WARRIOR

My enemy is my fear

And it takes my breath away

So I call to fight with love, open up my heart

I call you to fight with love, open up your heart

Seduced by the belief that a fierce strongman, is all we need to get things done and save the world, choreographer Anne-Mareike Hess, takes us in her solo on a journey of becoming a warrior. Within a distorted and at the same time soft soundscape emerges a profoundly poetic image of human fragility and inner disruption. A dancing body caught in a perpetual fight with its emotions.

Her debut solo Warrior premiered at the end of 2018 and is the first part of a series of works, followed by Dreamer (2021) and Weaver (2023), that explore female identity by drawing inspiration from mythology and popular culture. Constructed as an act of resistance, the piece draws its energy from deep within the choreographer, revealing and questioning the world we live in. Through the metamorphosis of the body and the evocative power of the warrior figure, Anne-Mareike Hess celebrates femininity in relation to strength.

Like a caterpillar that dissolves its entire being during metamorphosis to become a butterfly, dancer Raúl Martínez (El Salvador) embodies a transformation that affects us all in his solo "The Presence of the Butterflies". It is about the light and shadow of the past, the fleetingness of our present and a living future. "The Presence of the Butterflies" is a dance journey through the artist's biography, linked to aspects of Latin American history. A memory of the indigenous ancestors who lived in harmony with nature. But also, a reminder of the conquests and colonialism. The dance solo is about the anger towards the exploitation of this continent, the potential of forgiveness and tells of a vision of the coexistence of life. It is a journey that hosts many people, tells many stories, and dreams many dreams.