The piece is part of the longer-term development being pursued by Mandafounis as Artistic Director of the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company. The ensemble works on the basis of his methodology, which enables the dancers to create a new choreography live on stage from their bodies, movements and actions, in every performance and new moment on stage.

In addition to this focus on improvisation, Mandafounis repeatedly undertakes unusual experiments in his productions: be it that he combines improvised dance with narrative dramaturgies, or focuses on collaboration with dance students, or allows the audience to get very close to the ensemble in a changing performance with different stations. "Here Is There" will also be part of this exploration of the boundaries of what a dance evening can be.

The new piece "Here is There" by Ioannis Mandafounis celebrate its world premiere on 04.06.2025 in Frankfurt at Bockenheimer Depot.

Ioannis

Choreography

Dancers of the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company

Dance

Here is There

Schauspiel Frankfurt

Human encounters are always unpredictable. You eye one another, rush ahead, wait, circle each other, stumble, suddenly stop, start again - and maybe realize, ah, yes, we can understand each other.

The scenes in "À la carte" use different props, sound effects, music and lighting to allow for a variety of dance styles, atmospheres and topics. The starting point is always the encounter between the ensemble and the audience, just as if they were cooking a colorful menu together. The framework for this is Ioannis Mandafounis' dance methodology, which makes it possible to create a choreography live on stage. Almost nothing that the dancers do in this production is predetermined. All movements arise from the meeting of the different bodies.

"À la carte" was the first production by the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company under the artistic direction of Ioannis Mandafounis. With this work, the ensemble presents its dance practice, which is based as much on the exchange between the individual artists as it is on communication with the audience.

Pauline

Choreographic assistance

Manon

Musical direction

Anna

Philipp

Dramaturgy

Stage and Lighting

Thomas

Costumes

Emanuele

Live Electronic Music

À la carte

Concertgebouw Brugge

Hellerau - European Centre for the Arts

Light. Something appears: an image, a formation, movement, development, transformation. Dark. And light. Something new: it is massive, it turns, it vibrates, it encompasses everything. Dark. And light. Surprise. And dark. And light. And dark.

"Join" makes a simple and yet difficult attempt: How can dancers come together at completely different points in their personal and professional trajectory? How can an ensemble of professionals working at the highest level dance together with a group of students? How do people come together in their diversity? What connections are possible beyond a standardising and unifying norm? "Join" takes a step in this direction for dance. Students from the city where the performance takes place dance together with the ensemble of the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company. The dramaturgy of the evening is determined by instant blackouts, which lend the scenes a sense of immediacy and constantly challenge the audience's perception.

The world premiere of "Join" is funded by the "Fonds Zero" programme of the German Federal Cultural Foundation. This is intended to support cultural institutions in trying out climate-friendly forms of production and new aesthetics with the lowest possible climate impact. The CO2-emissions were recorded during the process. Any emerging potential for cutting emissions was intended to make our working methods more sustainable in the future.

„Join“ unternimmt einen einfachen und doch schwierigen Versuch: Wie können Tänzer*innen an völlig unterschiedlichen Punkten ihrer Entwicklung zusammenkommen?

Dance students from the respective city

Music

Smaralia

Rehearsal manager

Join

De Singel International Arts Centre

Two smitten penguins, playful seals, a lazy caravan of camels, a hen laying eggs, dog, cat, and elephants – in her work for very young children, choreographer Célestine Hennermann has explored the movements of animals and researched their movement patterns choreographically. How does the penguin walk in comparison to humans and how exactly does an elephant move? The aestheticisation of animal movements through dance forms the basis of this work.

Two dancers bring these questions to life on stage and transport their young audience into a world of big and small surprises. Dozens of colorful pails in various forms and sizes offer sheer endless possibilities for transforming the stage. A sound collage composed by Gregor Praml supports „elephant walk” as it becomes a landscape of ice and snow, a farm, hoofs, paws, water or clouds.

HENNERMANNS HORDE is the name of the dance company led by Frankfurt-based choreographer Célestine Hennermann. Since 2009, the former Forsythe dramaturge has been working in the dance sector for different age groups – from the very youngest to teenagers. The focus is on researching movement languages for young audiences.

Building bridges between Dresden and Frankfurt 

In the season 2025/26, the DFDC wants to further strengthen the connection between Dresden and Frankfurt and, with the support of the Aventis Foundation, is bringing a piece for children and families to the other city. “Was geht, Erdling?” by Dresden choreographers Caroline Beach and Saida Makhmudzade will be performed in Frankfurt, and “elephant walk” by the Frankfurt-based company Hennermanns Horde will be presented in cooperation with HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts in Dresden.


Célestine

Victoria

Katharina

Susanne

Petra

Stage and Costume

Gregor

Johanna

Urte

Prodcution Management

Alexandra

Management

elephant walk

A celebration of the small but mighty, transforming everyday life movements into dance, Pizzicato invites kids to join in the treasure hunt, open the junk drawers, and discover new sounds and movements. Listening to the music not only with their ear, watching the dance not only with their eyes, but with their whole body. We tell the story of a tiny little world of secret places and magical objects that have the power to transform reality. Every movement can become a choreographic event, suddenly becoming a dance.

Viola and bow usually go hand in hand, but "Pizzicato" shows off another side of the instrument. Performed entirely in pizzicato, it highlights the virtuosity and expressiveness of plucking and reveals the dancing rhythms hidden in everyday objects. A performance of embodied sound, opening a subtle and organic dialogue between music and dance for the little ones.

NINA VALLON is a Swiss-Brazilian choreographer and dancer. She pursues an interdisciplinary approach to choreography and performance. She danced for The Forsythe Company and shaped the independent contemporary dance and performance scene in Frankfurt by founding ID_Frankfurt, the Rough Cuts Festival and the Z-Zentrum. She is currently collaborating with American violist Julie Michael on various projects and searching for new ways to combine music and dance.

Nina

Julie

Viola

Marta

Stage

Pizzicato

Bockenheimer Depot

The movement vocabulary of classical ballet follows clear principles. Everything seems to serve the purpose of overcoming gravity. The bodies appear light, their mass suspended in pirouettes and jumps. Everything is oriented upwards; downward movements occur almost exclusively to gain momentum for going up. What happens when these principles are reversed? With a small cast, Ioannis Mandafounis explores typical ballet movements. They are deconstructed, turned upside down, interrupted, and transformed. Movement sequences from classical repertoire are juxtaposed with completely transformed new versions. A ludicrous game that nevertheless takes its historical source material seriously, despite all the humour. The team is joined by guest dancer Jón Vallejo, Principal dancer of the Semperoper Ballett.

Simon

Jón

Eins vor, zwei zurück

What do we see when we see dance? Dance starts long before it is seen. In Crisp’s practice of live composition, the subtle shifts in a dancer’s attention are vital to the naissance of the movements. Rosalind Crisp invites both dancers and audience to dwell, even for the briefest moment, in this space where movement surges into being. To be totally visible and completely transparent on stage is to be fully present to all that is unseen and unseeable – the subtle shifts of weight, every breath taken, each sinking feeling – the future starts here, in miniature. The performance is created each night in close proximity to the audience, offering a detailed view of the dancer’s decision-making. The work is a collaboration with Frédéric Blondy, composer and improvising pianist who employs a language rooted in deep listening, the physicality of movement and the exploration of timbre.

ROSALIND CRISP is a choreographer and dancer based in Orbost, Australia. In 1996 she established the Omeo Dance studio in Sydney as a place for her choreographic research. The studio became the home of the experimental dance scene in Sydney for ten years. In 2003 Crisp was invited by Carolyn Carlson to become the first Associate Artist of her ‘Atelier de Paris’. The Atelier managed and toured Rosalind’s company’s works throughout France and Europe (2004-2014), and facilitated her collaboration with French, European and Australian artists.

Rosalind has created over 25 major works, numerous events and performances, internationally toured her work to hundreds of festivals and is sought after for her dance methodology. Her extensive body of work critically questions dance through a rigorous practice of live composition, in all its certainty and doubt. She situates the dancer as an art maker. Her works emerge from sustained studio practice and long-term exchange with a multi-disciplinary team of colleagues. Rosalind Crisp is a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and, in recognition of her influence on a generation of Australian dancers, an Honorary Fellow to the University of Melbourne-VCA. She received in 2025 the Creative Australia Award in the dance category.

FRÉDÉRIC BLONDY is a Pianist, organist, composer and improviser.In his work, he is engaged in an organic and exploratory approach to sound. He has been exploring contemporary classical music, experimental music, improvised music, avant-garde jazz, free jazz, electronic and electroacoustic music and has developed long-term artistic work within groups such as Hubbub and Ethos.

As an artist, Frédéric Blondy has been performing for more than twenty-five years in numerous festivals and concert halls across Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia. As a composer, he has written around twenty pieces ranging from solo works to orchestral music and has released more than twenty-five recordings with different labels. He takes part in numerous interdisciplinary projects combining dance, video, and performance, and also creates music and sound design for films and video works. Driven by a desire to explore new musical forms within an orchestral framework, he founded in 2011 the Orchestra of New Musical Creation, Experimentation and Improvisation (Onceim), of which he is currently the artistic director and conductor.

Rosalind

Sophie

Lander

Audrey

Nastia

Marina

Antonin

Solène

Ichiro

Ashley Alexandra

Samuel

Frédéric

Composition, Piano

Spatial Design

Dorothee

Seen Unseen

Byways

Two travellers from outer space stop off on Earth with a mission: to find out what it means to be human. They have already gathered a few facts: for example, that there are things like time and money. They have learned how humans move from cartoons. But everything they do seems strange; the way they speak sounds a bit wrong and the way they dress is somehow funny. A few questions remain unanswered, and not just for the aliens.

"What's up, Earthling?" is a play for everyone aged 5 and older. It is a humorous, playful attempt to explore human habits, by the two choreographers and dancers Caroline Beach and Saida Makhmudzade.

CAROLINE BEACH is a choreographer, dancer and musician. She completed her master's degree in choreography at the Palucca University of Dance Dresden and her master's degree at the AdBK Nuremberg. She has shown her work in a wide variety of venues: theatres, galleries, off-spaces and in the digital realm.

SAIDA MAKHMUDZADE is a dancer and choreographer. She creates playful, conceptual works rooted in somatic research. She uses humour as a stylistic device to create space for the subtle and delicate, but also to get to the bottom of serious questions.

In the season 2025/26, the DFDC wants to further strengthen the connection between Dresden and Frankfurt and, with the support of the Aventis Foundation, is bringing a piece for children and families to the other city. “Was geht, Erdling?” by Dresden choreographers Caroline Beach and Saida Makhmudzade will be performed in Frankfurt, and “elephant walk” by the Frankfurt-based company Hennermanns Horde will be presented in cooperation with HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts in Dresden.

Schedule

Byways

Eins vor, zwei zurück

Seen Unseen

Join

Join

Byways

Eins vor, zwei zurück

Seen Unseen

Was geht, Erdling?

Was geht, Erdling?

Pizzicato

Pizzicato

À la carte

À la carte

elephant walk

elephant walk

Here is There

Here is There

Here is There

Here is There