take personally. with all the wonderful people and stories that make the game so special. they are all true for. more than football on line. has liberated contemporary dance by crossing boundaries germany's renowned choreographer is in constant search of new challenges and collaboration is with other artists. for 25 years she's led her company and guests on journeys into the unknown. on stage but icon to both that's just the way it is but if i can dance the special projects now and that i'm happy. in the early 1990 s. it's left new york for a newly reunified berlin since then has had one success after the other we set down with the energetic choreographer to talk about her rise from the french to major opera houses and her next job as courtis to director of the berlin state ballet. the foremost as you started your company 25 years ago with your hands under it could you ever have imagined the international success you've had since africa. non-scented i noises after in 1903 after the fall of the berlin wall and shortly after enough occasion the central district of measure was a place of seemingly endless opportunities that we any opened our venue and there's a field day or 3 years later in 1906. before that we were like nomads wandering from one industrial space to the next and each time we started up a nice cheerio as a reason for life and fun from the outset we turned internationally we turned the u.s. and our 2nd or 3rd year we travel to india and toured a lot in europe peeling off. so right from the start travelling was part of our identity it was our aspiration and our concept of those. scenes of our also said such and nurses at us that we wanted to build bridges with our art and take it to different audiences to countries and cultures that also inspire our work. for the year or is so in that respect alive today isn't all that different than it was 25 years ago. isn't anyone gets. this or unless. it was it's are. the sufi and zillah emitter once hosted meetings of left wing revolutionaries later it was used by the nazis then it was a feeler workshop with its dilapidated charm and checkered history it was the perfect setting for a stash of arts is breakthrough production. and offbeat provide. the production part of a trilogy on the absurdities of domestic life the company research for months in communist era housing complexes. initially rush of arts danced along with her ensemble but she was always striving for new forms of expression and cooperation with other artists for her dance alone was never enough. money that i now. tense up i began downes lessons with one teacher i started taking classes from the age of 5 and the teacher i was with the age of 12 had studied under mary whitman so i have a very very deep connection to german expressionist dance kind i just got up but it didn't really influence my decision to start dancing professionally because at the time i wanted to pursue a career in the visual arts. it was only 3 my discovery of post modern dance and contact improvise ation and all of these consciousness techniques that i developed an interest in studying don't. use and. intricate constantly in the life you generally don't produce strictly narrative pieces it's not dance theatre which some critics hold against you. they say your work is to associate ivar serial. are you bothered by such criticism i get isn't a critic. because i need to be honest i can't remember reading such reviews i'm normally i don't read reviews anyway. i see get on there if ariel dimension that is accessed through association is very important to me and in our communication with the audience we call them bus and i think that's purely one dimensional way of saying just one thing and everyone understands the same thing i find that boring. through it. it has to be something that speaks to each individual in a unique way. that touches something deep down and each person in the audience. but it has to be entirely free. of us with dance prize that's when the work becomes profound as it does when it touches on the mystery inside you. and that doesn't happen if you're simply telling a linear story. involves developed one of the most significant productions carper during her 5 year stint as courtis to director of berlin's shall be in a theater it's an exploration of anatomy that delves into every aspect of the human body. time and again the company conjures images that sear themselves into the viewer's memory like a nightmare. at the same time vault isn't afraid of venturing into more abstract territory in her piece from when she takes dance back to its origins in ceremonial rituals. while her early works were wild her later choreography still more crafted for our tour she transforms dancers into animalistic creatures and explore social issues like power and helplessness freedom and control. your mother was a gallery astin your father an architect so you may have inherited your talent for strong visuals from the one side but space has also always played a key role in your work it's very central. what do you look for in a space could you imagine staging a production for example at the building site of berlin's new international airport through coffin solution here. you're outpost and think boys all spotted autumn he asked buildings eyes are certainly intriguing spaces and we've often rehearsed building sites the jewish museum had only just been completed it was still empty when the collection hadn't yet been installed and the boys had usually we perform at that intermediary moment before the space assumes the function it was designed for so before the exhibit moves in and spun off that it's exciting because it's really a moment that breathes life into a space it's a real integration. by it that i became really clear to me without work for balance noise museum. out of their space had this incredible energy that had been abandoned for so long and then undergone 12 years of reconstruction. on the spot so it was intriguing for me to envision what it would become and to awaken at a life of darts. at what does tensors. as a device be for example we focused on the cult of the dead in a room that would display the past of queen after t.t. it will cause the noise in the same house as a large injection collection and that's why i did a lot of research on ancient egypt if you actually. want so it also gives us inspiration not just the building and the architecture as such it's the site in its entirety that shows me how to put a space in motion that all done the beatles at the me i in 2013 the company was invited to call carter then calcutta to cap year of cultural exchange between india and germany off the production was staged in the courtyard in wings of an old private palace dating from colonial times. such about's collaborated on a project with the indian choreographer apartment each a tour and her ensemble. i am. until i was out of the project in calcutta i was very unusual it was an old palace so naturally a different way of telling stories a marriage because the rooms had simply been sealed off and there was this life that had taken place previously as have time it stood still like a fairy tale when everyone's fallen into a deep sleep and time goes on and the pictures in the malls fade to black and dust settles everywhere on to papers on the bed it was really a very interesting experience. we haven't ignores all the without because we've coined a new genre the choreographic opera it incorporates elements of contemporary dance into operatic stage productions but it treats all parts as equals music the dancers the singers and all embarrassing art form what appeals to you about working on the stages of major opera houses and institutions. in your thoughts. the misfires and then when told of how it was a great experience for me to be able to choreograph a body of people as a whole i and then of course in court and. so it's not about the dancers in a choir and soloists anymore but about the group who. becomes an entity and you can't really identify who is doing what all and i extended that idea and began working with orchestras so that they also start moving start dancing so that the orchestra would also become run body once you can achieve an amazing dynamic in a room where sound literally moves. then clung cease. fire. her. 6 many of the world's major opera houses were now open to her in paris rome tokyo and berlin. she would oversee the entire stage production managing to transform even the unwieldy medium of opera and give it her own signature. you said you often look for female protagonists in opera to medea was one of those how did you deal with her character. that i think she's usually condemned as the barbaric child murderer. in. the production coincided with the case of a mother here in germany who was on trial for murdering her children what approach did you take for the piece medea. it's been this i'm a citizen of the us bonde think well i think she's a very interesting character but she's also very ambivalent i wanted to take time to think about her intensively without judging inconceivable but now just imagine at what point as a woman capable of killing her children what extreme pain or despair do you have to experience to reach that point as a. so they since high point of hall. i found it very difficult to put myself in that position and direct the production. of course i had to imagine and be part of it which at times was unbearable. it's a few and as it was really hard to give myself over to it was. planned as . a case of these kinds of big. mid-air is one of the best known characters in greek mythology she famously helped jason and the argonauts retrieve the golden fleece jason binn married her only to later leave her for another woman the daughter of the king crayon medea took revenge by killing crayon his daughter and her own 2 children to eat. in this production the children of the house of olives and her husband york and zandi were part of the cast further intensifying the emotions felt by their mother . did it in a sense for the children it was like playing it was a great experience for them they learned all the songs and the wonderful thing about theatre is that it is a lot like playing we play dead and then we all get up again. you're going to know mike with your children were often with you during productions and while travelling you're on tour and the dancers were with you to. read up by it was like one big family for you also for me if you sit down with a. babysitter not to tell i always had babysitters with me. of the but they did spend a lot of time with the dancers during rehearsals. with intense and and when they were dancing too they were just part of the cast they didn't get any special supervision oil all know i always tried to have them with me. i never forced them to come by so i always asked of that's what they wanted one but i just wouldn't see enough of the children otherwise because we spent a lot of time working under the theaters and were often out in the evening. out of obviously we're trying to strike a balance. but fortunately both the children love dancing and singing and going to the theater and playing theater. scene and so it seems that passion has been passed on to them. is their lives after but harden you've invested a lot of time in promoting young talent start you have the children's dance company . parent company you've also been involved in dance in schools how important is that to you. the this this is in the. jaegers as is. my interest in children stands i actually came with my 1st child last. else it lasted all i got on a workshop at a school and it grew from there and that's what they love ita and they couldn't help busy i found it more and more interesting as i realised how important their answer is particularly for children approaching puberty and then couple interacting with other people's bodies with their own bodies their own self-image stuff because you're very much confronted with yourself in this process because you're working in a group lance if you learn a lot about group dynamics you get a new spatial awareness how do i move within a room how do i stand in relation to somebody else i'm at bagley a great help in everyday life it's not that everyone needs to become a dancer it's about learning to live in your own body to feel your body and to feel at home when your body. is. holding up after. the. last year you yourself dance to. and here at the ready as is tim for the project to her and. do you miss dancing would you like to do it more often again one of the fans. anywhere on the i love dancing on stage but i can't do both if i'm choreographing a big piece i can't be on stage myself as wow that's just the way it is but if i can dance for special projects now and then i'm happy and. out of work it's been ok . one of those special projects to go on or listen it offers dancers and artists from various parts of the world scope to interact and explore current political and social issues through art an opportunity for the shovels to explore and improvise to. get the mystic at the roots as i did you know passing on a growing number of pieces to outside companies including some abroad where you're dancers oversee the rehearsals and if this is this is an opportunity to release the ensemble to work independently of you align our bad work and yeah. i am yes this is a new branch of my work you could say. i think it's good for experienced dancers to pass on what i know and that these compositions continue to live on and the younger generation feel it and said but many dancers who pass on walks continue to dance themselves i think it's good to give others the opportunity to be involved but it becomes like a whole new production he think you just passing something on but that's not actually the case. it's marginalise i usually do a workshop of the dancers where i go through the entire piece. that's intended with all the moves so that they know what it's all about. these boys and it intends and that's not just that i can't do that a lot but it's exciting to pass something on and watch it take on a new life. because that noise leaving. in the spring of this year but hey i love you in lisbon performs national bouts with peace to. the dancer spent 5 weeks rehearsing and. then turned up to add the finishing touches. to of her experience dancers had overseen all the rehearsals. from israel. and cloudy osho others from portugal so it was their job to help the dancers find their own style rather than just copying certain moves suddenly the 2 were working as equals alongside their longstanding boss i think it's working relation of many years and the personal relation also you know so. i think in that case gives a lot of trust like she gave a responsibility to hand over the piece and she gives a trust and also we have been working with them for 5 weeks so we can actually we know them better than her in this situation so it's it's a good thing that to still stay. in communication with each other for certain things and then some things she comes and she wants to bring it from the outside more her own own sensations and smell and to put something on top of what we brought but it's it's a long time collaboration so we are communicating in a very natural way and i truly happy on my side i still see things differently sometimes and i pass on the specific details that are important to me. also but i know that the dancers i've chosen a very precise and that i can trust them and so far it's worked very well touchwood . and there's been no problems it's been i enjoy being able to let go and step back a bit in the piece takes on a life of a turn it's not a fixed creation rose and moves away from me back. 20 or. let's talk about your new production exodus which you did for the 25th anniversary of your dance company. x. the exodus from the greek both in the sense of departure and escape what led you to this idea. that had. i was weak it was this idea of fleeing from more scaping from something finding our way out that obviously we associated on the one hand with the bible and the exodus of the israel lights from egypt. but when you're in greece for example you see it written in every subway station many clubs and bars have adopted the name exodus. fascinated me and that's after i decided on the one hand. you have this idea of a group that's running away their corporate fleet leaving one place and moving somewhere else. seat on this and i gather this process that takes place more in the mind. is often cup when all step out of your body into another dimension and to this technique trumps all ecstasy. test next best gets very much about a group experience that includes going to new and past the point of exhaustion what the audience. and so that's like a journey to. a journey that last 2 and a half hours involving captivity then finding a way out and escaping it raises questions such as what we're fleeing from and where to exodus is intense and heavy going and for now at least it will be the last production that sasha stages with her company. she will remain the official director but she will leave the body as the stem it will continue as a production and performance venue for the company but she now has a new position she'll become the 1st woman to head up the highly traditional berlin state ballet. finals nandan in 2019 you'll take over as artistic director of the berlin state ballet alongside johann assume and are you excited maybe a bit apprehensive. now if there's no cause they are also wrong to start taking on the state ballet is certainly a major challenge so i've been preparing for it for 2 and a half or nearly 3 years i think. it's a very long process and yes i want to actually start the job until 2019 common. there were initially huge protests over the decision to appoint a contemporary choreographer to co-director state ballet the traditional dancers were not happy with that of art had actually worked with the state ballet before writing a solo piece for its former artistic director of light in their mother called to great acclaim. these angry protests have now seen just. one thing is clear taking over the state ballet is national vox's biggest breakthrough today and a huge challenge. for the entire answer qualify think it's a great opportunity for dance in general to explore these extreme positions. are on the one hand to really preserve classical ballet and the whole history and to stage classical productions that are very high level because one of the island's ited i don't have a hand to have contemporary choreographies with a contemporary language with all that darius he actually placed in all the different ways of using the body. again and so creation ensemble that is capable of working with both these extremists. is extreme it's definitely a fascinating project. the other thing. into some support act. if you didn't gather enough from i'd like to end by asking you what comes to mind when i say. borders. do you have all the challenges we face today yes no irreality to be as free as children now again. our brains. tranquility since learning so quickly i don't know 90 percent or 95 percent of the top class. believe me. on a delicate mission in the holy land. wolfgang schmitz. is the provost the highest representative of germany's protestant church in jerusalem. what can you achieve in a region torn by conflict so now does he cope with the pressures of his job. provost in jerusalem. in 30 minutes on d w. o. o. nicole because in germany to learn german english binnacle. why not learn with him d w z e learning course because vic. the quiet melody. resounds michael light of the mood. resonate with. the moonlight and the music. beethoven festival on 2019 from september 6th to september 29th. about this issue when i arrived here i slept with 6 people in a room. it was hard. i even got white hairs that. benefit my language telling us this gives me a bit of the trinity to entrap lives of say you want to know their story. it's worth fighting and for a while for mission for margaret. sleep. cheerfully . don't be silly. to ticket. discoverable to. subscribe to documentary.