Dance theater ellaH with a courageous experiment between new music and contemporary dance

In the luciously brown bark mulch, three dancers are cowering, small and strong, they lay on the floor of the stage. Nearby, componist and musician Aristides Strongylis strokes a tone on his piano. The sound stands in the space and nothing happens. Strongylis balances the piano fixated on wheels over the ankle-deep mulch onto the stage. He begins with his piano piece “The seven open chakras of Dionysos”. This time, the dancers react. Drawn by the music, they crawl over the floor, until they reach the origin of the music, the composer at the piano.

Meet-up between new music and contemporary dance
The premiere of “Hepta”, an ‘acoustic movement concert’ in the Theatrale Halle, is an experiment in which new music and contemporary dance meet live on stage. Annett Paschke, choreographer of the play, expands on this interactive coproduction between the dance theater ellaH and the composer Aristides Strongylis: “Back then, we did even more classical dancing. With our last play ‘Kategorie F29’ we tried out a very theatrical form, this time, our work is more performative.”
Normally, in the dance theater, the rhythm of the music also makes the rhythm of the scene-play. For Hepta, it is different. Here, the composer and the dancers act as egal partners that influence one another. For the composer is truly not invulnerable. In fact, he is in a constant exchange with the dancers. Mostly, they follow to his music. But sometimes, they force the musician to changes. The roles even get inversed. Then Stongylis steps down from his heightened piano stool and follows the violin music of Ada Schaff.