Visitors will gain insights into the artists’ current practice through work-in-progress showings, installations, presentations and excerpts from existing works. Afterwards, we will round off the day together with soup and drinks. This year’s Pre-Day NRW programme includes the Urban Arts Ensemble Ruhr from Herne, the Cooperativa Maura Morales and Ben J. Riepe Kompanie from Düsseldorf, Ursina Tossi and Ilona Pászthy/IPtanz from Cologne, Fang-Yun Lo/Polymer DMT from Essen, and CocoonDance from Bonn. The bus transfer starts at 1 p.m. at tanzhaus nrw and will be back at the same place by around 9.30 p.m.

Our thanks go to the Cultural Office of the City of Krefeld, Dorothee Monderkamp, and the technical team at Fabrik Heeder.

Urban Arts Ensemble Ruhr

The Urban Arts Ensemble Ruhr stands for a new, diverse generation of artists who seek discourse, a home and a means of expression in hip-hop culture. With changing choreographers, the ensemble breaks with the conventions of contemporary hip-hop theater and sets new aesthetic standards.

Cooperativa Maura Morales

Cooperativa Maura Morales consisting of dancer/choreographer Maura Morales, winner of the Kurt Jooss Prize 2013, and composer Michio Woirgardt realized many pieces and is one of the most touring ensembles in NRW with around 50 performances per year.

IPtanz / Ilona Pászthy

IPtanz, directed by Ilona Pászthy, creates dance installations for public, site-specific and theatrical spaces, often in intercultural collaborations focused on accessibility. The award-winning productions can be seen nationally and internationally.

Ben J. Riepe

Ben J. Riepe is an award-winning choreographer based in Duesseldorf, whose interdisciplinary productions are shown internationally. Since 2020, he and his team run the FREIRAUM, a hierarchy-free collaborative working space for the arts and sciences.

Polymer DMT / Fang Yun Lo

Polymer DMT is the label for dance and theater productions by german-taiwanese artist Fang Yun Lo. Her work includes documentary stage projects and dance for young audiences. Polymer DMT is based in Essen and Dresden as well as in Taichung/Taiwan.

Ursina Tossi

Ursina Tossi relates dance and political discourse with intense physicality. From a queerfeminist perspective, pieces are created that move - through strong images, transforming bodies, changing perceptions, close to the audience and to our times. Aesthetic Access and artistic audio description are fields of exploration.

CocoonDance

The collective project, led by Rafaële Giovanola, is known for its powerful works that deconstruct our idea of the body through profound research on the still 'unthought' body, which have been presented at events such as TANZPLATTFORM or RENCONTRES CHORÉGRAPHIQUES DE SEINE-SAINT-DENIS.